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London bubble, toil and trouble

by Leviathan
Wed, Feb 25, 2015 22:50
26

I can't be the only one getting tired of hearing about goings on in That London. This is not road.cc's fault but every bit of news lately seems to be about some ever-delayed project, video confrontation, inappropriate campaign or statement by politicians or malinformed commentators on the street or in the press. Bridges sans cyclist or avec cyclist. Or just seeing that road.cc cracked pavement bike sign... The vast majority of people in this country do not live in London and wouldn't want to, it is a silly place.

Please tell us how splendid or awful your part of the country is, or just have a good moan like me.

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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26 comments

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LondonDynaslow | 9 years ago
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What a provincial thing to say...

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crikey | 9 years ago
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If a 'Mega City' means no gravy at the chippy and no Hollands pies you can keep it.

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Judge dreadful replied to crikey | 9 years ago
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crikey wrote:

If a 'Mega City' means no gravy at the chippy and no Hollands pies you can keep it.

'Gravy', what is this 'Gravy' you speak of? I know only of parsley liquor with my pies, there is no 'Gravy'. 39

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Judge dreadful | 9 years ago
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London is a 'Mega City', like all 'Mega City's' it acts like a singularity, it tends to drag everything towards it. I lived there for 25 years, and I've seen it grow exponentially. It's getting very hard to find a quiet corner, anywhere now. Even the previously not so good bits, are getting too much attention for my liking. That's progress, if you can't stand the heat, well you know the rest.

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brooksby replied to Judge dreadful | 9 years ago
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Judge dreadful wrote:

London is a 'Mega City'.

Newsflash - the inhabitants of Boris Johnson Block have declared block war on DfT Commerce-Block 5. Bicycles at dawn.

Wow - imagine if Dredd had a carbon frame and dropped handlebars instead of a Lawmaster...

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crikey | 9 years ago
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We don't want all them southern buggers comin' up 'ere, riding on our roads, drinking our tea and generally makin' the place look untidy!

London is a great place, mainly because it's a bloody long way away.

(...and, yes, I know I've moaned about London centred reporting on here before, but I'm not sharing!)

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bikebot | 9 years ago
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Oi, rest of country, please create more news!

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brooksby | 9 years ago
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"Edward, you lied - there is a Swansea!"

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arfa | 9 years ago
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Just a suggestion, how about a series of guest articles on areas where you ride (non London) and why you keep riding there ? A few photos, routes, cakes and cafe stops etc ?
Just a thought to reorientated away from London....

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mtm_01 replied to arfa | 9 years ago
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arfa wrote:

Just a suggestion, how about a series of guest articles on areas where you ride (non London) and why you keep riding there ? A few photos, routes, cakes and cafe stops etc ?
Just a thought to reorientated away from London....

Would be easy enough to do, I know I've written plenty waxing lyrical about how much I enjoy cycling in North Wales and obviously I'm not the only blogger out there.

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brooksby replied to arfa | 9 years ago
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arfa wrote:

Just a suggestion, how about a series of guest articles on areas where you ride (non London) and why you keep riding there ? A few photos, routes, cakes and cafe stops etc ?
Just a thought to reorientated away from London....

Bristol is pretty good. We have hills, and (allegedly) psychotic bus drivers...

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Al__S | 9 years ago
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Yup, it's a London-centric website run out of, um, Bath...

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farrell replied to Al__S | 9 years ago
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Cycling in London is brilliant and should have even more money spent on it.

The New Forest is a wonderful place to visit, you should go there more.

There is nothing up here for you.

Al__S wrote:

Yup, it's a London-centric website run out of, um, Bath...

I don't know how to respond to that because in text form I can't tell how you pronounce it.

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bashthebox | 9 years ago
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Agreed that the garden bridge is an absolute scandal - it's supposed to be a privately funded project, but has gobbled up £60m of public money already, and is projected to cost £170m. It's a Lumley/Boris vanity project that the public will be allowed to use by appointment only.
Contrast that to the new Nine Elms/Pimlico ped/bike bridge that's gonna cost about £20-40m and is open to all, all of the time.

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crikey | 9 years ago
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stottie_cake

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joemmo | 9 years ago
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Generally I agree that London gets a disproportionate share of pretty much everything, media coverage included. FTR I lived there for 12 years and enjoyed it but wouldn't / couldn't go back.

