Telegraph today



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wafflycat

Guest
About cycling...

<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=FJ5DOFPM3VQWPQFIQMGSM5OAVCBQWJVC?xml=/news/2005/09/26/nbike26.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/09/26/ixhome.html>

"Towns get £5m to start cycle revolution"

One can only hope it isn't spent on white paint...

"At present, less than one and a half per cent of all journeys are by
bicycle in England, but in Hull, Bristol, York, Cambridge, Oxford and
London - all cycle-friendly towns - the figure is higher. In Hull, where
there are 20mph limit zones, it is 12 per cent.
In contrast, 25 per cent of trips in Holland are by bike, a situation which
Mr Darnton described as "a dream". One way to encourage people to cycle more
is to slow down traffic, he said. Danger from fast drivers was commonly
cited, especially by women, as a reason they did not cycle.
The cycling demonstration towns will show, he added, that cyclists get
exercise, save money and tackle the pollution problem.
Mr Darnton said investment was needed because we are "all completely
car-centric". "Get out of your car, change a culture, change an attitude.""

and

<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=FJ5DOFPM3VQWPQFIQMGSM5OAVCBQWJVC?xml=/news/2005/09/26/nbike126.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/09/26/ixhome.html>

"We are not all dreadlocked eco-warriors, so give us a break"

Apparently the author does not like people who cycle fast ;-)
Cheers, helen s
 
And there's this one...

<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=FJ5DOFPM3VQWPQFIQMGSM5OAVCBQWJVC?xml=/news/2005/09/26/ncows26.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/09/26/ixhome.html>

"Children see father left close to death after cow attack"

Cheers, helen s
 
wafflycat wrote:
> And there's this one...
>
> <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=FJ5DOFPM3VQWPQFIQMGSM5OAVCBQWJVC?xml=/news/2005/09/26/ncows26.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/09/26/ixhome.html>
>
>
> "Children see father left close to death after cow attack"
>
> Cheers, helen s
>

Does this mean you are admitting to reading that dreadful rag?

--
Tony

"I did make a mistake once - I thought I'd made a mistake but I hadn't"
Anon
 
wafflycat wrote:
> About cycling...
>
> <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=FJ5DOFPM3VQWPQFIQMGSM5OAVCBQWJVC?xml=/news/2005/09/26/nbike26.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/09/26/ixhome.html>
>
>
> "Towns get £5m to start cycle revolution"
>

Funny, I looked at the photo caption and wondered why it wasn't "The
grim reality of life for drivers in London"


--
Tony

"I did make a mistake once - I thought I'd made a mistake but I hadn't"
Anon
 
"Tony Raven" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> wafflycat wrote:
>> And there's this one...
>>
>> <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=FJ5DOFPM3VQWPQFIQMGSM5OAVCBQWJVC?xml=/news/2005/09/26/ncows26.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/09/26/ixhome.html>
>> "Children see father left close to death after cow attack"
>>
>> Cheers, helen s
>>
>
> Does this mean you are admitting to reading that dreadful rag?
>

I read various dreadful rags online from all ranges of the dreadful rag
zone. Well, I don't go as far as Screws of the World or the Sun...

Cheers, helen s
 
wafflycat wrote:

> "We are not all dreadlocked eco-warriors, so give us a break"
>
> Apparently the author does not like people who cycle fast ;-)

I didn't read it that way at all. I read it as saying that cycling does
not /need/ to be treated like a sport, and given that the emphasis in
the UK bike retail area is on sports machinery, or pretend sports
machinery, and sporty clothing and accessories, then Hurrah! for that
message.

