We've had neighbours for a couple of days, two friends sharing a boat Mick and Lina, they also have a dog. When Lina walks the dog I can hear her shouting at the cyclists. "Slow down you fecking bastards, mind my dog". I don't blame her it's a bit like the M4 on the towpath between 5am and 9am. After that I think most people are working so there is less traffic. Unfortunately my dogs cannot wait until after 9am to go out so we have to brave the lycra louts. I make sure I am wearing my hi-vis jacket and my favourite badge it says First rule of the canal. don't be a c**t.
I have taken enough crap now, especially in the last couple of days so I now make sure the dogs aren't blocking by the path but I make sure I am. There are big signs everywhere saying that pedestrians have priority. As boaters we pay in excess of £1000 to licence our boats and this allows us to moor on the bank. I'm buggered if I'm going to be force to jump aside for some prat in lycra.
I don't mind other people on bikes in fact I don't mind bikers in lycra, it's the arse up head down, oblivious to everyone else type that I hate with a passion.
I'm considering buying an ash staff, I can lean on it when I'm walking and use it to thwack irritating prats with.
7 comments:
The head down, bum in the air 'I've got to beat my personal best' crowd are a menace wherever they are - main A roads, winding country lanes, pavements, 'shared spaces', but riding along towpaths in that way is just ridiculously dangerous. On a lighter note, my grandfather rode his pushbike into the canal when he was cycling back home rather tipsily from the pub one Boxing Day, the other one got machine-gunned off his by the Luftwaffe on his way home from Home Guard duties at the local power station. Luckily he only ended up in a shallow drainage ditch, rather than the canal he had been patrolling next to!
we have been infested with lycra louts ever since lockdown started , now we have herds of tourists instead, all wobbling about trying to herd the small kids theyre in charge of. Its like playing the game of death on the mini roundabout down in the town , then theres the fact that our roads are shit and full of entrances to the underworld. Theres lots of roadside shrines round here
Where I walk my dogs there are quite a lot of cyclists on the main bridlepath.I am constantly looking around for them when they come up over the hill and some like to whizz down.I have to walk in the centre of the path and shout"mind my dog"- most are ok as this morning but it makes be anxious and they are so fast x
It's no better over here - cyclists are the bane of my existence in the summer. I'm a senior and walk with a cane and I have been beeped at and yelled at to get out of the way by cyclists riding on the sideWALK while an expensive bike lane is available about 5 away! But somehow that's just not convenient enough for them. I do find a cane works well - especially if you do the startled old lady act where the cane flies up unexpectedly and somehow comes in contact with their Oh so expensive bikes!!!!
Your last comment reminds me of my mother on an overnight flight from US to UK years ago. We had a solicitor (ask me how we knew--he must have loudly mentioned it a hundred times) who would not shut up even though almost all the passengers were trying to catch some sleep. After the fifth hour of this nonsense, my mother reached down for her cane and was going to clout him one before I (laughing) stopped her. However, I did manage a bit of revenge. He took off his Italian loafers (again, ask me how I know-ugh) during the flight and, of course, they drifted back under my feet. I managed to discretely send them back quite a number of rows. When we landed, he frantically asked if anyone had seen his shoes and everyone just gave him a blank stare--even though many around us knew what I had done. Let's just say, he wasn't one of the first people off the flight. Slowed his roll. Good luck slowing down the lycra crowd. :)
I know when I see cyclists where they shouldn't be I would love to just push them over as they go past. I've never done it but it comes to mind each time. they think they are not meant to observe the normal rules, like not going through traffic lights when they are on red. Most of them are a mess.
The next thing will be electric scooters so quiet you can't hear them coming and they go so fast!
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