Despite this, London does seem to be leading the way in setting up urban cycle infrastructure in the uk so it's unsurprising that it gets coverage on that front.

If, however, I see another article about a startup in Hoxton making artisan satchels from recycled beards I will beat my whippet to death with a stotty.

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sergius replied to joemmo | 9 years ago
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joemmo wrote:

If, however, I see another article about a startup in Hoxton making artisan satchels from recycled beards I will beat my whippet to death with a stotty.

19

P.S. what's a stotty?

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Dapper Giles replied to sergius | 9 years ago
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sergius wrote:
joemmo wrote:

If, however, I see another article about a startup in Hoxton making artisan satchels from recycled beards I will beat my whippet to death with a stotty.

19

P.S. what's a stotty?

I think it's like a frisbee but made of bread.
I had one once as a kid on a trip to Newcastle. It was full of eggs and bacon.

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joemmo replied to Dapper Giles | 9 years ago
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Dapper Giles wrote:
sergius wrote:
joemmo wrote:

If, however, I see another article about a startup in Hoxton making artisan satchels from recycled beards I will beat my whippet to death with a stotty.

19

P.S. what's a stotty?

I think it's like a frisbee but made of bread.
I had one once as a kid on a trip to Newcastle. It was full of eggs and bacon.

You're right - disc shaped loaf, a proper stotty should be quite heavy and elastic in texture. Best filled with meat and fat. Can stun a grown man if thrown with sufficient force.
http://www.kenwoodworld.com/Global/Countries/UK/blog/karen/stotty-cakes-...

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Dnnnnnn replied to joemmo | 9 years ago
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joemmo wrote:

Generally I agree that London gets a disproportionate share of pretty much everything, media coverage included. FTR I lived there for 12 years and enjoyed it but wouldn't / couldn't go back.

Despite this, London does seem to be leading the way in setting up urban cycle infrastructure in the uk so it's unsurprising that it gets coverage on that front.

If, however, I see another article about a startup in Hoxton making artisan satchels from recycled beards I will beat my whippet to death with a stotty.

LOL!

Agreed that London gets disproportionate media and government transport investment focus - but good cycling policy and infrastructure isn't expensive. Your local council could easily afford it if they wanted to. The other thing London has is political will and a strong cycling (and public transport) voice.

If you gave more money to other areas most of them would spend it on roads for cars.

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ianrobo | 9 years ago
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There is a reason why in Birmingham we have far fewer cyclists !

I do not mind a debate, a strong debate about cycling in London but we just want our fair share of the cake. For example this garden bridge nonsense the taxpayer is paying for. In these times it is totally unjustified but the cycle superhighway is not because if it works in London then the model can be spread to other cities.

The key is persuading that for commuting routes separation of bike and traffic is key, win that argument the rest can follow.

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mtm_01 replied to ianrobo | 9 years ago
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ianrobo wrote:

There is a reason why in Birmingham we have far fewer cyclists !

Probably down to all the major roads into the city being a massively frightening though to newbies, though I still maintain the Hagley Road is surprisingly safe during rush hour.

There are plenty of alternatives if you don't mind canal cycling and the traffic free route out of the city to the south is a good one.

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ianrobo replied to mtm_01 | 9 years ago
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mtm_01 wrote:
ianrobo wrote:

There is a reason why in Birmingham we have far fewer cyclists !

Probably down to all the major roads into the city being a massively frightening though to newbies, though I still maintain the Hagley Road is surprisingly safe during rush hour.

There are plenty of alternatives if you don't mind canal cycling and the traffic free route out of the city to the south is a good one.

I have no problem riding in Brum but guess I am used to it. the biggest thing that helps is of course Bus lanes but of course some were taken out.

Most of it is frankly down to common sense and when I was in London I see frankly little of it.

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bashthebox | 9 years ago
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Well there's 8 million or so people living in London, the nation's capital. The lawmakers live here, and it's the place where you have the highest concentration of cyclists - and cyclist fatalities and injuries - on the roads.
If we can make London's infrastructure accommodate cyclists, motorists and pedestrians safely, then we can take that infrastructure and use it in the rest of the country.
So yes, it's of absolute critical importance to everyone that cycling in London is pushed to the top of the agenda.

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Colin Peyresourde | 9 years ago
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This place you speak of, I have heard of it, but on the map it says 'there be dragons'!?!

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sergius | 9 years ago
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There exists a place that's *not* London (or the Surrey Hills to the South 1 )?

/shudder

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