Search found 267 matches

by 661-Pete-oldversion
19 Jan 2011, 5:08pm
Forum: CTC Charity Debate
Topic: Stabbing CTC in the back!
Replies: 21
Views: 150749

Re: Stabbing CTC in the back!

Quite a debate then. This has clearly aroused a lot of passions here, and I'm really only sorry that it's got so angry. But perhaps that can't be helped.

If people think the CTC is too expensive, then they should say how it can be trimmed. I don't undestand why that is linked with it not registering as a charity. But I'm sure all this has been discussed already!

Regarding the accusations of libel, I was careful to say "I would say, libellous" rather than simply "libellous". It's a touchy subject and I don't want to mention examples. People often get it wrong. If you think I should have left the words out, fine.

The vote was 75% majority on about a 25% turnout, it appears. Alright so turnout was poor. But I find it inconceivable that a 100% turnout would have gone the opposite way!
by 661-Pete-oldversion
19 Jan 2011, 8:59am
Forum: CTC Charity Debate
Topic: Stabbing CTC in the back!
Replies: 21
Views: 150749

Stabbing CTC in the back!

Hello (I've been away from this forum for a long time, sorry). I feel I really must come back here, to say this.

I'm fairly active in a different cycling forum (under a different login name :D ) where there has been a lot of stuff about the 'charity' debate, although I've played no part in that.

All along, and especially now, there has been the most odious, vindictive, I would say libellous, invective against all things to do with the CTC. There have been members openly yelling about 'tearing up their CTC memberships'. There have been members openly boasting about urging 'every cyclist they meet' to cancel their CTC membership. This hate campaign has been going on for months, and especially now.

This has been going on at other internet sites too.

I'm sick of it.

My wife and I did not vote. I did not vote partly because, while I know the vote is meant to be anonymous, I was scared of this cyber-bullying. And put off. Count my wife's vote and mine as two 'yes' votes, albeit a bit late!!! :P

I have no hostility to those who voted 'no'. The vote has been carried, by an overwhelming majority. Live with it. If you really can't stay with the CTC, leave quietly please! Don't shout it in the street! Please!
by 661-Pete-oldversion
7 Nov 2009, 8:37pm
Forum: Cycling Goods & Services - Your Reviews
Topic: Wiggle shipping policy
Replies: 7
Views: 1540

Re: Wiggle shipping policy

Evidently, what suits some doesn't suit others!

Point of information, Wiggle have amended their web page. They now seem to be using Citylink automatically, only in the London area (they say theres still a Postal strike in London area is this true?) I'm outside London so this won't affect me if they go back to RM well and good. Just as well I didn't fire off that angry letter to Wiggle I was thinking about!
by 661-Pete-oldversion
5 Nov 2009, 2:13pm
Forum: Cycling Goods & Services - Your Reviews
Topic: Wiggle shipping policy
Replies: 7
Views: 1540

Wiggle shipping policy

Wiggle have announced on their website that due to the Postal Strike they are shipping everything via Citylink "until further notice".

Understandable but inconvenient. Citylink are not my best choice for delivery because they have a reputation for failing to deliver, instead leaving a card, and their nearest depot is 20 miles away! At least with Royal Mail my nearest collection point is less than a mile off, in case I get 'red-carded'.

I am minded to pass over Wiggle until they revise this policy, despite their good standard of service and prices.

I haven't checked what all the other mail-order sites are doing: I think some are still using RM.

Suggestions?
by 661-Pete-oldversion
18 Aug 2009, 7:58pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Still Swearing
Replies: 40
Views: 3198

Re: Still Swearing

Indeed, we could all (well most of us could) wish that the words under discussion had never entered the English language - or, to be more precise, that they had remained confined to their original and non-expletive (and very restricted) usage. But the real world is the real world, I'm afraid. Even perfectly civilised adults will on occasion give vent to an oath. I know I do (at work or on the bike - not in the presence of my family). And if you pass a group of youths walking in the street, chances are one in every five words they utter will be an oath. Kids copy their peer groups, however protective their parents may have been. And we are no more going to defeat that, than we are going to conquer crime, disease or accidents. It's just the way things are.

But I agree, this forum ought to be no place for such manners: it should be a place which will offend no-one (though there are many ways in which one might offend, without swearing). I suppose, in answer to my own question, the way for me to report the lorry driver's insult (a real incident) on this forum would be: "The driver shouted 'you ----- idiot' with an expletive"...
by 661-Pete-oldversion
18 Aug 2009, 5:47pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Still Swearing
Replies: 40
Views: 3198

Re: Still Swearing

There is a case for including swearwords - at least asterisked versions - in reported speech - particularly if you're reporting an altercation on the road. For instance, if I wanted to report that a lorry driver recently shouted (without any justification) at me: "You *bleep*ing idiot", I would post just that - and everyone would know what the *bleep* represents. This conveys more information about the character of said lorry driver, than if I'd tamely reported that he shouted "You silly idiot" or something like that. So maybe there is a case for an exception in some cases.

Indeed I recall, sitting on a jury once, listening to counsel, witness and judge all quite matter-of-factly recounting all the things which the defendant allegedly said at the time of his arrest. Nothing was censored out. It would not have been proper evidence if it had been.

What do people suggest?
by 661-Pete-oldversion
18 Aug 2009, 5:19pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: have you a Doppelgänger ?
Replies: 18
Views: 1260

Re: have you a Doppelgänger ?

