Your rants here.

clarkey cat

*hides behind Veronese*

Yea!

mybreakfastconsisted

Maybe priority's the wrong word. If a pedestrian wanders into the road like a distracted bovine then avoid them or steer round. She was annoying and what she said was daft but if there's a ped in the road you stop, you wouldn't pass your driving test if you failed to avoid a pedestrian. And Matt looks like a big soft pint of water.

veronese68

mybreakfastconsisted wrote:

Maybe priority's the wrong word. If a pedestrian wanders into the road like a distracted bovine then avoid them or steer round. She was annoying and what she said was daft but if there's a ped in the road you stop, you wouldn't pass your driving test if you failed to avoid a pedestrian. And Matt looks like a big soft pint of water.

I agree with this, I certainly don't advocate mowing a girl down just for being stupid. But, stupid with an attitude problem does deserve to be told (without punches in the real world). Don't take all of our tongue in cheek comments so seriously.
Now if someone has a ladder I'd like to get off this high horse.

bails87

Re. the whole 'punched in the face' malarkey.....

It's now been 'solved' to the police's satisfaction because the guy wrote a letter saying he was "sorry we bumped into each other"....which isn't exactly how I remember it, but whatever. It was definitely impressed upon me by the police that the letter was the course of action to accept. I just want to get back to riding that way to work. If he'd have been cautioned/convicted he still would have been driving past me in the mornings (no driving charges would have been brought), so there was no point in being spiteful. I'm a little disapoointed that the police changed their viewpoint from "he's definitely going to court" and "I've never seen such an easy case of assault to convict on" to "He said sorry so....yeah....bye" in the space of a week.

Mulling over whether to share the video, and how I can anonymise it.

veronese68

I'm tampted to say share it and it might shame the police into action.

jds_1981

bails87 wrote:

Mulling over whether to share the video, and how I can anonymise it.

What would you anonymise?

bails87

Veronese68 wrote:

I'm tampted to say share it and it might shame the police into action.

Technically I agreed to that course of action, I just felt it was very much "We don't want to prosecute him, so sign this". I could have said no, but what would it have acheived? He wouldn't have been off the road, he wouldn't have learnt anything.

*Dusty*

Seeing as this is a thread for rants, turns out our employer (an american multinational) won't support the cycle to work scheme as there are TOO MANY people interested and it would cost them too much money.

B*stards.

sketchley

*Dusty* wrote:

Seeing as this is a thread for rants, turns out our employer (an american multinational) won't support the cycle to work scheme as there are TOO MANY people interested and it would cost them too much money.

B*stards.

Has anyone asked the finance director about that? It doesn't cost them a penny, unless they are having serious cash flow problems and they would need to borrow the money to pay for the bikes and therefore pay interest. But if that is the case consider what they have just told you, i.e. the company is about to or has run out of cash :shock:

Seriously sounds like a manager making the decision and not a finance person. If you can, ring up or email the FD or head of finance in the UK and ask why the company cannot afford this when it is cross neutral to the company?

veronese68

The company I work is owned by septics and they initially said no. I pointed out that it would also save them money as they wouldn't have to pay employer's national insurance for the amount of the loans. That and the fact that Cyclescheme do most of the work managed to swing it and they changed their minds.
Admittedly we are a relatively small company, about 100 staff here, so I went straight to the MD and argued the case myself.

bails87

jds_1981 wrote:

bails87 wrote:

Mulling over whether to share the video, and how I can anonymise it.

What would you anonymise?

Because I have to share the not-very-busy roads with him. I'm probably the only cyclist he sees on his way to work, so if he ends up with his face on the news he's going to know it was me, and he'll know where to find me.

If I was part of the swarm if cyclists in the middle of London then maybe I wouldn't be fussed, but I'm not. I didn't see a single other cyclist when I drove in today, normally only see a couple when I ride in. I stand out, basically.

*Dusty*

Veronese68 wrote:

The company I work is owned by septics and they initially said no. I pointed out that it would also save them money as they wouldn't have to pay employer's national insurance for the amount of the loans. That and the fact that Cyclescheme do most of the work managed to swing it and they changed their minds.
Admittedly we are a relatively small company, about 100 staff here, so I went straight to the MD and argued the case myself.

