I've just ridden home from the Bristol Juggling Convention. For 9 days camping, close to home, at a time of year when we need to be equipped for a variety of weather conditions and for an event where we want to have plenty of toys and games, we've found that it works well if Catherine and the kids go in the car and I cycle there with a trailer.
So, 12 miles home on a Sunday evening, 8 of them on road, riding a recumbent with toy rocket launchers strapped to the low-rider panniers [1], towing a BoB with a Winnie the Pooh [2] trike bungeed to the top. Near enough every overtaking motorist gave me the entire lane as they passed :-)
[1] I left the rocket launchers out for the kids to play with while I was loading the car. Someone thought it would be funny to strap them to my bike. When I saw it, I decided it was a good way to get them home.
[2] What do Winnie the Pooh and Vlad the Impaler have in common?[3]
So, 12 miles home on a Sunday evening, 8 of them on road, riding a recumbent with toy rocket launchers strapped to the low-rider panniers [1], towing a BoB with a Winnie the Pooh [2] trike bungeed to the top.
From time to time I'd love to have a pair of rocket launchers on my bike. You will certainly have a picture of the recumbent and trailer with full gear?
So, 12 miles home on a Sunday evening, 8 of them on road, riding a recumbent with toy rocket launchers strapped to the low-rider panniers [1], towing a BoB with a Winnie the Pooh [2] trike bungeed to the top.
From time to time I'd love to have a pair of rocket launchers on my bike. You will certainly have a picture of the recumbent and trailer with full gear?
Do the various laws forbidding people to wander around with weapons actually cover rocket-launchers?
After all, fireworks are allowed, at least if unlit.
Colin McKenzie
-- On average in Britain, you're more likely to get a head injury walking a mile than cycling it. So why aren't we all exhorted to wear walking helmets?
You are not allowed to carry a harmless penknife, but you are allowed to go and buy serious quantities of explosives. Seems a little bizarre really!
You can carry a penknife if you wish as long as it has a cutting edge of less than 3 inches. You can carry a larger knife if you have a reason to have such a knife with you (for work, camping, diving or fishing for example) but you need no reason to carry a pocket knife (that doesn't lock) with a blade of less than 3 inches.
You are not allowed to carry a harmless penknife, but you are allowed to go and buy serious quantities of explosives. Seems a little bizarre really!
You can carry a penknife if you wish as long as it has a cutting edge of less than 3 inches. You can carry a larger knife if you have a reason to have such a knife with you (for work, camping, diving or fishing for example) but you need no reason to carry a pocket knife (that doesn't lock) with a blade of less than 3 inches.
Tom -- Return address is dead. Real address is at box.net0n493oa6y7Open ↗[/QUOTE]How does the Leatherman I carry in my toolkit fit into this scheme?
You can carry a penknife if you wish as long as it has a cutting edge of less than 3 inches. You can carry a larger knife if you have a reason to have such a knife with you (for work, camping, diving or fishing for example) but you need no reason to carry a pocket knife (that doesn't lock) with a blade of less than 3 inches.
How does the Leatherman I carry in my toolkit fit into this scheme?
As it is carried as part of a tool kit, for "on the spot" maintainence (cutting a tyre boot ect.) You have a valid reason to be carrying it.
How does the Leatherman I carry in my toolkit fit into this scheme?
As it is carried as part of a tool kit, for "on the spot" maintainence (cutting a tyre boot ect.) You have a valid reason to be carrying it.
I was once stopped at three in the morning, walking through a particularly leafy-suburb bit of Wimbledon with a Leatherman, two spanners and a head-torch. The moment I told plod that I'd just finished getting Northern Ballet out of Wimbledon Theatre where we'd been for the past week, I got a Mind How You Go.
-- Mark, UK "It doesn't mean anything! It's like 'ramalamadingdong' or 'give peace a chance'!"
How does the Leatherman I carry in my toolkit fit into this scheme?
As it is carried as part of a tool kit, for "on the spot" maintainence (cutting a tyre boot ect.) You have a valid reason to be carrying it.
I was once stopped at three in the morning, walking through a particularly leafy-suburb bit of Wimbledon with a Leatherman, two spanners and a head-torch. The moment I told plod that I'd just finished getting Northern Ballet out of Wimbledon Theatre where we'd been for the past week, I got a Mind How You Go.
There ahve been the odd occasions when I have absent mindedly forgotten to take my gardening knife out of the pocket of my hoodie on teh way home from the allotment. This passes by a scheme, but is otherwise an OK area.
Said knife is a bogstandard 3 quid stainess sheath knife with a 5 inch blade. I suppose having it and my hands fairly muddy is a reasonable excuse.
