Boris, Rivers of Blue and bike docks
Well there I am at 8.05pm last night on my, er, second bike (my first stolen two days ago: £1000 reward), thundering along Theobolds Road talking on my phone…when I hear this booming voice…
‘Snow! Get off that mobile phone!’ . I look across the road and there is a bent heap of semi suited humanity; head down; jacket flying, and the unmistakable blond thatch flowing out of the helmet. It is Boris.
‘Boris’, I roar. He has passed, the arm waves and he pounds on.
And I think, ‘magnificent’. No Lexus in pursuit, no motor cycle outriders, and no nodding compromise to the sartorial demands of any Mayoral role.
And in his wake I think about London’s new bike docking stations…and the rivers of blue paint etching his Super Cycle highways across the city.
This is getting serious. Boris is putting his mouth where his bottom is – on a bicycle and doing his damndest to get London and its folk to do the same.
This is no puff for Boris, remarkably unpuffed despite the speed with which he passed me. Merely an observation that someone somewhere is actually putting a policy in which he believes, into action. All power to his er saddle.
Related posts:
- Boris's bike escape shows what cyclists put up with
- How Boris copped it from Sir Ian Blair
- Train companies impose an anti-bike culture
- Beloved bike stolen – have you seen it?
- My shameful dilemma
There are 37 comments on this post
all well and good, if only Boris can do something about the potholes we have to constantly swerve around or take the brunt of.
Blimey, thought I’d got a pop site instead of Snowblog, Bit garish, made me think of ‘when I grow old I’ll wear purple and spit in the street’.
Could you ask them to increase the type size a tad – some of us ain’t as young as we used to be and don’t have perfect vision.
As to Boris – I wonder if he’s ready to have his salary cut to fit in with coalitioni policy that no one in the public sector should earn more than the PM. He might have to sell his bike and walk everywhere.
And as for the coalition – now we know why they wouldn’t discuss where the cuts were coming from – they planned to use them to privatise the NHS.
My link to Snowblog opened at the first blog of January when there was at least a hint of optimism in the air. Wonder where that went.
would love to see London have a cycle network like Washington DC, Amsterdam, or even Brussels.
Yo – like Amsterdam is FLAT – geddit??? FLAT Plus, the streets have cycle lanes on either side and bikes don’t ride on the pavements and there are trams and the roads are wider and, and and… NO. Bikes in London, so awful, so dumb — lets sing praise to the humble and no-harm pedestrian! Woo Hoo… go girls and boys on two feet, not wheels
Couldn’t agree more with Boudicca. I find bikes and bikers as obnoxious, egotistic and full of “I am the king of the street” attitude as cars and drivers. Let’s for once see them for what they are: undeserving claimants of privilege in the streets.
Feet first! And plenty of excellent, electric and very public transport!
Is this a new design or am I commenting on the wrong blog site? No doubt all will be revealed soon.
I am in awe of bike riders and sorry that some oink sees it fit to misappropriate yor expensive Condor.Perhaps he will pose as the rescuer and decide that a £1,000 reward for is a better prospect than a too large frame.
As a child I struggled and straggled behind all my boy friend bikers . Up and down the hills we travelled, my poor thin legs even at the age of 10yrs old, creaking and scraping behind my patellae. I was red and breathless whilst they just casually chatted to one another, but me being a determined little vixon ,put every ounce of effort, to get to Hollingworth lake for crisp sandwiches and bottled water.
In those days the lads said that I looked like Margaret Lockwood.. nothing like of course, but we had a tremendous time.
I still can’t ride a bike and I consider myself reasonably fit but alas there is always some 80 yr old lady who sails past me smiling and cool. What am I doing wrong Jon ?
This is why I have faith in humanity.
“…thundering along Theobolds Road talking on my phone”
Dangerous practice there surely,Jon?
