Latest Moan From You and Me 2024

Totally agree @Fat Controller. I know Maidenhead quite well and if I lived there I might use a bike but not after a visit to The Complete Angler and too many cherryades!

 

I thought the complete angler was at Marlowe.
Anyway, my only memories of the place was a boat hire from Maidenhead up the Thames through loads of locks in heavy rain and snow.
At Marlowe we were then escorted back to Maidenhead as the Thames was in full flood and the weirs were downright dangerous with a boat only capable of 5 mph at best.
Happy days, I froze my arse off that holiday.

 

You are right @pete The Complete Angler is in Marlow, always get the 2 places mixed up. Your trip up The Thames sounded exciting if not exactly great. Snow, presume this was not a summer holiday!

 

It was April.

 

Well, there's a lot more to consider regarding one's suitability for riding a bike. Me, I'd be mortified if I chose the wrong shade of trousers and had a rear view impression of having saddle bags.

Or having people following me, mistaking my turn signals as me trying to take flight because of my bat wings.

Or my hunched and side to side rocking motion being perceived as flatulence.

There are too many nasty possibilities that dissuade me from peddling my bum around my town that I've decided to stick with my old ICE chariot.

 

I never cycled Grenfell Road, because of the cars, but the subway in Kings Street to West Road, that little bit on Grenfell Road to St Marks.
I have never upset anybody with my bicycle, but I was knocked down quite a lot by primitive, illiterate car drivers.
Like: I came down Grenfell Road, waited at the lights for green, saw him coming and waiting next to me. I showed him that I go straight to make sure that he doesn't turn left into the Godesberg Road. He deliberately waited 3, 4 seconds until I had started cycling and then made a sharp start, turned left and knocked me down. He thought it's funny to knock down a woman on a Dawson bike on an empty road on a Sunday morning at 8.
Or Roundabout Bath Road to St Marks Road, only god knows why women with Asian background thought they can ignore the Highway code and and my arm showing I'm going to turn right and they have to stop as they would do for a car.

What my driving teacher from the AA quickly noticed that this 48 years old woman, German and cyclist knows exactly what to do what the Highway code concerns, she only has to learn to use the clutch and to drive a bit faster than 10mph.
I told him (as well as the policemen last year when that bloody car driver ignored red and knocked me down and left me with a broken collarbone): When I was 16 and wanted to cycle, my dad gave me the German Highway code and two weeks later I had to pass both tests. He would never had allows me to cycle not following the Highway code.
I passed of course my theory and driving test in the first attempt. I had just 3 errors that all happened around Windsor/Slough on huge roundabouts which I had never seen before and as a cyclist, I wouldn't use these roundabouts anyway.

I would suggest to all who disagree with cyclists should cycle for 3 months and you will learn quickly that doing the same on a bicycle what you do as a car driver are two different things for some car drivers. Only the fact that you are on a bicycle puts you into the underclass that can be treated like s..t.

 

Whatever happened to the Cycling Proficiency Test? I still have my certificate and little triangular metal badge somewhere.

 

Absolutely agree, a driving licence should give a practical lesson for different vehicles.
I found it very impressive to see what cyclists look like in dark rush hour time. The only chance for me to spot a cyclist was when the pedals moved. Bright red backlight is totally irrelevant if there are cars with the same lights.

 

We have a cycling network developed by Sustrans, which has off road cycling and walking tracks all over Birmingham and beyond. They may exist nationally. You can cycle and walk miles, even to the city centre without going on the road. That's quite pleasant. I would never dream of cycling on the road as it's too dangerous and fumey. We don't have bikes and would have a problem storing them. But we do walk along these Sustrans routes well away from traffic.

 

This will all be on Starmer's list tomorrow.
What happened to the old slogan, wear something white at night.