So, 12 miles home on a Sunday evening, 8 of them on road, riding a recumbent with toy rocket launchers strapped to the low-rider panniers [1], towing a BoB with a Winnie the Pooh [2] trike bungeed to the top.
From time to time I'd love to have a pair of rocket launchers on my bike. You will certainly have a picture of the recumbent and trailer with full gear?
Do the various laws forbidding people to wander around with weapons actually cover rocket-launchers?
After all, fireworks are allowed, at least if unlit.
As an alternative, howsabout one of those high-power water pistols, filled with artificial bird poo? Ideally this would be scented to smell like real dog poo - provided the seals on the pistol meant the gun didn't whiff except whilst firing.
As a further alternative (which also includes the excretory features), consider the "horsebike" advocated on Radio 4's "Genius" last Thursday.
-- Tim Forcer [email hidden] The University of Southampton, UK
>How does the Leatherman I carry >in my toolkit fit into this scheme?
As it is carried as part of a tool kit, for "on the spot" maintainence (cutting a tyre boot ect.) You have a valid reason to be carrying it.
I was once stopped at three in the morning, walking through a particularly leafy-suburb bit of Wimbledon with a Leatherman, two spanners and a head-torch. The moment I told plod that I'd just finished getting Northern Ballet out of Wimbledon Theatre where we'd been for the past week, I got a Mind How You Go.
There ahve been the odd occasions when I have absent mindedly forgotten to take my gardening knife out of the pocket of my hoodie on teh way home from the allotment. This passes by a scheme, but is otherwise an OK area.
Said knife is a bogstandard 3 quid stainess sheath knife with a 5 inch blade. I suppose having it and my hands fairly muddy is a reasonable excuse.
That's nothing. I've wandered into the supermarket on a Sunday afternoon after a bit of woodland maintenance with a billhook with an 18" razor sharp - really genuinely go though two-inch oak poles with one blow sharp - strapped to the outside of my rucksack, an axe and a sheath knife on my belt, and a folding pruning saw stuck out of my pocket. I've never had any comment about it...
When we're actually up in the woods doing some coppicing or trail building, the amount of sharp-edged tools we're carrying would equip a small medieval army.
You can carry a penknife if you wish as long as it has a cutting edge of less than 3 inches. You can carry a larger knife if you have a reason to have such a knife with you (for work, camping, diving or fishing for example) but you need no reason to carry a pocket knife (that doesn't lock) with a blade of less than 3 inches.
How does the Leatherman I carry in my toolkit fit into this scheme?
As it is carried as part of a tool kit, for "on the spot" maintainence (cutting a tyre boot ect.) You have a valid reason to be carrying it.
You can do electroconvulsive therapy with a leatherman? Wow, the gadgets you can get these days.
In article <[email hidden]> Simon Brooke <[email hidden]> wrote: <snip>
Quoted message said:
When we're actually up in the woods doing some coppicing or trail building, the amount of sharp-edged tools we're carrying would equip a small medieval army.
There's a cycle path I regularly use that tends to get overgrown in the summer - I've been tempted to take a large machete with me to trim it back a bit as I ride past, but I suspect that might attract unwanted attention.
Response to Tom: > >How does the Leatherman I carry > >in my toolkit fit into this scheme? > > As it is carried as part of a tool kit, for "on the spot" > maintainence > (cutting a tyre boot ect.) You have a valid reason to be carrying it.
I was once stopped at three in the morning, walking through a particularly leafy-suburb bit of Wimbledon with a Leatherman, two spanners and a head-torch. The moment I told plod that I'd just finished getting Northern Ballet out of Wimbledon Theatre where we'd been for the past week, I got a Mind How You Go.
There ahve been the odd occasions when I have absent mindedly forgotten to take my gardening knife out of the pocket of my hoodie on teh way home from the allotment. This passes by a scheme, but is otherwise an OK area.
Said knife is a bogstandard 3 quid stainess sheath knife with a 5 inch blade. I suppose having it and my hands fairly muddy is a reasonable excuse.
That's nothing. I've wandered into the supermarket on a Sunday afternoon after a bit of woodland maintenance with a billhook with an 18" razor sharp - really genuinely go though two-inch oak poles with one blow sharp - strapped to the outside of my rucksack, an axe and a sheath knife on my belt, and a folding pruning saw stuck out of my pocket. I've never had any comment about it...
When we're actually up in the woods doing some coppicing or trail building, the amount of sharp-edged tools we're carrying would equip a small medieval army.
Yeah, but you are in rural middleofnowhereshire. There are probably more people living adjacent to the 5 min walk home from my allotment than in your village.
