** The thread for Rants & Odds and Sods **

[ChrisOntLancs]

and on religious extremism... this is in the rant thread, because it is my purely emotional response, rather than other threads that are for focused debate. god i'm funny.

believe it or not, the reason i'm so against islamophobia, racism, xenophobia, whatever, isn't because i care about the victims. not very proud of admitting that, but it's the truth, i'm removed from those consequences, i am prone to ignorance of those consequences. i feel the same about violence but i'm no pacifist. the reason i don't like those solutions, is simply because they are not the solutions, and it didn't work the last 3454645234 times we tried it, so it's probably not going to work now.

i've got white british christians trying to sign me up for the jihad.

see i'm quite anti-religion, and it strikes me that if a bunch of religious people, ban a religious person from a religious building, because he's too religious, and report him to the authorities for being so religious... well this isn't on them is it? as much as somebody with my principles would like a stick to beat an organised religion with, this aint it.

think i'm done now.

[ChrisOntLancs]

and now in the right thread.posted it in the brexit thread, and i'm saying brexit means brexit, so brexiters and non-brexiters might make the same mistake when searching to post. brexity brexit.

i got banned from tesco today. was approached by security staff as i walked my bike into the foyer like i do with every other supermarket in the country. apparently i'm not allowed to do that, i'm supposed to lock it up around the side of the shop, where it's dimly lit, and not covered by cctv. i then picked up my bike and started wheeling it towards the veg section and said quote "right, well i'm getting some potatoes, you can ring security, but i know where i'm going and it won't take long".

it's never been a problem, that's why i was so cocky. i'm not clint eastwood. turns out they really don't like it though. the only time it's ever been a problem is because it interfered with some emergency protocol, but any time that's happened it's never been "move your bike" it's been "can you just make sure that's flush against the wall please mate, security haza... nono mate it's fine there, just make it a bit less, yup that's great, cheers mate"

and on monday the 12rd of june, a lot of horrible things happened to me and some people i know. this is the one keeping me awake though.

i've gotta win it. i'm like khan in the wrath of khan. "he tasks me, he tasks me and i shall have him".

not felt like this since i was a teenager. one-upmanship. the game in which only non-participants know the rules - if you're playing you've already lost.

i hope it doesn't last long, it's exhausting. hope everythings going well for all the other regulars here.

brexit

[661-Pete]

I'm puzzled. What has not being allowed to wheel your bike into Tesco's, got to do with brex**it?

For the record, I've never wheeled my bike into the supermarket, nor have I seen anyone else do so. We're quite comfortable with leaving the bikes locked at the bike stands outside the store. Moreover, wheeling a bike and pushing a trolley, simultaneously, must be quite an acrobatic feat! We take the panniers with us into the supermarket, of course.

The last thing I want to to is feed this commonly-held perception of cyclists as an 'aggressive' bunch. Behaviour like yours may, I'm afraid, have done just that. Not very helpful.

[ChrisOntLancs]

to be honest pete when it comes to aggression i think our stereotype is much more passive. it's been a while btw nice to see you again, point blank disagreeing with everything i say

my rant was about a moment of weakness, and the brexit thing, well that's another moment of weakness. searched "rant thread" and just clicked the first post that popped up.

everybody gets angry, it's all about how you deal with it. my situation was moot, and i drew it out longer than necessary. there are times i've acted like a saint, and there are times i've acted much much worse than that.

sorry if this seems a tad defensive, but it's the rant thread, and like the WC, if you hang around you shouldn't complain about the smell

and a third edit, maybe i shouldn't either.

[[XAP]Bob]

I used to shop by bike quite frequently - just wheel it in, stay on the drive side of the bike, fill bags on the way round, pay at check out - walk to exit and cycle off...

With the Brompton I usually just fold it into a trolley...

[ChrisOntLancs]

well yeah most places really dont mind, even other branches of tesco would bend over backwards to accommodate their customers, and i have seen a few bikes being pushed around supermarkets. just gotta make a mental note and move on. it is a really good branch of tesco though.

i am writing an email to tesco, rating 'soz' on the sincerity scale, will respect the ban but implore them to rethink the security of their bike lockups. the challenge is wording this into a constructive suggestion, after weakening my position so much

it is a problem at a lot of supermarkets, it's like the smoking area, they plan everything out then we get thrown in at the last minute "yeah, there's a security camera near there... that'll do". if not for us, surely a barely secure bike lockup brings in the exact sort of person you want to stay away from your supermarket.

[Vorpal]

For the record, I've never wheeled my bike into the supermarket, nor have I seen anyone else do so. We're quite comfortable with leaving the bikes locked at the bike stands outside the store. Moreover, wheeling a bike and pushing a trolley, simultaneously, must be quite an acrobatic feat! We take the panniers with us into the supermarket, of course.

I've done it on several occasions. The most often has been at places where there is no reasonable cycle parking around. Occasionally because I forgot my lock.

