This morning's commute and other commuting stories

Saw a dead fox in the road today, very flattened apart from a basil brush style bushy tail which flapped a little in the wind as cars went by. Somehow an appropriate metaphor for our times.

Also stoped and asked to take a photo of a tiny pony which I thought my daughter would enjoy. On chatting the the woman who was walking with it, i saw it had a trap attached to the back which contained a load of rucksacks and touring gear. Turns out they'd travelled up from spain and were heading to scotland together. Like bike touring, but with a pony.

Edit: I think the pony was called 'el hechizo'.

There was someone on telly talking about walking across Wales or somesych with a pony. Some days were less than a 100m apparently

Interesting. Her plan was to get to Scotland by the end of September which suggests she wasn’t taking it very fast.

had two run ins in the last 24 hours with super aggressive drivers, seems to be bad luck as i tend to manage to avoid them.

last one was just now and a guy came speeding at me down a narrow street, managed to get out of the way but he still clipped me. got a pic of his plate and asked what he was doing (he had only stopped because it was a dead end for cars). he started shouting/swearing, his mate got out of the car and the guys unloading a van next to all of this told me "leave it, he'll probably kill you", which i believed from looking at him. i cycled off, they turned the car around and it felt like they sped at me from behind, so i hopped onto the pavement while he shouted out of the window and drove off

worth reporting? will anything actually happen?

Worth reporting but unlikely much will happen without video footage. At best they'll run the plate and maybe pick them up for something else.

always worth running the plates thru the mot / tax checker

No one should ever have to deal with that kind of behaviour from agressive drivers, report it anyway did you get license plate details?

Take care

I posted this yesterday at work, the trickle back will be prolonged.. as we have alternative weeks in and wfh to ease office congestion.

Back at BHY on Monday this week after 147 days away, having got used to working from home as new normal, also spell of furlough, felt rather daunting, like starting a new job. This Pandemic without doubt has affected everyone’s health, mental health and wellbeing. In the beginning of lockdown felt really awkward, then convenient, but never truly satisfying. As *** is and always has been for me a space for social interaction, those unplanned moments which sparks creativity, freedom of thought, engagement.

The psychological challenge I set for myself this week was to continue avoiding public transport and cycle in four consecutive days from East Ham. That’s 80 miles this week which I wouldn’t have done otherwise. With the forecast predicting hot and humid weather, I dressed and packed appropriately.

Monday I left home at 7.20 am because I wanted to enjoy the freedom of escaping my home borough of Newham, so took it easy to capture that ‘state of nirvana’ through mobility, that a lot of cyclists bang on about and which I had sorely missed. The roads were empty, is was relatively cool. When I arrived outside BHY I had no problem accessing the bike store in underground car park opposite. Greeted by friendly security chap, then confronted by the temperature reader (we have to give this FOH robot a name, seriously), nevertheless I registered 36.2 deg C every day this week, therefore fit for work. I pulled some weird faces, but FOH robot still recognised me, unamused, expressionless.

FM fretting about as always, but real credit to him and army of cleaners patrolling daily to keep BHY operational. The social distancing measures are clear and easy to follow.

Pod 1.2 is currently our favourite spot, like a reverse sauna at 18*C. Xander and Katy are taking bookings and charging a nominal fee toward our mojito fund :)

Highlights of the week

1. Being mobile again
   
2. Seeing a few familiar faces
   
3. Being part of urban life around Clerkenwell, as businesses tentatively open up again
   
4. Leaving my work and laptop locked up at the office at 5.30pm
   
5. Having that golden hour / commute home to switch off from Project pressures
   

Did you get contact details for the van loading witness?

Can you get them?

New widened pavements up along the A10 through the city make nipping through traffic an absolute pain

Is this to do with covid? Seems weird to actually go to the trouble of laying new pavement for something that will definitely last a while but is temporary. The barriers at other places seem good enough to me.

Through Tottenham and stoke newington?

They start in Borough and along past the Gherkin, Duck and Waffle etc. Were basically two lanes now cut down to one.

They've widened pavements where I've never seen more than 5 people at a time. Sigh

The whole improvised infrastructure is very badly executed. In most places it just looks like somebody dumped leftover plastic barriers onto the road.

In this example on the Strand coming from Waterloo Bridge they widened the front bit of the footpath where it is already wide but not at the pinch point at the contruction site because that part of the road is used by busses approaching the stop later down the road.

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Agreed. It's a hodge podge and is poorly signed so I've almost come a cropper a couple of times.

Since lockdown eased I've barely ridden, its fowl out there. Up in Scotland even we have a massive increase in the number of raging bellends in charge of motor vehicles, its like they have saved up all their dick moves from 4 months off the road and are now discharging them at anyone who dare slow their progress in their 1.0 Audi A1 (white).

Report the hell out of that, if they are already on that 'norman' list (or whatever the funny name for it is, it tracks re-portable bad behavior for use in future to help 'characterize' the offender if they ever get dragged into magistrates about something. If they go into court and are like 'yeah never saw him, total random accident', but the norman report has them down 3 times already for aggressive driving and behavior then it will help in that case), then it helps down the line when they hit someone and then claim smidsy

Cs7, Tooting and about, is now peppered with bollards to separate bikes and cars. Not sure why if the boundary of the bike lane is the white line all these new bollards are placed inside the line thus narrowing the bike lane. I think I preferred it before the safety measures

Chippy weather today reminding me that it can’t wait until autumn to blow rain into my ear and render the lanes into ditches. Bastard.
#wringingwet

Aye, southbound between Balham and Bec stations feels safer in the road with the motor traffic.
I am not a huge fan of the island that’s been installed at the Ritherdon Road junction, either. Again, southbound seems more hazardous because all traffic is now in one lane - previously you could eyeball which cars might be making that sudden left turn!
I am a big fan of the temporary calming measures at Glenburnie Rd - which used to be the most dangerous stretch of my daily commute between SW17 and N19. Planters and plastic jersey barriers have calmed the rat run.

I’ve driven down it and from the car point of view it’s not perfect either.
If you are heading south from Clapham wanting to turn left a lot of left turns are blocked but the signage is too late then Ritherdon Road dosent look like anything you have ever seen before.
The bits where the cars have 1.5 lanes then 1 them 1.5 should be changed and to 1 lane all the way

I’ve started avoiding that stretch now and going via Wandsworth common to South Wimbledon. There’s been a lot of unnecessary work on a bit which I always thought was quite safe , certainly compared to Bec to Broadway which remains a dangerous twatfest

I really dislike (almost all) cycle lanes. Unfortunately these new emergency fast-tracked safety cycle lanes are working for the bigger picture of cycling but right now, on the ground, as a road user (cyclist), it's fucking awful.

Last week riding in London before Edinburgh move, so a fitting time to be hit by a car for the first time—not bad going as 30-year-old Londoner I realise...
Stupid Uber driver decided to nose round a bus and not check whether anyone might be using the bright blue cycle lane along from Clapham North. At least I broke his number plate with my shin and he's only left me with scratches, bruises, and a slow puncture. Even as I get more sore, the last of those is the most annoying!

We have now lost Waterloo Bridge. The bus and cycle lanes have been removed on both sides
and the remaining lane has been fenced in with steel barriers. Straight out of Children of Men set design.

I'm trying to find out whats happening with it, not listed on TFL works info page as Hammersmith, Vauxhall and London Bridge are. I'm only crossing it Southbound whilst its like this

edit- it's going to be like this till some time in 2021

https://mobile.twitter.com/NixonHire/status/1296426502398054400