Gosh, you´re lucky...the rural area, market town that I´m from no longer has even the basics, Dr, Dentist, Banks, Library, all gone...at least 2 of my, say ´local peers´ went in their 30´s drink and or drugs...Even our big smoke, Skegness, has some enormous challenges with deprivation and poverty.Originally Posted by oldoakknives
Last edited by Passenger; 11th April 2024 at 11:51.
I suppose there will always be the less fortunate types in any area and we should all try to support them any way we can. Mind you some of the places around Skegness seem very nice, perhaps the circles you move in has an effect.
Started out with nothing. Still have most of it left.
None of us get to chose the environments, families into which we're born, brought up is my take on it fwiw...one was something of a bad seed, the other a decent lad, such a waste. Your point may have some validity...though utility is 5, 7ths proximity and public transport isn't great in the area.
I´m not sure there´s many places around Skegness that can truthfully be categorised as very nice...if we´re being honest, less obviously in decline, pockets of relative affluence would be more like it. Though I guess it depends on your expectations, definition of very nice. I wonder whereabouts you have in mind
Last edited by Passenger; 12th April 2024 at 08:52.
It's a funny one with groups of cyclists. Big groups ain't too bad as they are pretty fast and do stay huddled together. The other day though there was a group of about 10 all in a line quite spaced apart. Now they were a nightmare to pass as they made about a 200yard train so you needed a real long clear length of road to get past. Pretty dangerous really.
It's them on bikes with engines that are out for a day ride which can be a pita. Literally up your back side gagging to over take anything they see Infront of them.
Well worth a read, some data based studies on the Driver/ Cyclist vibes, yup it's official in some drivers the hate exists...cyclists it seems offend the moral order of the car based hierarchy, 'they get in the way'' their presence on the hallowed roads of the motor vehicle enthusiasts is transgressive causing some motorists to give them ''altruistic punishments''
https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlton...en-overtaking/
More here,
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeands...clists-so-much
Last edited by Passenger; 14th April 2024 at 09:32.
Cyclists are hated because they are an easy target. But like everything it’s a few that give the majority a bad name. Lorry drivers hate car drivers who hold us up, everyone has a hate group but the thing that I’ve never understood is that everyone thinks they are invincible.
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And it´s easy to hate a minority group, they´re visible, they even wear special, fancy lycra clothing!!! How very dare they, deviants, no respect for the hierarchy, don´t pay road tax either, cheapskates, having their fun cycling about just enjoying themselves, not a care in the world. GRRRR barstewards.
I suppose in the hierarchy the lorry drivers are fairly invincible, then the white vans, the large off roader type vehicles, mid size cars, motorbikes, cyclists the tiddlers, bottom of the food chain. Agree it´s the few but there´s a natural tendency to generalise the misbehaviour within a minority group and apply it to all.
I don't hate cyclists or have any prejudice, thats a drum the likes of Monty likes to bang.And it´s easy to hate a minority group, they´re visible, they even wear special, fancy lycra clothing!!! How very dare they, deviants, no respect for the hierarchy, don´t pay road tax either, cheapskates, having their fun cycling about just enjoying themselves, not a care in the world. GRRRR barstewards.
I suppose in the hierarchy the lorry drivers are fairly invincible, then the white vans, the large off roader type vehicles, mid size cars, motorbikes, cyclists the tiddlers, bottom of the food chain. Agree it´s the few but there´s a natural tendency to generalise the misbehaviour within a minority group and apply it to all.
I have always given cyclists a wide berth, slowed down and do whats right when coming up on one but what i dislike is the way that large groups feel they don't need to pull over and yield to faster moving traffic. It’s a concept that horse riders, tractor drivers and even some car drivers subscribe to when they don't know where they’re going. The argument for this of course is to expect the driver(s) of the cars to simply sit back and take a chill pill. In my years of driving i have never once seen a cyclist pull to one side and let faster traffic through. There needs to be consideration yet it appears to only applicable to one side which is what i find rather infuriating about some cyclists.
I think that the 'imagine that it is your son or daughter on that bike' thought invokes a powerful image....
From the Guardian article that you quoted.....'When he became Greater Manchester’s walking and cycling commissioner in 2017, former Olympic champion Chris Boardman decided he was not going to allow himself to be photographed in Lycra any more. Nor would he wear a helmet if just pootling around town, even when filming segments on his bike for ITV4’s Tour de France coverage.
“A lot of people in this country – not other countries – see cyclists as middle-aged men in Lycra. I want it to be my daughter going to the park, and just moving around without having to drive. That’s an image that I think we need to prioritise,” says Boardman, recently appointed by Boris Johnson to be England’s active travel commissioner.
He also decided to stop using the word cyclist, preferring “person on a bike” because it is a reminder there is a human in the saddle. “Cycling is just lazy walking,” says Boardman. “That’s how we need to see it. That’s what it is in the Netherlands, where 60% of kids ride to school every day. They don’t do it because they’re cyclists. They don’t think of themselves as disciples. They just go to school and cycling is the easiest way to do it.”
Boardman will not be drawn on whether he thinks the culture war on cyclists is leading to more aggression on the road, saying he deals in statistics, not anecdotes, and that there is “statistically proven 70% support for active travel, even if it takes some space away from driving”.
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