You are reading a single comment by @deleted and its replies.
Click here to read the full conversation.
London Fixed Gear and Single-Speed is a community of predominantly fixed gear and single-speed cyclists in and around London, UK.
This site is supported almost exclusively by donations. Please consider donating a small amount regularly.
@deleted
Messengers earn a living taking slips of paper with either hand-written or typed text known as "messages" from one office desk to another office desk, usually in the same building but occasionally down the street. On these occasions the messenger will use his bicycle, all bicycles used by messengers are identical and painted in company livery. On rare occasions a message needs to be delivered that is slightly more important, these are known as "memos". The messenger receives no bonus for delivering these, as they are all salaried.
All messengers are white and American and would otherwise be unemployable, they either live with their parents or have mortgages they will never be able to pay off.
A courier works exclusively in Europe, unlike messengers they are assigned to deliver all manner of hugely important items such as blood for transfusions, legal documents that could save a man from the gallows or transmission tapes for the latest kit-e-kat commercial. The profession is hugely skilled and requires nerves of steel and the strength of an Olympian to deliver important packages with utmost expediency.
Couriers pride themselves on their equipment, only the best will do, but due to their celebrity couriers rarely have to pay for more than an inner tube as Europe’s finest cycle brands such as Colnago, Pinarello, Brian Rourke and Tour de Ville supply them with their latest bicycles. This serves two purposes for the bicycle manufacturer, their products are tested in the toughest conditions known to man and they gain huge prestige from being associated with the finest athletes in the world. Some couriers earn nearly as much in this role as they do as actual "despatch riders" which is often £1000 a week.
90% of couriers come form Creole, Caribbean, Celtic or Romany Stock, no one courier looks the same.
The world of couriers is dark and secretive they often meet up when they finish their travails, which is usually around midnight, to quaff ale and tell stories of their adventures, much hearty guffawing and thigh-slapping occurs. Couriers are hugely attractive to the opposite sex (whichever that may be) and although male couriers generally father countless offspring they never get married or settle down, some find it near impossible to even live in abodes made of bricks and mortar and will simply pitch camp and light a fire at the site of their final delivery of the day.
It goes without saying that the economies of all the Major European cities would simply crumble were it not for these "dashing" heroes of the street.
Many have tried to infiltrate the courier world by assuming disguise and on occasion even managing to set foot in their drinking dens, however one can only understand the rich and diverse culture by becoming one of them, this is nearly impossible and involves many initiation ceremonies and a dozen years on the road.