Well: I'm mightily relieved that I no longer in the slightest resemble Rolf Harris :roll: - apparently there was a similarity in my student days, but I put it down to the type of glasses I wore - and the hairstyle - and the beard (I am now cleanshaven).

Once, also many years ago, but in my non-hirsute days, we were on holiday in Andorra and, while walking around a church, I passed a guy (not R.H!), also apparently a tourist, who I was convinced looked exactly like the face I see in the mirror. He didn't notice me so I have no idea whether he thought the same. I nudged my wife and asked her, but she said she didn't see much resemblance. It just goes to show: facial similarity may be there for one observer but not for another...
by 661-Pete-oldversion
7 Aug 2009, 4:34pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Repeatedly harassed by farm dogs...
Replies: 37
Views: 3297

Re: Repeatedly harassed by farm dogs...

Has anyone tried a Dog Dazer by any chance? Looks like the answer to some of our prayers but I've read mixed reviews on the device. According to some, (1) it doesn't work :shock: (2) it's not weatherproof.
by 661-Pete-oldversion
17 Jul 2009, 2:52pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Should we pay road tax?
Replies: 42
Views: 2762

Re: Should we pay road tax?

EdinburghFixed wrote:Actually damage to the road goes by the fourth power of axle weight. So a bike plus rider at 100kg does 1/50,000th the damage of a car at 1500kg (1500^4 / 100^4 = 50,000)
By the way, I recall once doing that very calculation the other way round - for an HGV. To see how much tax (OK: road fund licence) should be paid on a 40-ton artic with five axles, as compared with, say, a 1.5 ton car with two axles (current rate up to £160 for diesel). So we get:
160 * (40/5)^4 / (1.5/2)^4 = £2,071,261

I reckon if every HGV owner had to pay that amount per annum, the nation's economy would recover at a stroke... :D
...or maybe not: they'd just pass the cost on to us consumers. :(
by 661-Pete-oldversion
12 Jul 2009, 7:09pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Alarming access rights to Yorkshire Dales
Replies: 9
Views: 1076

Re: Alarming access rights to Yorkshire Dales

Quad bikes already have the run of most of the South Downs, it seems to me, (2-wheels as well as 4-wheels): I don't know whether it's legal or not (technically the South Downs Way is a Bridle Path I think, and other paths there are mostly B/P or F/P), but there's no stopping them. And as for their presence in the Scottish Highlands...

I would like to think the economic situation would rein them in, but not holding my breath...
by 661-Pete-oldversion
12 Jul 2009, 4:19pm
Forum: The Tea Shop
Topic: Personal Info
Replies: 35
Views: 1973

Re: Personal Info

Nearly all forums give you the option to enter your date-of-birth: I suppose it's nice to get the 'happy birthday' messages when your time comes around. This is something I avoid doing at all costs - my date of birth is too touchy a piece of information to go in the public domain. Having said that, though, when once considers the vast plethora of internet forums across the web, all of them with huge listings of DOBs: the chances of any potential fraudster lighting on just your name and DOB amongst all the myriad of others is remote.

Nevertheless, I don't publish it...
by 661-Pete-oldversion
11 Jul 2009, 1:57pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Police car chase...
Replies: 26
Views: 2171

Re: Police car chase...

Ok a bit controversial and maybe a bit of journalistic histrionics there! I just dug up another account of the same story, in a different local rag (not on 't web) which is a bit more even handed.

I remember that some years ago the emergency services staged a large-scale train crash near our house, again as a training exercise. But advance notice was given and warning signs posted. Perhaps that's what should have been done here: notices posted on the road in advance. Or would that have attracted the 'wrong sort' of spectators? :roll:
by 661-Pete-oldversion
10 Jul 2009, 9:48pm
Forum: On the road
Topic: Police car chase...
Replies: 26
Views: 2171

Police car chase...

...was not all it seems, apparently. I just noticed this story, and frankly I'm shocked. After all the threads on this forum about dangerous D/C's and the A23 in particular because of Marie Vesco. Yes I know our policemen have got to be trained somehow, but surely not this!
by 661-Pete-oldversion
9 Jul 2009, 11:54am
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Increase in popularity of cycling is giving rise to concern
Replies: 15
Views: 1853

Re: Increase in popularity of cycling is giving rise to concern

Horses are a totally different equation from pedestrians, in case anyone thinks of bracketing the two! On a narrow path a pedestrian will often step aside at your approach (I've acknowledged that courtesy many times), but a horse is a horse of a different colour, and usually means a stop and a wait (if coming towards you; if going the same way as you it can be a problem on bridleways: try a polite 'excuse me').

Horses can easily spook whereas pedestrians (usually) don't. And a frightened horse is a danger, to itself, to its rider, and to you. Remember that. I've had quite a few close encounters.
by 661-Pete-oldversion
8 Jul 2009, 2:23pm
Forum: Campaigning & Public Policy
Topic: Postmen sacked for no cycling helmet.
Replies: 88
Views: 6119

Re: Postmen sacked for no cycling helmet.

askeans wrote:Has anyone else made the link between the requirement to wear PPE and other such stuff like helmets and how pedantic and annoying it can be with the rise of no win no fee Personal Injury lawyers - (including CTC's)
It certainly has not escaped my notice! (though I hesitate to knock the CTC's own legal services). The lawyer's going to have to make up the deficit from lost cases somehow, isn't he! Ergo: stiff hike in damages claims and payouts when the plaintiff does hit gold. And understandably, the loser (the employer) is getting worried.