I live in a sunny seaside town. What makes tourists wait at a kerb for a car to pass, then step in front of a bike that's right behind the car doing the same speed? Do they think 17st of bike and rider at 20mph isn't going to hurt them? Perhaps they think their ample flabby padding will cushion the blow. Perhaps they're incapable of thought :-) There seemed to be general dopey air about Weston today - must be the sun. I knew I should have come a different way back, but then I miss a long-ish downhill run that I earned after climbing it :-)
Lovely day for pottering about on the edge of the Mendips then Weston Woods! Just don't ride Continental Speed Kings on tarmac or tactile paving :-)
I live in a sunny seaside town. What makes tourists wait at a kerb for a car to pass, then step in front of a bike that's right behind the car doing the same speed?
Same reason indigenous peds do it I guess. In tourist hotspots however there's suddenly a lot more people so probably more incidents but still the same rate per 100 people!
On Aug 5, 1:57 pm, naked_draughtsman <[email hidden]>
Quoted message said:
Paul Boyd said:
I live in a sunny seaside town. What makes tourists wait at a kerb for a car to pass, then step in front of a bike that's right behind the car doing the same speed?
Same reason indigenous peds do it I guess. In tourist hotspots however there's suddenly a lot more people so probably more incidents but still the same rate per 100 people!
peter
But for lots of us tourists we are still thinking look "Look left" and assume that blasted car was a rogue. 🙂
Same reason indigenous peds do it I guess. In tourist hotspots however there's suddenly a lot more people so probably more incidents but still the same rate per 100 people!
Fortunately (?!) I had noisy knobblies on, and the noise when you brake hard on tarmac has to be heard to be believed. I almost got a startled look out of one of them :-)
Just in case anyone thinks I have it in for tourists, I don't. Just the ones where it's hard to tell where the bright orange beach ball ends and their fake-tanned bodies start, and actually manage to fill a week in this god-forsaken town :-)
There was an altogether better class of tourist in the woods - he was from oop north, and was chatting away and asking all sorts of questions about my bike before wending his way to his B&B.
I live in a sunny seaside town. What makes tourists wait at a kerb for a car to pass, then step in front of a bike that's right behind the car doing the same speed? Do they think 17st of bike and rider at 20mph isn't going to hurt them? Perhaps they think their ample flabby padding will cushion the blow. Perhaps they're incapable of thought :-) There seemed to be general dopey air about Weston today - must be the sun. I knew I should have come a different way back, but then I miss a long-ish downhill run that I earned after climbing it :-)
Lovely day for pottering about on the edge of the Mendips then Weston Woods! Just don't ride Continental Speed Kings on tarmac or tactile paving :-)
Aye, here in Edinburgh, festival has just started. The next month will see the pavements overflowing as crowds gather to see a street performer or as the human tide surges from venue to venue. I wouldn't miss it for the world.
On Sun, 05 Aug 2007 23:07:52 +0100 someone who may be Don Whybrow <[email hidden]> wrote this:-
Quoted message said:
Aye, here in Edinburgh, festival has just started. The next month will see the pavements overflowing as crowds gather to see a street performer or as the human tide surges from venue to venue. I wouldn't miss it for the world.
This time of year does mean even more visitors staring open mouthed at the view instead of looking where they are going, stopping suddenly and asking bus drivers questions which are answered on the posters on bus stops. They also gather in crowds, as you say.
All are welcome as far as I'm concerned, though those of us with things to do in the central area may occasionally mutter under our breath as we dodge around the visitors.
I live in a sunny seaside town. What makes tourists wait at a kerb for a car to pass, then step in front of a bike that's right behind the car doing the same speed? Do they think 17st of bike and rider at 20mph isn't going to hurt them? [...]
No. They just can't wait to die by floating out into the Bristol channel on their rubber ring!
Seriously, I'm avoiding most of Weston-s-M sea front and centre on days with too many tourist-terrorists by heading in by the Cabot, Boulevard and Meadow Street, out up Orchard Street, Market Lane and Park Place. They don't usually do much stupid on Knightstone Road and that's most of the nice freewheel from the hill.
No. They just can't wait to die by floating out into the Bristol channel on their rubber ring!
....or seeing how far out in the mud they can get in a vain attempt to reach the sea before the hovercraft has to rescue them. Again. :-)
Quoted message said:
Seriously, I'm avoiding most of Weston-s-M sea front and centre on days with too many tourist-terrorists by heading in by the Cabot, Boulevard and Meadow Street, out up Orchard Street, Market Lane and Park Place. They don't usually do much stupid on Knightstone Road and that's most of the nice freewheel from the hill.
I can't visualise that route - I'll need to check a map. Besides, there are other reasons for going near the sea front on a hot summer's day ;-)
I live in a sunny seaside town. What makes tourists wait at a kerb for a car to pass, then step in front of a bike that's right behind the car doing the same speed?
The same thing that makes residents do it in market towns, I'd guess :-(
I've been stepped-in-front-of when travelling pretty fast, even without the thin excuse of being "hidden" behind a car.
Same reason indigenous peds do it I guess. In tourist hotspots however there's suddenly a lot more people so probably more incidents but still the same rate per 100 people!
ISTM that a lot of tourists forget that they're in a living, working town/city that contains people going about their everyday business, so they don't think to watch out for vehicles. That certainly seemed to be the case in Bath when I lived there, most of the tourists seemed to think they were in some sort of theme park.
-- Danny Colyer <http://www.redpedals.co.uk> Reply address is valid, but that on my website is checked more often "Daddy, put that down. Daddy, put that down. Daddy, put that down. Daddy, why did you put that down?" - Charlie Colyer, age 2
Danny Colyer said the following on 10/08/2007 01:01:
Quoted message said:
ISTM that a lot of tourists forget that they're in a living, working town/city that contains people going about their everyday business, so they don't think to watch out for vehicles. That certainly seemed to be the case in Bath when I lived there, most of the tourists seemed to think they were in some sort of theme park.
Bath! Oh yes! I used to live in the Kingswood/Hanham area, so used to go into Bath because it's more pleasant than Bristol. Bath seemed to be always full of Americans and Japanese, gawd bless 'em :-)
