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@Soweto888
I've been in London for the last four days and it's been a bit of an eye-opener. I'd never seen it close up before, having only passed through at a rate of knots - train, tube, office...that sort of thing. Anyway, there was a chance to look around this week, so I thought about taking a bike with me. When it turned out that I would have to leave my wheels chained up outside, I decided not to bother. That turned out to be a blessing, I reckon.
I've never seen so many cars, driven so aggressively and at such speed. I mean, I thought I was traffic-hardened, but Glasgow's roads are a cycling paradise compared to London. How do you manage to cope in that free-for-all?
I felt like a total peasant - a complete country bumpkin. On Wednesday morning I was standing on a traffic island on New Bridge Street when some courier dude went by on a dark blue fixed wheel beastie. He had Sidis and no brakes. That was about all I took in, cos I was standing there wondering how far this guy was going to get. There were evil-looking hackney cabs everywhere and his imminent death seemed pretty invitable. Well, to me at any rate. I had plenty of time to watch the courier ride into the distance, cos it took me about ten minutes to get off that bloody traffic island. I wish that was a joke, but it's not.
How do you manage to cope with that every day, folks? It's such a shame there are so many cars, cos the roads all seem so flat and so wide. I dunno. It just shocked me. I thought there would be quiet bits in amongst all the mania. I was still looking for them when I left this morning.
When I got to my accommodation on Monday, I shut the door behind me and put on the kettle. I was pretty sure I was safe from the traffic, but then I discovered that I could make my hanky go black by blowing my nose... Now that can't be good, can it?
I'm tipping my Euskaltel cap to you, ladies and gents, just try and help me make some sense of it, eh? And be careful out there.