2008-07-11 - Rider Down, NW11

If you're going to get knocked off anywhere, do it in Golders Green. The guy I saw in bad shape last night didn't have much choice though.

6:25pm on Thurs 10.7.08 at the junction of Finchley Road and Ravenscroft Avenue in Golders Green: 50 year old cyclist lying on the ground in pain and in a heap, his mountain bike mangled, people carrier taxi hit him.

I stopped to see what I could do. Not much actually. A small army of kippor-wearing religious Jews were in full effect. Ambulance called - check. Trained paramedic at his side - check. Taking photos of the scene - check. I asked if there was a witness - check - the guy taking pictures saw the accident.

I spoke to the cyclist. All he could do was moan, clearly in much pain and perhaps he knocked his head (no helmet) cos he was truly out of it. The only two words he could muster and it took a lot of effort on his part, were "didn't indicate". This made sense to me. Finchley Rd was really backed up that evening and an impatient driver had turned, perhaps quite suddenly, through the cyclist to escape the traffic.

Poor guy. His leg had an ugly "sliced" look - like someone had hacked it with a sword. The young Jewish paramedic stemmed the blood with his neck tie. I was confident that he was surrounded by excellent helpers with an ambulance ordered so I rode home through the NW London traffic queue. Very. Slowly.

Shalom

Well done for stopping and checking if all was in order... lets hope he makes a full recovery. Summer makes drivers hot and bothered so keep eyes peeled folks. Safe riding

Nice to hear that there is still good Samaritans in this world.

poor sod, hope he heals well!

People carrier taxi... i.e Previa with beaded seat cover - Last man who indicated in one of those was fatwad

Hope he's ok,
Blue stickers cunts.
I had exactly the same thing happen on Clapham High St last Sat, luckily he didnt take me off - otherwise I prob would have been in a similar state, I caught up with the bastard and he was completely oblivious to the fact that he had even hit me.

Nice to hear that there is still good Samaritans in this world.

The professionalism of the duty to public care was as moving as it was effective

Hope he's ok,
Blue stickers cunts.

I had exactly the same thing happen on Clapham High St last Sat, luckily he didnt take me off - otherwise I prob would have been in a similar state, I caught up with the bastard and he was completely oblivious to the fact that he had even hit me.

a comment from yesterday's times

Ok cyclists, why should I have to put up with this....
I'm sitting in a queue of traffic at a red light, minding my own business when along side me rides a cyclist who stops beside me and puches my wing mirror so that it folds away and gives me a load of verbals. Hadn't even overtaken him. Why??

rick, manchester,

Either cyclist punched wrong car or the drivers a twat for not realising he had hit someone....

Tynan, pleeeeeeeease print these!?!?!?!?

Tynan, pleeeeeeeease print these!?!?!?!?

on vinyl so they can be neatly placed on the rear of all MPV mini cabs

+10

Ok, it shall be done.

ok, It Shall Be Done.

+100

Maybe have "I am death" and drop the become

Cool.... i want! Well done sir :)

I think it works better in the full Oppenheimer form.

Nice to hear that there is still good Samaritans in this world.

They may not be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritan

I think it works better in the full Oppenheimer form.

It was a compromise between the full syntax and it looking like the badge.

Could always make it a but more personal and go with I am become Death, Destroyer of Wheels

They may not be Samaritans.

Also known as the parable the good neighbor

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" He answered: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'" "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live." But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" In reply Jesus said: (the parable starts here) "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn in Jericho and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. 'Look after him,' he said, 'and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.' "Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."

Simple in principle but how often do we walk past someone we could have helped?

Jesus was a cock.

You don't need bronze age mythology and superstition to be nice to people.

I think the bystander effect is pretty strong in most social groups, we seem to have shed a little of our innate reciprocal altruism as we live in larger and larger groupings, increasingly divorced from the nuts and bolts of survival.

I though because they were Jew you were doing some sort of clever thing with Samaritans being close to Judaism in a way e.t.c

OT: Oppenheimer read the Bhagavad Gita in the original Sanskrit - so the above is his own interpretation. The original version is ambiguous, and received translation is more similar to:

'I am the full-grown world-destroying Time, now engaged in destroying the worlds.'

Which is nice.