Have a look around a Dutch town and you'll see what he means. People
riding in their day to day clothes doing their day to day things on
bikes that wouldn't really gain from contrived padded shorts, clipless
pedals and enormously expensive components weighing nothing. In short,
cycling without a lot of fuss.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
 
"wafflycat" <waffles*$*A**T*v21net$*££*D*O*T*co*D£$£*O*T*uk> wrote in
message news:[email protected]...
> About cycling...
>
> <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=FJ5DOFPM3VQWPQFIQMGSM5OAVCBQWJVC?xml=/news/2005/09/26/nbike26.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/09/26/ixhome.html>
>
> "Towns get £5m to start cycle revolution"
>
> One can only hope it isn't spent on white paint...
>
> "At present, less than one and a half per cent of all journeys are by
> bicycle in England, but in Hull, Bristol, York, Cambridge, Oxford and
> London - all cycle-friendly towns - the figure is higher. In Hull, where
> there are 20mph limit zones, it is 12 per cent.
>

Nice to see Kings Town upon Hull getting some decent press for a change!

20 mph zones -> http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/page361.htm

--
Simon Mason
http://www.simonmason.karoo.net
 
Peter Clinch wrote:

>
> Have a look around a Dutch town and you'll see what he means. People
> riding in their day to day clothes doing their day to day things on
> bikes that wouldn't really gain from contrived padded shorts, clipless
> pedals and enormously expensive components weighing nothing. In short,
> cycling without a lot of fuss.
>

You forget to mention without helmets too. In the days before my
enlightenment our two children had an exchange trip with a Dutch family.
They were very good about our insistence that our children wore
helmets when cycling but viewed it as very quaint. Our children
definitely felt the odd ones wearing helmets when out and about on their
bikes.

--
Tony

"I did make a mistake once - I thought I'd made a mistake but I hadn't"
Anon
 
Tony Raven wrote:

> You forget to mention without helmets too.

I think "In short, cycling without a lot of fuss" covers that particular
base... ;-)

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
 
"wafflycat" <waffles*$*A**T*v21net$*££*D*O*T*co*D£$£*O*T*uk> wrote:
>
>"Towns get £5m to start cycle revolution"
>
>One can only hope it isn't spent on white paint...

It isn't enough to pay for much else.

Tony.
--
f.a.n.finch <[email protected]> http://dotat.at/
WEST CENTRAL SECTION: WEST OR NORTHWEST 7 TO SEVERE GALE 9 BACKING SOUTHWEST
6 TO GALE 8, DECREASING 4 OR 5 IN SOUTH. SHOWERS THEN RAIN. MODERATE OR GOOD.
 
Tony Finch wrote:

> It isn't enough to pay for much else.

White paint costs quite a bit. The sorts of measures suggested (like
making training available) are quite potentially less.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email protected] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/
 
Tony Raven wrote:
>
> wafflycat wrote:
> > And there's this one...
> >
> > <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=FJ5DOFPM3VQWPQFIQMGSM5OAVCBQWJVC?xml=/news/2005/09/26/ncows26.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/09/26/ixhome.html>
> >
> >
> > "Children see father left close to death after cow attack"
> >
> > Cheers, helen s
> >
>
> Does this mean you are admitting to reading that dreadful rag?

It could explain a few things ;-)

john B
 
Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
> I submit that on or about Mon, 26 Sep 2005 07:25:36 +0100, the person
> known to the court as "wafflycat"
> <waffles*$*A**T*v21net$*££*D*O*T*co*D£$£*O*T*uk> made a statement
> (<[email protected]> in Your Honour's bundle) to the
> following effect:
>
> >"At present, less than one and a half per cent of all journeys are by
> >bicycle in England, but in Hull, Bristol, York, Cambridge, Oxford and
> >London - all cycle-friendly towns - the figure is higher.
>
> I have to say that there is nothing particularly cyclist-friendly
> about either Oxford or London (certainly no more so than Reading); in
> my view there are just more cyclists, so people expect them and know
> how to interact with them.

There are a good number of cyclists and the roads aren't particularly
cyclist unfriendly. So it works..