Can’t say this new layout grabs me either – what’s the advantage? It’s the same with my Lloyds Online Banking – now far too sophisticated and cumbersome a site and for what?
moanwhingemoanwhingemoanwhingemoanwhinge
Hey,look! A REPLY button – things are looking up!
Surely against the law as well – using phone in a car is anyway??.
I feel awful about by sarkey comments re Jon’s earlier pic. This one’s lovely, btw.
Love the new site design – couple of comments,
The ‘repy’ function has been removed – one of the most compelling features of the blogs, which gave them a distinct community feel and empowered user debate – removing this is a big step backwards. the Ch4 blogs have a following that have come to know each other – you have cut off their dialogue between each other – this is a mistake.
The like/dislike function does not work. This is very irritating. Comment simply doesn’t work if it isn’t interactive.
Saltaire, there is a zoom faculty on web browsers, hold down the ctrl key and hit + and the text will enlarge. Hit + again and it will enlarge again. Go back to normal using ctrl and -
You could almost get a nice superlight Brompton for a grand.
Formerly when I brought your blog onto the screen, the latest article used to come up. Now the article for 4 January 2010 is there, and I have to go to Archives to get July! I wonder why?
@Saltaire Sam: try holding down ctrl and click the ‘+’ button will increase the font size
To those complaining about the redesign – you will get used to it. If you want bigger text, press CTRL and +. CTRL and – will make it smaller, and CTRL and 0 will reset to the default.
To the designers – I am disappointed that you sacrifice accessibility for style in making the headlines images instead of text. Most modern browsers support embedded fonts now, and for those that don’t just revert to something else.
Actually the headlines are not images – they are rendered with JavaScript using a technique called ‘cufon’, so the text should be accessible.
Thanks, that ctl+ works a treat. How come it has taken me all this time to learn that!
Ths is very weird because this is my reply appearing under someone else’s name. I’ve not objection to being GY or even G&T but (s)he might not want to be me.
Dreadful photograph Jon. Bring back the old one. I agree with Tom Wright re reply function.I enjoyed the banter and comment and don’t want to lose it.
Please highlight the situation in Haiti…..millions live a precarious, ‘on the edge of a volcano’ existence…..
“There are more than 1000 camps for displaced people within the city and the Haitian government estimates that 1.5 million people are living in tents.”
http://www.counterpunch.org/kramer07132010.html
I think this is worth a look – almost beyond belief http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/07/201071283334294195.html
Vivien – go to Home, then Blogs, then Snowblogs, then Shortcut to desktop, and get rid of your old Shortcut. The latest stuff then turns up.
Saltaire – the Reply thing was a major attribute; you could have little conversations without disturbing the thread.
Where is my Snow blog??I am sure it was there Sunday before i went away.Now it has gone like some pretentious tie and socks all rolled into snazzy boxers.
No wonder the bike went Jon,it could be hiding anywhere in here
I am glad i long ago gave up smoking or i might believe i’d been on the dodgy stuff and was hallucinating.
It could have been those cakes!!!!
Hi there Sam et al , I was thinking that I had lost you all , and was beginning to be sad. It is amazing what routine we get into and even love the ones who thumb us down, and attack our views. I was starting to grieve over the loss of Meg Howarth who always has cutting remarks , Adrian , the true blue (but we won’t hold it against him) incisive gent and all you others I talk to.
Whilst many of us live busy lives and probably like myself ,speak to hundreds of folk, we don’t often share our views on politics , the news and the hum drum aspects of life. It is usually concerned with our jobs. So Hi all again .. keep ruffling my feathers.
Oh stop moaning you lot and celebrate change, progression, newness, updates, technology and just being alive. If we had a few more guys like Boris around who are a breath of fresh air and have a positive view on life…..
Oh no Jon Snow – you are such a cool guy; how on earth can you be in favour of Boris’s rubbish bicycle scheme? It’s So expensive – twice as much as a bus for half the distance (so what’s the point, one can walk – right?) and for longer distances you might as well take the tube.
