Tube strike, London

Fuck me, nearly got taken out by 3 people today, ALL of them undertaking!
Including one idiotic UniCack rider who thought it would be funny to not only RLJ every set of lights but also just randomly swing into different lanes without checking behind him - what is wrong with people?

It's the bicycle apocalypse. I'm not sure what was worse, the mass of cars, the mass of scooters, or the mass of people who dug out their creaky old hybrid and donned their yellow jacket and old polystyrene helmet.

Actually, I know what's worse, the fuckwit moron with a smell penis who saw me coming and walked BACKWARDS into me. And then claimed I hit him! I was trackstanding.

Nice to have lots of people on bikes, but FFS chill out a bit. It like Falling Down, but with Michael Douglas in a flouro jacket, riding a marin hybrid.

It's busy today, it'll take a bit longer, get over it.

it's like critical mass for cars out there today
i went a bit crazy out there this morning now i know how a claustrophobic feels
buzzed a few paedo's hooped a few kerbs
it' was like the wild west out there

is that what is was like pre congestion charging ?

Well that was fun. More cars than I have ever seen I think. A few nodders about, but on the whole, most people seemed ok. I don't understand how anyone can possibly get into their car on days like this and then get annoyed about sitting in traffic. One cock in a bmw or some such, you could tell how infuriated he was getting while all these cyclists overtook him at about 5mph. Why bother. Makes you realise how sad and empty some of these poeples lives are that they can't cycle every now and then.

made me wonder why if all these people own bikes they don't use them every day?

it was messy out there.

it's like critical mass for cars out there today

amazing enough to post twice

made me wonder why if all these people own bikes they don't use them every day?

Me too, but I suspect it is because they are such fucking godawful cyclists.

Not many more cyclists on our commute - although we saw the all-in-one fluoro man, that was nice - and one almost fell off trying to undertake me "I am on a bike and nothing will stop me" kind until he hit a small incline....

And indeed critical mass for cars which is a shame as I guess a lot of them didn't bother to check that the Northern line was working.

@Ru, what time did you leave? Did you see the sign before Clapham South "Fatal collision on 7 June"? very cheery to see, any idea what happened?

Its took my housemate over two hours to get from Mare Street to London Bridge this morning. It took my girlfriend 25 minutes on her bike!

Thanks to my wonderful bicycle I don't have to suffer the travel mayhem that the tube strike will undoubtedly be causing as I type, but I feel for those who are.

Whilst I am (just about) left of centre in my political views and think unions are generally I good idea, this lot don't seem to know the meaning of 'negotiate' and will down tools at the drop of a hat; it's on their terms or nothing.

I saw a report on the RMT's demands the other night which also showed what tube drivers get paid. It's already more than my psychologist girlfriend gets paid, more than I get paid as a fundraiser for a national charity, and they want a 5% pay rise and no threats of redundancies. We have lost staff through voluntary redundancy and pay rises have not matched inflation for two years but people still go to work because work needs to be done.

So fuck you, Bob - your lot ain't getting such a bad deal.

P.S. I am not having a moan cos they get paid more than me, by the way. I imagine it's a horrible, depressing job and I wouldn't want to do it.

+1

Tube operators (and station staff) do get a pretty tidy salary, but it is a very technical job, with crappy shifts and huge safety responsibilities.

Teh 5% rise is taking the pee-pee, Guaranteed 1% then .5% above RPI is a great deal at the moment - sure, RPI is rubbish ATM but if it goes up then at least our salaries track with it.

What irks me the most is that the promise of no compulsory redundancies has already been made on the operational side of the business, but in the support offices there will be redundancies, and we are taking it on the chin - we know that fare revenues are down, the TfL budget has been cut massively etc. etc.

Anyone see what the accident was on Blackfriars road?

I'm hoping it was not a cyclist.

Its took my housemate over two hours to get from Mare Street to London Bridge this morning. It took my girlfriend 25 minutes on her bike!

Your housemate should have walked the 3.2 miles, less than 1 hour if fast, over 1 hour if average.

I left late today to see the carnage.. and carnage I saw..

Nodder Park Ave was fucking ridiculous. I've never seen so many nodders and scooters on the way in to work.

I guess it's kind of cool so many people are riding but I'm leaving early again tomorrow to avoid the plague.

Bedlam out there today....

Was it me or did there seem to be a mass overnight increase in roadworks popping up?? Was bonkers! :-$

You probably just noticed them more because all the other lane options were blocked by scooters/cyclists

It was hell out there this morning almost had about 4 people ride into me because they weren't looking along the canal.

The amount of people with suitcase sized bags on there bikes and bags as well was funny.

I think tonight is going to be worse once the rain hits, think i will throw some extra tubes in my bag tonight to do the helpful thing. saw a couple of people pushing this morning

I rode in for the first time this morning. Saw some scary ish - woman with a kid on the back going up the left hand side of a left-turning bus....

@ scrapper
new york new york so good they names it twice
wanted to make sure the whole forum got my witty innovative post !!
BIG SMILEY FACE ;-)

nice thought on the spare tyres
thats real cycling community attitude
good on yer

Man that was fucking horrible.
That'll teach me to leave late
Bicycle Apocolypse.

rather than get in a strop with the one union that is still strong enough to call and go through with a strike - why not imagine what it would be like if every other union out there hadn't jumped in the pockets of the policticians at the first sign of cash.

Bollocks. The reason most unions don't have to go through with strikes is because they understand negotiation and compromise. Bob, ahem, crows on about 'top brass getting coin whilst my members can't afford to eat bread (drivers on a mere 40K a year average)', but as we have seen RMT don't even represent everyone he speaks for, and he rejects deals for spurious reasons.

Chap next to me snapped his chain moving off from the lights- 'twas the rust holding it together finally giving up.

Bit of basic maintenance would not have gone amis for the people pulling the bike out of the shed for the first time in years this morning.

@Ru, what time did you leave? Did you see the sign before Clapham South "Fatal collision on 7 June"? very cheery to see, any idea what happened?

I left a bit early to try to avoid too much of the mess.

Didn't see that sign as i was battling with the nodders / scooters / peds fighting to get on the bus. 7th was Sunday, wasn't it? haven't heard anything about it...will give it a google.

was he on a unicrap ?

whatever your views about the rmt, and many, like me, have not lime for them, kudos to the fella picketing 55 broadway (LUHQ) on his own today. think it's gonna be pretty torrid...