Tube strike, London

Is it safe to go outside? I'm considering walking into Putney to get a spot of lunch but I'll order a takeaway if there are piles of commuter corpses stacked up at the bus stops.

I'm going to do a wee now. If I don't come back, someone blame Boris and the unions and stuff yeah?

I'm all for people who don't normally cycle getting on their bikes and giving it a go, hopefully they'll stick at it. Most people looked wobbly but fine, I just didn't appreciate being run into.

I quit my job when I heard about the tube strike.
I WILL NOT lift a finger until EVERYTHING is fixed.

I know it's a bit chaotic today but I found nodder dodging this morning really fun. Makes a really great excuse to interval train on the commute. Some mental moves today but good to see so many bikes!

^^^^^ why not, greenhell? I found some of the things I witnessed today interesting in a deadly/moronic/unusual way. Why not share it? The perpetrators will never read it, I feel a little better for getting it off my chest and best of all, you get another reason to go off on a tedious rant. Everyone's a winner.

twat.

nice one.

if you say so. i've not seen it.

Speaking of twats. Is it just me or is the absence of Bob Crow making the usual media storm a little bit more tolerable?

RIP and all that but wow that dude got my back up.

why? he was very good at his job which was representing the interests of his union members.

if you want to point a finger of blame at anyone, it should be boris 'massive fucking lying tory cuntwaffle' johnson.

What he^ said.

Bob Crow's job was getting people's backs up. He didn't have to pretend to be all things to everyone in a "call me Dave" way. He fought for his members, keeping them safe at work and securing their futures, which he did in exemplary fashion. I never really like the man, I was never supposed to, but by got I admired him.

I met him. He was a drunken and aggressive twat when I did.

I just don't miss the massive hypocrisy of a man who would talk to the TV cameras about TFL etc doing the decent thing but wouldn't think twice about getting one of his bodyguards to intimidate somebody in a pub while out on one of his nights out.

For the record, I agree with what you say about his professional intentions. He did a great job at what he was required to do. Then again, anybody on that kind of money should be doing a great job.

I think the RMT are going to slowly slide in to the pit of toothless decline after the tragic loss of Bob Crow. His interim replacement on the Today Show this morning got absolutely shafted.

It's not a hard argument to make, even. Closing ticket offices disproportionately effect those who require help the most, the elderly, disabled and new-in-town. Removing platform staff effects everyone's safety.

The people to blame, unfortunately, are the government. The budget shortfall that TFL are attempting to rectify comes as a direct response to the cut in Government and MOL funding.

RE: Crow, I have a great deal of time for someone who refused to be interview on the night, or the morning after, of his election to secretary general of RMT because he was down pub with Union members.

Obviously not one of the long list of pubs from which he was barred.

I'm going to do a wee now. If I don't come back, someone blame Boris and the unions and stuff yeah?

LOL

Rep'd

Anecdotes

1) A cheery hello from a courier near Mount Pleasant. I think he was just overjoyed to see another fixed rider.

2) A strike-list (sic) meandearing across the road near Finsbury Sq. I made sure she was safe by boxing traffic behind me; I then told her the benefit of the shoulder glance.

All will with a smile, of course, because the beauty of today is that there are hundreds more chance encounters that wouldn't otherwise happen.

^ winning!

I'm all for people who don't normally cycle getting on their bikes and giving it a go, hopefully they'll stick at it. Most people looked wobbly but fine, I just didn't appreciate being run into.

This.

I try not to get all high and mighty about less experienced cyclists getting in my way on my roads, but if someone has such poor spacial awareness that they clonk my back wheel when I've been sitting stationary at the lights* for over a minute then they are a totally legitimate target for calling out.

*Happened to me today, and has happened on non-strike days too.

It's a shame though that the day that lots of folk give cycling to work a go is also the day where the buses and wagons and cars and taxis are out in full force making it no fun at all.

I think it's the bus drivers that should be congratulated for careful and considerate driving. The amount of people on bikes swarming any available space near moving busses this morning was slightly worrying – thankfully the drivers seemed well aware and avoided any carnage. Made me think of elephants trundling through the tundra without squashing anything.

high point of the commute (in terms of amusement solely for myself) was when this came on my playlist and was blasted out of my portable speaker as I was riding up broadgate surrounded by about 5 boris bikers. totally worth the effort of ripping and uploading to my phone.

BORIS BIKE (German Whip Parody) - Vuj, KSI, Klayze, JME - YouTube

why did you rip it? you can download the tune here for NUFFINK, get me!

This.

I try not to get all high and mighty about less experienced cyclists getting in my way on my roads, but if someone has such poor spacial awareness that they clonk my back wheel when I've been sitting stationary at the lights* for over a minute then they are a totally legitimate target for calling out.

*Happened to me today, and has happened on non-strike days too.

+1, then a combination of sprinting away from the lights & fading to a more sedate cadence - they probably hate people like me who accelerate slowly