PLUS – big plus this – the bike stands look really ugly, are ruining london streets and will only attract dumb tourists, who will probably ride on the right or on the pavements. No, no, NO. Ban the bike! Ban the Boris’s… see you in Waitrose, Bloomsbury Jon (where London bike riders can clearly afford to shop!)
off topic – have just watched my recording of Dispatches Programme on Homosexuality in Africa – it is frigtening . Homophobia is widespred – more or less the norm . Seemingly reasonble looking ?? people advocting burning ” gays” . Families who have gays suffer – as well as the gays . Some of this is being fuelled by US ” Evangelicals . These people are living in the dark ages – and the Goverments who outlaw homosexuality – even holding hands in some countries is criminal – waht palnet are they on – we should support the homos exuals rights in Africa – if not our righs will be / are being slowly eroded .
Completely agree, Jim
i am not moaning , just as i do not moan about the mess Lbour has caused with its constitutional reforms . Ill thought out,unnegotiated Done for effect,not practicality.The new sight is nowhere as user friendly as the old .It is more impersonal and difficult to use .Why do we have to log on for each new comment?? Why can we not give thumbs up/down?
I bet it was designed by some young trendy who believes he/she knows best .
Why spoil something that works.It smacks of new Labour who having been removed from office have to find something else to spoil and ruin
Presumably that is labour’s unthought through policies as compared to the new coalition, which seems to be coming up with new ideas daily that not only risk wrecking important things like NHS and education but are also nothing like they were advocating while seeking our vote. (And in the case of Michael Gove,which they can’t even announce accurately)
Like all miserable old geezers, my first reaction to the change in the blog was why mend what ain’t broken? But to their credit and with a little prompting from users, the designers seem to have arrived at something rather clean and attractive but still usable by those of us who,with more ego than reason, think our opinion is worth bothering others with. I wish governments – of all shades – would react so promptly and positively to public opinion.
Snowblog is thought provoking and entertaining and helps bring down my temperature when Cameron etc do something stupid – again. Perhaps C4 could apply for a grant on the basis that they are saving the NHS a fortune in blood pressure pills.
@ Jim Flavin wrote:
“Surely against the law as well – using phone in a car is anyway??.”
No, the legislation specifically mentions motor vehicles so it’s legal to use a phone on a bike.
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2003/20032695.htm
Well it may be legal – but IMHO – it is dangerous .
No “may” involved. It is legal.
Until you have data to back it up YHO remains nothing more than YHO and Mr Snow is in the clear.
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Need to watch it on Theobalds Road Jon the surfaces have some dangerous ridges dips and holes, if you lose concentration there’ll be a nasty spill.
Also a bit uncertain about some of the Barclaybike and bluestrip bikeline. The latter seems to still lack the consistency and coherence of a true network. The former seems very expensive, and indication that the technician staffing levels are to be a half of those in Barcelona and a quarter of the typical level for JC Decaux schemes seems a bit optimistic. It also seems a bit of an interesting balance to put all the bikes into a single branding deal – about half the Decaux bikes in Lyon were branded by HSBC (possibly the first large scale branding of a city bike scheme) and since 1995 the annual running costs of the Copenhagen bikes have been covered by selling the branding in blocks – examples being Coca-Cola, and Netto supermarkets.
If you urgently need wheels Jon you could simply nip in to SW Trains and lease one of their Bromptons – who knows you might even get a good deal for riding it around London – NB SWT is perhaps the first UK rail operator to offer their passengers a transport deal for the total door to door journey by supplying the bike to use at each end.of the train trip.
Just saw latest on mobile phone – I think that s.72 of the 1835 Highways Act might cover failure to be in control of your carriage – where a carriage has been redefined over the centuries to embrace any wheeled vehicle. Basically you can be charged with not being in control of a cycle – but there may be some fun in determining the grounds for the case