Am I the only one?

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Re: Am I the only one?

Postby viceroy » Tue Nov 20, 2012 8:57 pm

Dexter St. Clair wrote:
yoker brian wrote:A reminder from the Highway Code

https://www.gov.uk/rules-for-cyclists-5 ... w-59-to-71

64

You MUST NOT cycle on a pavement.
Laws HA 1835 sect 72 & R(S)A 1984, sect 129


viceroy wrote:Yet another fat-arsed cretin on a pushbike nearly ramming me from behind on a public footpath.


Viceroy path to be shared or was it the pavement?


I have had to contend with this sort of thing on pavements, but in this instance it was in the Pollok Country Park on one of the tarmac paths through the North Wood (not the mountain bike track). It is particularly bad along the the path beside the White Cart which forms part of the National Cycle Route. I don't know how often I have just about jumped out of my skin because a cyclist has come up from behind at speed and gone whizzing past me with no prior warning whatsoever and with only inches to spare. Those who do ring their bell form a small minority (and are mostly female cyclists in my experience, but no surprises there, really). You mentioned that cyclists should call out when approaching a pedestrian from behind, but personally I think a bell is much more effective.

Bellahouston Park is another place where I have had the same experience. It is particularly dangerous there because cyclists come down off Bellahouston Hill on their way to the Boulevard and reach very high speeds.

My main concern is that I might sidestep without realising that a cyclist is right behind me and end up with a serious injury. As a fit and active 65 year old the last thing I want is an incapacitating back injury, or worse. I have of course been talking about my own experience, but I know that it is a common bugbear, particularly among people of my own age group and older, some of whom find it quite distressing.

I am not a fan of the shared space concept, but if it has to be used then clearly a great deal of work still needs to be done in educating cyclists to treat pedestrians with respect. After all, walking is the most natural form of locomotion and is beneficial not just from a physical but from a psychological point of view. While walking you can daydream, weave fantasies, work through problems, compose poems and music even. If it becomes an activity that can only be performed while being in a state of anxious alertness then we are in a bad place indeed.

And please don't get me started on the motor car and motorists in general.......
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Re: Am I the only one?

Postby Fossil » Wed Nov 21, 2012 4:08 pm

Cyclists are cunts
Bum tit tit bum tit tit play yer hairy banjo
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Re: Am I the only one?

Postby viceroy » Wed Nov 21, 2012 6:17 pm

Nice to see at least somebody's on my side!
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Re: Am I the only one?

Postby banjo » Wed Nov 21, 2012 7:22 pm

well thats me told.
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Re: Am I the only one?

Postby rabmania » Wed Nov 21, 2012 9:45 pm

banjo wrote:well thats me told.


Don't listen to pottymouthed bigots. Hi ho bicycle away!
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Re: Am I the only one?

Postby yoker brian » Wed Nov 21, 2012 10:50 pm

rabmania wrote:
banjo wrote:well thats me told.


Don't listen to pottymouthed bigots. Hi ho bicycle away!


Just stay off the pavements
Milk Sucks, Got Beer?
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Re: Am I the only one?

Postby rabmania » Thu Nov 22, 2012 8:55 am

yoker brian wrote:
rabmania wrote:
banjo wrote:well thats me told.


Don't listen to pottymouthed bigots. Hi ho bicycle away!


Just stay off the pavements


If you're talkking to me- I always cycle the way I drive, the way I walk- with respect and politeness for all, and according to the Highway Code. Don't assume anything about me. Away and berate the problem road users, whether they are on bikes, on foot or in cars.
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Re: Am I the only one?

Postby Dexter St. Clair » Thu Nov 22, 2012 11:09 am

rabmania wrote: Away and berate the problem road users, whether they are on bikes, on foot or in cars.
or in an appalling shirt.
"I before E, except after C" works in most cases but there are exceptions.
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Re: Am I the only one?

Postby Sunflower » Thu Nov 22, 2012 11:18 am

Hello to Viceroy and Yah-boo to Fossil....

I was going to stay out of this - it's one of those subjects that just results in a lot of yelling and screaming and everyone getting more dug into their initial stances. But the yesterday I had Viceroy's experience with the cyclist/ped the other way round.

I was pedalling along in the riverside path by the SECC car park. It's an offical shared path, and part of the long distance cycle route to Loch Lomond and places north, but it's not very wide. I was coming up behind a young woman jogging in the middle of the path. I dinged my bell twice (as recommended) and watched to see which side she would go to. She carried on bang in the middle. I dinged again, still no sideways movement or backward glance. I decided there was room to pass on her right, but just as my front wheel was drawing level with her (quite slowly - I am not Speedy Gonzalez at the best of times and I'd slowed down while working out what she was going to do) she veered into my path. I had to do a crash stop (fortunately staying upright) and she jogged off, still without a backward glance.