And 99% of the sharp edges carried here are not for coppicing, or for any legal purpose whatosever.
I haven't yet tried taking the grim reaper scythe to the allotment. In fact, I have even given up carrying a swiss army knife, which does turn out to be a minor hardship as they are so useful.
I haven't yet tried taking the grim reaper scythe to the allotment. In fact, I have even given up carrying a swiss army knife, which does turn out to be a minor hardship as they are so useful.
I've walked through the centre of Lincoln on a Sunday morning carrying such an implement without problems, even wandering past a couple of plod in the process. Admittedly that was well away from our local dodgy housing estates, though even there scythes aren't the mugger's choice AFAIK.
Mark McNeill wrote: > Response to Tom: > > >How does the Leatherman I carry > > >in my toolkit fit into this scheme? > > > > As it is carried as part of a tool kit, for "on the spot" > > maintainence > > (cutting a tyre boot ect.) You have a valid reason to be carrying > > it. > > I was once stopped at three in the morning, walking through a > particularly leafy-suburb bit of Wimbledon with a Leatherman, two > spanners and a head-torch. The moment I told plod that I'd just > finished getting Northern Ballet out of Wimbledon Theatre where we'd > been for the past week, I got a Mind How You Go.
There ahve been the odd occasions when I have absent mindedly forgotten to take my gardening knife out of the pocket of my hoodie on teh way home from the allotment. This passes by a scheme, but is otherwise an OK area.
Said knife is a bogstandard 3 quid stainess sheath knife with a 5 inch blade. I suppose having it and my hands fairly muddy is a reasonable excuse.
That's nothing. I've wandered into the supermarket on a Sunday afternoon after a bit of woodland maintenance with a billhook with an 18" razor sharp - really genuinely go though two-inch oak poles with one blow sharp - strapped to the outside of my rucksack, an axe and a sheath knife on my belt, and a folding pruning saw stuck out of my pocket. I've never had any comment about it...
When we're actually up in the woods doing some coppicing or trail building, the amount of sharp-edged tools we're carrying would equip a small medieval army.
Yeah, but you are in rural middleofnowhereshire. There are probably more people living adjacent to the 5 min walk home from my allotment than in your village.
Oh, jings, aye. And the rest! But that's part of why laws made with central Glasgow/Edinburgh/Dundee in mind don't necessarily make much sense in rural areas - and vice versa. Devolving a lot of this sort of law to more local levels would make a huge amount of sense.
I haven't yet tried taking the grim reaper scythe to the allotment. In fact, I have even given up carrying a swiss army knife, which does turn out to be a minor hardship as they are so useful.
I've walked through the centre of Lincoln on a Sunday morning carrying such an implement without problems, even wandering past a couple of plod in the process. Admittedly that was well away from our local dodgy housing estates, though even there scythes aren't the mugger's choice AFAIK.
Regards,
-david
You are Mr Grim (one of the little men from the village) and ICMFP
How does the Leatherman I carry in my toolkit fit into this scheme?
As it is carried as part of a tool kit, for "on the spot" maintainence (cutting a tyre boot ect.) You have a valid reason to be carrying it.
I was once stopped at three in the morning, walking through a particularly leafy-suburb bit of Wimbledon with a Leatherman, two spanners and a head-torch. The moment I told plod that I'd just finished getting Northern Ballet out of Wimbledon Theatre where we'd been for the past week, I got a Mind How You Go.
About 30 years ago I was walking back from Imperial College (where I was not a student) late at night through one of the nicer parts of South Kensington with a friend and an acquaintance. Said acquaintance decided he would like the Silver Lady mascot from a parked roller to decorate his student room and stood on the front bumper trying to break it off (Did I mention we were all drunk at the time :-)) We didn't consider this was a good idea, dragged him off and we went on our way.
Obviously someone had noticed because we had not got more than 100yds when a police car pulled up and two ossifers got out to ask us what we were doing. We told them we were law-abiding citizens on our way home from a pleasant social evening in the student union bar, but they didn't look like they believed us and asked to search our bags. Luckily we were carrying a selection of vocal scores for a range of light operas (Imperial's that sort of place!) and were deemed obviously harmless[1]. We got a "Get off home lads and I don't want to be called out about this again tonight" [2]
Julesh
[1] or closet pinky [censored] [2] Don't try this at home!
From time to time I'd love to have a pair of rocket launchers on my bike. You will certainly have a picture of the recumbent and trailer with full gear?
Certainly have, among my convention photos.
When I got home I had 196 photos and videos on my camera. I've deleted 52 of them, now I need to name the rest and back them up, then I'll see about putting them online.