Here's a previous thread, which relevantly include a blog about Tesco's bike parking viewtopic.php?f=6&t=53059&hilit=took+bike+into+shop+parking&start=15

One time after that thread, I looked around and could not find any cycle parking with ~200 metres, of a shop I was planning to go in (I was some distance frm home) so I took the bike in with me. The person workng in the shop started yelling at me that the bike wasn't allowed in. When I could get a word in, I asked him, as nicely and patiently as I could where I could park it, and he told me 'the bloody rubbish, for all I care', so I took my business elsewhere. It's the only time I've been seriously challenged about taking my bike into a shop.

[ChrisOntLancs]

yup, you handled it much more gracefully than i did, as do most people.

i didn't know it was 'a thing' though. i'm finding a little closure in that thread haha

[Cyril Haearn]

I rather dislike gilets (not Gillots)

Those queer waistcoat-like things with lots of pockets

[ChrisOntLancs]

I rather dislike gilets (not Gillots)

Those queer waistcoat-like things with lots of pockets

wearing them, or seeing others wear them?

either way i think i'm with you.

[Cyril Haearn]

I rather dislike gilets (not Gillots)

Those queer waistcoat-like things with lots of pockets

wearing them, or seeing others wear them?

either way i think i'm with you.

I do not wear one, no no

I rather like fishermen's smocks (I have two), I guess that means I like people who wear them

Actually I would quite like to wear uniform, like I did as a club cyclist years ago. Maybe I should apply to join the police, there will be 20 000 vacancies as soon as Corbyn gets in. Mind, Wikipedia reports that he has a cat. I thought there was already a cat living at number 10

[ChrisOntLancs]

they can go to hell too. though i'm sure you're alright. prejudice man... sno good is it?

EDIT people who wear smocks that is.

my position on corbyn is up in the air again at the moment. i liked him when everybody said he was weak, now that he has proven that he isn't, well i'm not sure i trust him. like i said, i need to work through that one.

plus i'm not a massive fan of cats.

[ChrisOntLancs]

cheers for the input ibbo, you had me more or less sold on meltham as i was going to see how i felt when i got to holmfirth.

didn't even get to hadfield though as my bike was stolen at the ethiad :/

got egg on my face too, because it was stolen from a supermarket foyer. though things were a bit different today as i was having a bit of a meltdown anyway. i've never just left it, in the middle of the day. spoke to the security guard who was unbelievably helpful, she told me they had absolutely fantastic cctv images to show to the police but unless he is already on the radar it's not looking good. they're looking for a white male early 20s with short black hair.

that said, i'm pretty much sold on GPS tracking for my next bike.

until then though it looks like summers over for me *violins*.

[ChrisOntLancs]

radiohead getting grief for playing in isreal.

i'm quite "pro-palestine" and by that i mean, if asked, i'll take a pro-palestinian stand point, but that's about it, and that's about it for everybody outraged by this.

i dunno, i just dont think it helps to alienate isreal's civilians, because then they're left with an influence that is unsurprisingly very pro-isreal, you know, isreal. i doubt isreali govt are that gutted about missing a katie tempest gig to be honest. what matters to them is maintaining the status quo while people all over the world are trading stories. they push a narrative of otherism on their own citizens, which isn't just unchallenged but confirmed by western ignorance masquerading as solidarity.

i suspect radiohead sympathise with palestine, i suspect elton john sympathised with LGBT russians when he played there.... and to the poor palestinian family who mysteriously "decided to sell their home in the middle of the night never to be seen again", don't worry about it, we waved your flag at a rock band. dontchoo worry about it mate, we've got your back.

[661-Pete]

An old favourite: think I've already 'done' this one but time for a re-rant.

Dog poo.

Yesterday, narrowly avoiding squelching through a plastic bag, replete with Rover's Returnings, thoughtfully dumped by some idiot pooch-owner right in the middle of the bridle-path. I mean - what's with these guys? Don't they know that plastics are forever - unlike unbagged poo which will probably get washed away by the rain in a few days?

Who else has had to fix a p*nct*re by the roadside, only to discover their tyre smeared with the stuff?

I'd vote for a return of the dog-licence (would £250 pa per dog be unaffordable? More for an un-neutered canine? Cats as well, maybe?). And ring-fence the revenue garnered, to pay for a team of poop-collectors like they have in some Continental cities, I believe...

Oh and talking about "plastics are forever". I note that the iconic 60s movie The Graduate is getting a re-release, 50 years after it first came out. Is this a Good Idea? Forget about giving impressionable teenage yoofs (like I was, back then) wet dreams about older ladeez! What makes me gnash my teeth the mostest, is that idiot in the opening scene, intoning the words "one word .... plastics!" in the ear of our eponymous hero. Ok - we knew less about pollution then, than we do now.....

There you are. Two rants for the price of one .