I caught up with her again where the pavement goes round the heliport. She was still in the middle of the path. This time I came up behind her ringing my bell continuously and she still didn't budge from the middle of the path. So I wasn't surprised to see when I passed her that, yes, she was wearing headphones.

How stupid and rude is that?

I understand that non-cyclists can find the relative speed of bikes startling, even when (from the cyclist's point of view) they're not going that fast, and know that they can stop readily. When I'm on a shared path I use the bell from quite a distance back, and I thank people who leave room for bikes. But to be honest, the commonest reaction from people walking on a shared path when they hear a bell is to stop dead in the middle of the path, peer round, and stare like a deer caught in headlights, by which time you've caught up with them. If there's room it's often less disruptive for everyone just to go past.

On shared paths (IMO) both walkers and cyclists should use the path with consideration for all kinds of other users (and so should dog-walkers, pram-pushers and kiddy-wranglers). With due respect to Viceroy, on shared paths walkers would help themselves by being aware that cyclists may want to pass, and may actually be on the way somewhere distant and not just out for a pootle around in the fresh air. It's sensible to keep to the left, try not to take up the whole path (if in a group), and keep an ear out for bikey noises behind. And of course cyclists should do their best not to frighten people, and if it's a sunny weekend when everyone's out give up all idea of making decent progress on that section.

But there are people around who never consider the effect of what they do on others. Judging by the state of the streets there are a lot of them in Glasgow, and some of them, inevitably, ride bikes. And some of them walk on paths. And drive cars.

And so to my final provocation: because cyclists are so vulnerable on busy roads I think cycling on should be made legal on any pavement. With the proviso that (except on designated shared paths) pedestrians have absolute priority. So on a busy pavement cyclists couldn't go any faster than walking pace anyway. But on one of those intermediate roads where there's quite a lot of fast traffic and a pavement with no pedestrians in sight, cyclists could use the pavement without feeling guilty. Of course, you'd still have the problem of idiots with no manners....
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Re: Am I the only one?

Postby dimairt » Thu Nov 29, 2012 1:49 pm

Josef wrote:
The Egg Man wrote:As I recall there was only one Scot out of all eight contestants. Why might anyone expect a knowledge of contemporary Scottish literature, unless you're including Harry POtter?


Why might you expect a knowledge of Greek Mythology, Roman historians, nineteenth-century UK politics, or any other subject you might conceivably be asked questions on?

As it happens I could probably tell you more about contemporary Norwegian authors than Scots ones, but regardless, every single work of fiction by a living UK author I've bought in the last twenty years has been by a Scot, with one exception. And the exception has lived in Italy for decades.

Is this that Weegie anti-culture thing again, or just the anti-Scotland thing? Both baffle me. What's it all about?


What do HG-ers think of the list of texts chosen for the new compulsory question on Scottish literature in future English exams? Any serious omissions?
I thought it was a good start and it's open to change. I can't imagine why we haven't had this before and I'm always pleased to see change that pisses off teachers, or at least their representatives in this way.
Durachdan,

Eddy

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/educ ... d.19530697
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Re: Am I the only one?

Postby Dexter St. Clair » Fri Nov 30, 2012 8:10 pm

However, Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the EIS, attacked the introduction of the "limited" list of texts calling it a return to the "failed" format of the 1990s.

He said: "While there are some excellent texts on this list, there are many writers who have not been included. Overall, the selection is far too narrow and will lead to the same texts being taught year after year."
"I before E, except after C" works in most cases but there are exceptions.
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Re: Am I the only one?

Postby Josef » Fri Nov 30, 2012 10:53 pm

Larry Flanagan's an HG member? He kept that quiet.

Curiously, although I seldom to never read poetry and often read prose, I've heard of all of the poets but two of the prose authors I'd never heard of in my puff.

It wouldn't be mine, but reasonable-enough list.
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Re: Am I the only one?

Postby dimairt » Sun Jan 06, 2013 11:31 pm

Is it just me or is ITV's coverage of the FA Cup really shite?

Durachdan,

Eddy
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Re: Am I the only one?

Postby edward carolan » Mon Jan 07, 2013 4:30 am

Re The bike thing, it is the same as "Sail before Steam* it is feet before wheels, If there is a problem it is the cyclist fault regardless the glaicketness of the pedestrian. The cyclist is supposed and assumed to be in control and consequently liable.
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Re: Am I the only one?

Postby rabmania » Mon Jan 07, 2013 11:15 am

edward carolan wrote:Re The bike thing, it is the same as "Sail before Steam* it is feet before wheels, If there is a problem it is the cyclist fault regardless the glaicketness of the pedestrian. The cyclist is supposed and assumed to be in control and consequently liable.


I tend to agree, but what about this circumstance? Cyclist going up W Nile street from St Vincent Street. Cyclist(on the road) is parallel to (and going in opposite direction to) two pedestrians. The pedestrians suddenly realise there's a cab they want to flag down, and jump in to the road (and into the cyclist) in order to hail the cab. Whose fault?

The pedestrians of course blamed me...
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