A warning to anyone living in London. Beware the pretty coloured paint markings on the roads or pavements near where you live, work or simply pass, for they presage gloom. Those innocuous looking dabs of paint are actually mystical signs that foretell doom. You life is about to be turned upside down for anything between a few days and a few weeks. For those innocent and pretty dashes are harbingers of the misery that is the ongoing effort to … well … do something to the gas supply I think.
Some parts of London that are still reeling from the turmoil caused by the roads being dug up to replace the water mains are again being subjected to the inconvenience of partially blocked off roads guarded by the dreaded temporary traffic lights.
You might think that a guy with a moustache like mine would be only too happy to return to a time when traffic moved this slowly (personally I’d like to see a man with a flag walking in front of each vehicle), but the biggest problem is the unthinking way in which these roadworks have been implemented. For the past year or more the normally quiet streets of Notting Hill have been subjected to a series of these traffic control measures whose cycles are set at anything up to 10 minutes, that being 5 minutes each way. That’s a ridiculous amount of time to wait at a red light during which one car ambles in the opposite direction.
The situation is even worse if there is one or more side streets along the length of the obstruction. Lights are placed at the junctions, each with its own additional 5 minute delay. Yes, you seriously can wait up to 15 minutes to be aloud to travel the 50 or so yards of obstructed road. Bloody hell I’m starting to sound like Clarkson here. It’ll be stupid comments about foreigners next!
But you can’t blame a guy for not taking these things too seriously on a bike. In the past few months I’ve become an expert at jumping the kerb, riding on pavements and, when all else fails, simply jumping the lights. I’ve done it several times in front of cops, so it’s a fair bet that it’ll never be a problem. In any any if it’s good enough for Cameron …
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August 10th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
You Rebel A, did’nt some bloke with orange spiky hair dressed in a catsuit write a song about people like you lol…
Seriously it’s the same story all over the UK, first waterboard dig it up and then 2 weeks later the gas guys dig same spot up again and then it’s BT rant rant rant, communication is key, possibly may be!! The British public beg you to speak to each other before we grow old waiting at said *^%&*£! traffic lights!!