Notes & borrowings

[juliet]

Observed on my way to work this morning:

• An RV1 with a big notice on the back saying "FUELCELL NO EMISSIONS". It had an exhaust pipe on the top of its roof, occasionally spitting out what looked to be steam - it dissipated almost immediately. Hrm, looks like they've extended this project, & that is indeed just water vapour. Good stuff.
• A motorbike at the junction of Southwark St with Blackfriars Bridge, waiting behind the regular white line instead of the cycle-advance white line. Hurrah. (this is sadly v rare; motorbikes all seem to be under the misapprehension that they are bicycles. Given the amount of engine-revving that goes on, you'd think this would be a difficult belief to sustain.)
• The Thames looking really very pretty as I came along the Embankment. Lots of red buses crossing Waterloo Bridge with the Eye as a backdrop. I sometimes think I don't pay enough attention to the scenery when I'm cycling, but then keeping one's eyes & attention on the road is also a Good Thing.

In other news: does anyone (ideally someone coming to BMovie tonight, for ease of borrowing) have an ankh necklace I can borrow for the weekend? Required for dressing-up purposes for this pubcrawl whatsit that dogrando has been up till all hours writing.

Comments

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Boo, I had to leave the bike at home today for various reasons and am jealous. I agree with you about the motorbikes - thankfully I don't tend to encounter many on my route (gawd bless her majesty's canals!) apart from the INCREDIBLY STUPID young lads who ride those miniature motorised scooter things up and down the towpath at Bethnal Green, with their knees up by their ears. They're horrendously loud and dangerous and it makes them look very silly indeed. I DUNNO THE YOUTH OF TODAY etc

[vigornian.livejournal.com]

Four wheels good: two wheels better, must be the thinking.

When I first noticed the RV1s it was from above and I thought some vandal had ripped their roofs off. Duh.

[mzdt.livejournal.com]

motorbikes all seem to be under the misapprehension that they are bicycles.

when it comes to advance stop lines, so do sports cars, any car costing more than say twenty thousand (I'm guessing here - how much are posh cars nowadays), white transits - and after 9pm, everyone.

chip on my shoulder? me?

[mzdt.livejournal.com]

and of course how could I forget any vehicle (but mainly innappriate four wheel drive monstrosities) driven by a Chiswick Mother and occupied by untethered Little Darling(s), mainly climbing over the back of the passenger seat.

[peshwengi.livejournal.com]

My wife was attacked by a motorcyclist when she told him he shouldn't be in the cycle-only stop zone. He pushed her off her bike :-(

I don't think they've extended the "steam powered bus" trial, unfortunately. The number 25's that used to be fuel cell buses are now "bendy buses", so I guess they just put them on a different route.

[reddragdiva]

"Zero Emissions" is (in California at least) defined, not as actually zero emissions, but as "the same emissions as would come from an electric power plant doing the same job." Which is fair enough. And is now achievable with tolerable economics with current technology. Which, given California's (specifically LA's) views on emissions, is likely to be mandatory soon enough :-D

[djm4]

Oh. I thought the fuel cell buses *were* bendy buses.

[mrs-leroy-brown.livejournal.com]

i HATE THOSE. evil. loud and the idiots seem to think driving up and down the same stretch of road over and over and over is fun. dudes: there are other streets besides mercury way to annoy people.

[arkady.livejournal.com]

I have a large sterling silver ankh on black cord you could borrow; it's increasingly looking likely I'll be at B-Movie now (currently feeling far better than I have done the past two days) - I'll dig it out and give it a polish.

[juliet]

That would be great, thank you! Don't worry though if you find yourself unable to make it; but it's good that you're feeling better than you have been.

[reddragdiva]

\o/

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

I must confess that I do use the advanced stop sections when I've filtered to the front of a queue, because it's less dangerous for me to be there than to hang back behind the first car in line.

There are seldom any cyclists there anyway, because they've all gone through the red light :P

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

D'ye know, I had no idea what that symbol meant until about nine months ago you posted it and used that icon :)

[reddragdiva]

I got it from Liz ;-) "Yaaaaay!"

[infinitarian.livejournal.com]

Same here, I'm afraid. The alternatives are trying to nudge between car-drivers who've already stopped with a spacing they're happy with, thus pissing them off, or joining the queue of cars at the back and squandering my Magic Scooter Powers.

On the rare occasions when I'm the first vehicle to the traffic lights, I do stop behind the line. Generally another motorcyclist comes in front of me.

There aren't really enough cyclists around in Bristol for it to be much of an issue, usually. It's the hills, I think.

[dogrando.livejournal.com]

Drummond Road, for example...

[huskyteer.livejournal.com]

Ooh, do you still get to ride motorbikes in bus lanes in Bristol? That's something which would make my commute a lot easier.

[barrysarll.livejournal.com]

That would put me in a terrible bind, morally.

Fuel cell Routemasters, now they'd be the buses of a dream city.

[mrs-leroy-brown.livejournal.com]

thing is: do they have any idea how utterly lame they look?
sheesh!

[infinitarian.livejournal.com]

We do, and it certainly does. If I ever move cities, I'm going to have to concentrate really hard not to slip into doing it whenever it would make things more convenient.

Still, concentrating really hard when driving is probably a good idea anyway.