A family snapshot, taken in the recent snow. 'Bun' due 3rd March.

mothership — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 08:38:00 +0000

It must be Friday

mothership — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 12:26:00 +0000

Coo - only just discovered the blog space here. I've got other blogs but rarely use them. Maybe this one will be different - especially if it gets any comments.

Well, instead of writing something myself to kick off with, I'm going to treat you to this morning's "I got here safely" email from my partner, who commutes to London every day by motorcycle.

"The number of dozy buggers who probably don't commute very often was unbelievable this morning. I was seeing them everywhere, cutting across, changing lanes without any consideration.

One at Purley (in a Merc - what a surprise) was in the left lane at the lights at Tesco but wanted to go to
South Croydon, so two lanes left of where he should have been. However, to his right is a bike (me) so that's a space isn't it, so he just pulls over then looks really annoyed when I hit the horn. Stupid git was about 60 and probably thinks: a) that all bikers are hooligans (cos he saw the films with Marlon Brando,
Peter Fonda et al when he was younger) so are expendable and; b) his Merc gives him more right to be on the road than anyone else anyway.

This sort of behaviour was going on everywhere, not just near me but I was seeing it way ahead of me and on the other side of the road. Maybe it's national Drive Like a Custard day or something.

Given all that, it was quite nice that there were also
large sections of very little traffic, so I got here at 8.25 and got in the 3/4 full bay by the office."

So, there you have it: the good, the bad and the ugly of urban motorcycling. He mails me on arrival every day so I can stop worrying. He's been knocked off a few times - once by a pedestrian. That's quite impressive really - decking 600 lbs of bike and rider simply by not bothering to look before you scuttle out from in front of a bus.

Then you get the car drivers who look straight at you and pull out anyway because anything narrower than a car simply doesn't register in what passes for the average car driver's brain.

And let's not even talk about the drivers who think the appearance of a motorcycle is incitement to either race or all-out warfare. Cos his low budget rep wagon is really going to out-gun a Fireblade, innit? What morons. But unfortunately, they're bloody dangerous morons who shouldn't be on the road. Staying out of their way can be really hard work as well as nerve-racking.

I quit riding about three years ago. Can you guess why?

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A family snapshot, taken in the recent snow. 'Bun' due 3rd March.

It must be Friday