A woman’s response to her husband starting to shave his legs because he’s a “cyclist,” posted to Australia’s version of Mumsnet, has been picked up by the press there and abroad.
Writing on Kidspot, in an article since republished by outlets including news.com.au, Olivia Williams said: “You might think one’s husband going south of the border with a shaver is just the calling card of the modern man, but my husband went WAAAAY south. Deep south.”
The husband, apparently, did the deed while his wife was away for the weekend, having raised the matter with her previously and been left in no doubt what her opinion was.
She admitted that her husband is “certainly a few pedal strokes further up the proverbial mountain than the easily recognisable and much meme-ified MAMIL,” but added that “he has no need to be shaving off milliseconds from his Saturday morning ride time with a new-found penchant for personal grooming.
“My husband is in shape,” she continued. “He’s super fit. One might say he is like a younger, balder Lance Armstrong; minus the mountains of disgrace, disrepute, doping and tell-all Oprah interviews. So not like Lance Armstrong at all. But he’s the only cyclist I could name, and that’s the extent of my willingness to research the matter.”
Concluding her post, she wrote: “So, I made a deal with him. If he shaves his legs, I’m not gonna. But I took it up a notch. I’ll grow out my underarm hair until I can braid it. My landing strip will become the literal untaming of the shrew. My legs will rival the Belanglo State Forest in both the density of native vegetation and impenetrability.
“And he liked that idea about as much as I enjoyed feeling like I’d traded in my husband for an oiled-up Peter Andre, wrapped in a silken sheathe found in the props department of a Pantene commercial. Phew.
“That’s what I call a close shave.”
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I was in Hastings/Bexhill last weekend. Very sad. RIP Fella and condolonces to the family.
OMG what happened to that bike??? It looks like it was bitten by a shark
H'mm I was in Copenhagen last week, and although there are plenty of people cycling to work in the city, I wouldn't say it was as high as 50%?
Having been to Rotterdam that seemed to have a higher percentage of cycling commuters.
Still they're both higher percentages than anywhere in the UK
Always tricky to judge by eye, since bikes take up so much less space than cars that it's easy to under-count them.
Agreed. I did see a video of Copenhagen showing many cars in traffic and what appeared to be a few bicycles passing by, but when a counter was used to determine passenger numbers, there were more cyclists than car occupants.
I visit at least once a year; the cycle infrastructure is mind bogglingly good. Just watch out, as a pedestrian, if you dare to wander into a cycle lane - they are not shared use!!!
Agreed. I did see a video of Copenhagen showing many cars in traffic and what appeared to be a few bicycles passing by, but when a counter was used to determine passenger numbers, there were more cyclists than car occupants.
I visit at least once a year; the cycle infrastructure is mind bogglingly good. Just watch out, as a pedestrian, if you dare to wander into a cycle lane - they are not shared use!!!
My impression of Copenhagen was also that it was a city with lots of cyclists, but still dominated by cars. And the drivers were quite aggressive. There were also a lot of supercars and big SUVs driving around, which doesn't make any sense.
Some of the bike lanes are amazing though and I imagine especially the ones for commuters coming into the city are more busy than the one in the centre where I spend my time.