No excuse with led cheap powerful lights these days. Cyclists with no lights should have their bikes crushed
IIRC there was one where a cyclist was cycling along a pavement, towards a lamppost, at the edge of the pavement. A woman was walking in the opposite direction, from the other side of the lamppost. She took exception to the cyclist and moved towards her, gesticulating. The cyclist went off the pavement into the path of a car, and was sadly killed.
I am very confused about the status of cyclists and pavements. When I was young I was taught that we could not cycle on a pavement, and so did not. These days it seems to be a free-for-all. That wouldn’t be too bad if cyclists took a little more care of pedestrians (I’m sure many do, but not all). I have seen cyclists cycling at quite a speed along pavements, often close to the buildings. If someone stepped out of a shop or other door onto the pavement, the possibilities of injury to both is quite high, IWHT.
Sometimes it is clear what the situation is, with signage showing shared pathway, or cyclists one side and pedestrians the other. That seems fine - just so everyone knows what the situation is. I have seen a video, though, where there is a small family group of pedestrians (parents and 1 or 2 kids) and a cyclist approached from behind them, possibly yelled for them to get out of his way, and he (possibly deliberately - he seemed to swerve) hit a young girl - not very hard, but nevertheless, he hit her and it looked deliberate.
We all need to look out for each other. And be prepared to give up our right of way in order to protect others. Even when you have right of way, you don’t have to take it. I am very much in agreement with Ashley Neal’s attitude towards road use.
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Highway Code Rule 64 seems pretty unambiguous. With bold capital letters for emphasis.
“ Rule 64
You MUST NOT cycle on a pavement.
Laws HA 1835 sect 72 & R(S)A sect 129”
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Hilarious how the tiny number of cyclist induced incidents are being quoted here when the overall statistics show the massive disparity in killed/seriously injured 
Not that any drivers exceed the speed limit or use their phones whilst driving (potentially lethal activities) whilst the occasional cyclist passing a red light ( often for their own safety) gets pilloried.
But then in the UK motorists are the ‘in-group’ and cyclist the ‘deviant minority’ so it’s all rather predicable I guess…
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I only quoted the story because you said bad cyclists don’t kill anyone. They do. But of course it is in tiny numbers compared to the number of motorists who kill thousands of other motorists, pedestrians and cyclists
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Dear Richard Dane,
Please would you put a stop to this. It’s beginning to sound like The Daily Mail, or worse, Jeremy Clarkson. It is definitely not The Best use of anyone’s time, or The Best form of argument, or The Best route towards agreement or compromise.
Much as I am bemused by disagreement over The Best apple, or The Best denim jeans, all of this “I once heard about a bloke who said that …” is just a waste of everyone’s time.
By the way, thank you so much for putting up with us!
Best wishes,
Brian D.
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It is against the law, even for children, to cycle on the pavement in Britain (though I doubt the police would prosecute a young child cycling on the pavement). It is that simple. …Except that local authorities these days often create shares pedestrian/cycle paths (which as a cyclist I hate unless I am having an unusually leisurely aimless ride), and that has, I think, blurred the law in many cyclists minds. There have of course always been those that “cheat” and bypass red lights by going past them on the pavement, giving cyclists a bad name.
Returning the thread to it’s theme, the best cycle routes (other than mountain bike trails) I’ve been on have been in France, where they seem to be much friendlier and more accommodating towards cyclists than Britain. I am aware that some parts of Britain have implemented more routes separated from traffic, but in my view there are far too many so-called cycle lanes that appear to have been simply so the local authority can say they’ve got some, without any consideration for what makes a good cycle path.
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Back when we were ethanol consumers my wife and I attended a small cocktail class held at the bar by a local cocktail expert. He called the class “Stirred Not Shaken - Why James Bond Had it Wrong.”
It was mostly about the role of ice, and thus the role of water, in cocktails.
He has built out and opened the bar at this high-end local restaurant and had specified the precise ice cube size/machine.
He gave us several examples . . . including a martini made with chilled ingrediants and no ice. It was plenty cold but rather undrinkable. Water is a key ingredient! He then made one with crushed ice which demonstrated how the large surface area results in too much melt and thus too much water.
Moral of the story – the size and shape of the ice matters!
PS: He recognized that some people now like the shards of ice that appear in a shaken martini, but insisted that stirred is the proper technique.
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You should ask for a refund of your Naim Forum dues.
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“Shaken not stirred”
That’s why you never see Bond pull a funny face when taking his first sip.
The “Vesper” martini is a great variant!
While the Ian Fleming recipe calls for Kina Lillet, it’s not made any more and its replacement Lillet Blanc is quite a bit sweeter. Thus many substitute Cocci Americano.
And Eva Green is very appropriate on this topic.
(Only because I would not post photos of my own wife and family members on a forum)
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My wife (semi) pretends she’s a Bond “girl” wearing her Rolex GMT. While a newer model than worn by Pussy Galore, she nevertheless really likes it.
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It’s a pretty basic, generally agreed rule that, if a cocktail contains juice (or cream), then you shake it, otherwise you stir. I never understood why Fleming had the worldly, sophisticated Bond ask for a shaken martini. An in-joke, maybe?
Ian Fleming was a notorious snob, but he often got his details wrong. (If he’d been a true gentleman, he’d have known about these things.)
Listening to Nicholas Shakespeare’s biography of Fleming this week on R4 it appears when IF spoke of details like drink, cigarette or location he spoke from personal preference. Certainly, not a recommendation of the best or iconic.
Or egg white; don’t forget the “flip!”
I think finance threads are more interesting, but like a break every now and then.
This is what I’ve been using for protecting garden tools, greenhouse stuff and fancy alloy Japanese tripod ladders. Obviously not new to some people here, but just keeping a thread alive. It’s good on many materials and leaves a fine film of residue and doesn’t seem to ruin anything. It’s safe to use and non-toxic* The 500ml bottle is a more economical way of buying it, as a spray can includes a lot of propellant
- Disclaimer - I’m not a qualified oil scientist, nor a professional gardener and I don’t host a gardening tv series. I wouldn’t advise drinking it. In fact, I’m not qualified to advise anything, so I can’t say you should buy it either.
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