...d
 
I submit that on or about 26 Sep 2005 13:51:45 -0700, the person known
to the court as "David Martin" <[email protected]> made a
statement (<[email protected]> in
Your Honour's bundle) to the following effect:

>> I have to say that there is nothing particularly cyclist-friendly
>> about either Oxford or London (certainly no more so than Reading); in
>> my view there are just more cyclists, so people expect them and know
>> how to interact with them.

>There are a good number of cyclists and the roads aren't particularly
>cyclist unfriendly. So it works..

Indeed - but the city is not "cyclist friendly" in some mystical way.

Guy
--
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

"To every complex problem there is a solution which is
simple, neat and wrong" - HL Mencken
 
wafflycat wrote:
> "Tony Raven" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > wafflycat wrote:
> >> And there's this one...
> >>
> >> <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=FJ5DOFPM3VQWPQFIQMGSM5OAVCBQWJVC?xml=/news/2005/09/26/ncows26.xml&sSheet=/news/2005/09/26/ixhome.html>
> >> "Children see father left close to death after cow attack"
> >>
> >> Cheers, helen s
> >>
> >
> > Does this mean you are admitting to reading that dreadful rag?
> >
>
> I read various dreadful rags online from all ranges of the dreadful rag
> zone. Well, I don't go as far as Screws of the World or the Sun...

they're on line? how do readers log on?, internet has 3 syllables
 
Just zis Guy, you know? wrote:
> I submit that on or about 26 Sep 2005 13:51:45 -0700, the person known
> to the court as "David Martin" <[email protected]> made a
> statement (<[email protected]> in
> Your Honour's bundle) to the following effect:
>
>>> I have to say that there is nothing particularly cyclist-friendly
>>> about either Oxford or London (certainly no more so than Reading);
>>> in my view there are just more cyclists, so people expect them and
>>> know how to interact with them.
>
>> There are a good number of cyclists and the roads aren't particularly
>> cyclist unfriendly. So it works..
>
> Indeed - but the city is not "cyclist friendly" in some mystical way.

Are you implying that it's the presence of other cyclists that makes a city
cyclist friendly.
--
Ambrose
 
Ambrose Nankivell wrote:

> Are you implying that it's the presence of other cyclists that makes a city
> cyclist friendly.

No, it's the presence of friendly cyclists that makes a city.

...d
 
David Martin wrote:
> Ambrose Nankivell wrote:
>
>> Are you implying that it's the presence of other cyclists that makes
>> a city cyclist friendly.
>
> No, it's the presence of friendly cyclists that makes a city.
>
Which must be why my town still hasn't got its city charter yet.

That said, I don't think Cannock Chase is a city, and the cyclists there on
Sunday were most friendly, so I guess it's a necessary condition, not a
sufficient condition.

--
Ambrose
 
I submit that on or about Wed, 28 Sep 2005 11:45:21 +0100, the person
known to the court as "Ambrose Nankivell" <[email protected]>
made a statement (<[email protected]> in Your Honour's
bundle) to the following effect:

>>> There are a good number of cyclists and the roads aren't particularly
>>> cyclist unfriendly. So it works..

>> Indeed - but the city is not "cyclist friendly" in some mystical way.

>Are you implying that it's the presence of other cyclists that makes a city
>cyclist friendly.

It's a bit chicken-and-egg; some cities have a geography which
naturally encourages cycling (like around the Oxford colleges, where
many journeys turn out to be a five minute ride or a fifteen minute
walk). That means you get lots of cyclists, and they encourage more
cyclists. And then the council brags about how "cyclist friendly"
they are, when they have largely done nothing in particular to help,
and quite often the opposite (e.g. 18" wide cycle lanes).

On paper Milton Keynes is cyclist friendly. But the geography sucks,
distances are too great and parking too abundant to encourage riding,
so it is a motorised wasteland.

Guy
--
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

"To every complex problem there is a solution which is
simple, neat and wrong" - HL Mencken
 
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