This morning's commute and other commuting stories

moar

Where do those little gas cartridges that the kids are huffing come?

eBay. NOS to whip cream. They used to be much cheaper. We used to use so much we covered the living room floor in them. Most wasteful "drug" you can think off.
Sort of like that bit in Futurama with the Cookie machine.

unless you sell then at the entrance/down then road from 'events'.

Then you can make up the cash.

BoJo on CS3 pushing through peds on a zebra crossing and then getting in the way of a van that had already started turning right. Too busy acknowledging non-existent greetings to notice. Model cyclist!

^ Amazing. How was he acknowledging these non-existent greetings?

Some class A fuckwits out there this morning. You cunt, you might have shaved legs, some lycra and have worked out how to use SPDs but you're still a reject from a London Dynamo bunch. Get to fuck.

Why do people go up clerkenwell road west bound just after old street as if they're climbing alpe d'heuz??

You talking about the hill of east london spice route??!

Dont mock the burn man... dont mock it.

Boris Johnson what a fuckwit that man really is.

I've seen him riding with no lights in the dark. I called him out on it.

Why do people go up clerkenwell road west bound just after old street as if they're climbing alpe d'heuz??

Because they maybe find cycling up small inclines a bit hard? I know I did when I bought a proper bike in 2007 (before that I was skating to work, so I was relatively fit, just not used to pedalling).

Interesting one this morning.

Going South on the A1 at the junction of The Woodman in Highgate. I can see the Old Bill/PCSO hanging around further down the road on the left by the station, the area has been infested with them of late. Bell in a BelMW in the ASL, an HGV behind to his left, a couple of motorcyclists occupying what little space is left and a Yummy Mummy on her mobile thrown into the equation. A cyclists nightmare, especially as when the lights change there tends to be a downhill race to the next set of lights. I take a very advance position in front of the ASL so I am right before the box next to the light waiting for it to turn orange, track-standing in readiness. The second it turns orange I am off at full pelt only for one of the PCSO's further down the road to flag me down.

We had an interesting conversation. I explained that the light was orange when I began moving and the only reason I was so far in front of the rest of the traffic was because I was ahead at the lights, it's down hill and I had to move quick as it is a dangerous junction and there was a twat in the ASL. I explain I never jump reds especially when I know there is a pre-sequence right hand filter lane, a rarity in London and very dangerous if you don't know about it. He explained that is why they were there because it is such a dangerous junction. I agreed but protested that the light was most certainly not red when I began moving. He said wait for his officer who saw the situation. In the meantime I mentioned about the guy in the ASL and the woman on her phone. He told me that the ASL offender was currently being admonished and they also pulled the offending woman over which satisfied me somewhat.
He then went on to tell me that he often jumps red lights himself and he can see the cyclists point of view about how it sometimes is the safer option! But these lights are so dangerous because of the right filter before the main sequence.
I once again told him it was not red. Anyway his officer came and she agreed that she could not say for certain it was not red when I took off. I again explained it was orange. I knew by this time no ticket was being threatened. Then she told me that I should only begin moving on green and you are not supposed to start on orange! I really couldn't be bothered to argue. I was asked to be careful, I explained I have 20+ years experience of cycling in London and am very careful. We had a chat about Boris and his plans. I told him that junctions like this should have a 2 phase light system for cyclists to get ahead 5 seconds before cars can. I also said that cyclists should be able to turn left on red. He agreed and said that the London Assembly do discuss such ideas but the implementation and getting drivers to understand them would be difficult.

We bade one another farewell and I continued my journey. Jumping the odd light here and there to make up for lost time.

It's not 'orange', it's 'amber'.

You're sub-human scum.

You're a fossil, in road use terms. A prehistoric insect encased in a piece of orange.

Dunno the lights in question, but if it's a flashing amber (because it's a pelican crossing) and there are no pedestrians then you can treat it as green:-

https://www.gov.uk/using-the-road-159-to-203/pedestrian-crossings-191-to-199

"
Pelican crossings. These are signal-controlled crossings where flashing amber follows the red ‘Stop’ light. You MUST stop when the red light shows. When the amber light is flashing, you MUST give way to any pedestrians on the crossing. If the amber light is flashing and there are no pedestrians on the crossing, you may proceed with caution.
Laws ZPPPCRGD regs 23 & 26 & RTRA sect 25(5)
"

Don't be an amber gambler!

amber gambler twins 1977 - YouTube

They were right about green though, the red with amber light's just a 'get ready' thing. Easy to misinterpret, s'why they don't exist in many other countries, I suppose.

thats why its orange...

What happens in foreign lands re light changes. It's the same in the US and commonwealth type places isn't it?

What happens in foreign lands re light changes. It's the same in the US and commonwealth type places isn't it?

Most of western europe it's ok to go on red if no peds on basic straight roads and right turns(wrong side of the road) but then if a driver hits a ped for any reason it's no questions asked driver was wrong so they won't risk it trying smidsy as the law doesn't entertain smidsy. Seemed the norm to jump lights in gent, brussels, koln, paris, amsterdam, lille, ect ect but rather weird having to trust that drivers would stop given such freedom at reds.

Lights are either red or green, no amber?

Was waiting at the lights to cross Grays Inn Road from Ampton Street this morning and a pedestrian walked between the first cyclist and the next, catching her back wheel and knocking her clean over onto the pavement. She landed pretty heavily, banging her head. He didn't even stop and check if she was ok, just casually glanced over his shoulder to see her lying on the ground and carried on walking. Everyone who saw it shouted for him to stop, he just carried on walking. She stood up, visibly shaken, but OK. I chased him down the street and gave him a piece of my mind, but he showed no sign of guilt or care. Made me angry.

What happens in foreign lands re light changes. It's the same in the US and commonwealth type places isn't it?

Just red and green, much simpler.

Orange is just another green.

It must increase the intances of drivers having to slam on the anchors. That's not safe.

lol

orange is the new black

It must increase the intances of drivers having to slam on the anchors. That's not safe.

As oppose to accelerating through amber like everyone in London?