I'm raising it with a staff focus group who specifically work on employee benefits. I think the fact we have 600 odd employees in a factory environment might mean the number of people looking to possible take advantage of the scheme could be prohibitive given the high turnaround of staff. Plus there are a lot of scumbags here too

Cheers for the advice though, i'll let you know how it pans out.

veronese68

*Dusty* wrote:

Veronese68 wrote:

The company I work is owned by septics and they initially said no. I pointed out that it would also save them money as they wouldn't have to pay employer's national insurance for the amount of the loans. That and the fact that Cyclescheme do most of the work managed to swing it and they changed their minds.
Admittedly we are a relatively small company, about 100 staff here, so I went straight to the MD and argued the case myself.

I'm raising it with a staff focus group who specifically work on employee benefits. I think the fact we have 600 odd employees in a factory environment might mean the number of people looking to possible take advantage of the scheme could be prohibitive given the high turnaround of staff. Plus there are a lot of scumbags here too

Cheers for the advice though, i'll let you know how it pans out.

You could suggest the scheme is only opened to staff that have been with the company for a given amount of time. If they leave they have to pay the full amount including tax, that's part of the contract. We have a lot of warehouse staff, with a higher turnover of staff, and the uptake from them is very low compared to office staff.
Good luck.

redvee

Wiggle, shall I go on?
No order that was placed on 03/02, have raised the matter with them but they say it was despatched and was a card left by the postie. A small item will fit through the letterbox and I went to the sorting office yesterday with no Wiggle parcels awaiting.

Koncordski

The dump truck driver from RMH on the highway this morning, go f**k yourself. Getting that close to my rear wheel means a: you nearly hit me, b: you forced me over a really deep manhole cover and c: you nearly f**king hit me!

As to what's my problem? You're my f**king problem and you're damn right i'm going to ask you what the hell you were thinking at the next set of lights! Bell end.

il_principe

Just watched a large delivery truck tailgate a Brompton Rider on Regents street whilst tooting continuously. What an utter c*nt.

On PT today thanks to meetings. Hating it. A brief tube journey has left me feeling nauseous.

sketchley

I had a tipper truck inches from my back wheel down the highway this morning. I kept slowing until I thought we where both going slow enough so that he could stop if I did. Then he overtook, pulled in front and stopped at next set of lights at which point I went passed. What is the point........

chedabob

Like a massive plonker I bought 4 inner tubes with valve cores not long to reach through the rims. Wouldn't have been such an issue had I not snapped the top of the valve core off one already on the bike, and managed to lose the other half in the tube when trying to top it up. Cue an extremely loud hissing when I removed the pump and much swearing. Had to ride the mountain bike which had frozen bearings from being in the garage unused for a few weeks. It's like riding a boat after being on the road bike.

Topaxci

Left hooked by an idiot in an Audi on way home last night, the guy was desperate to make a left turn but failed to notice the cars queuing ahead blocking the turn. Roars up beside me then brakes and turns.
Then has the audacity to get out of his car and come over to threaten me for making contact with his precious car (which apparently he'd just spend all day polishing).
I tried my hardest to remain very polite , it was a light scuff and he was a very big angry bloke.
Just didn't need it yesterday.

Finally got home and found out my cat's had a suspected brain haemorrage and will have to be put down later today.
Yesterday not a good day - today not looking any better either.

Aidy

Why is it that motorcyclists are such complete muppets?

I'm sorry, but cutting across lanes around the back of cars does not count as "right of way".
Some form of spatial awareness might help, too.

oodboo

Feckin buses. Slow down when it's icy! I was overtaken by a bus quite close this morning, at least the front was close, the back of the bus was in the opposite lane and the whole damn thing was travelling sideways! I could only watch in horror as the bus then changed lanes, front end now in the opposite lane and back end swinging back into the left lane at it approached a cyclist ahead of me. Fortunately it didn't swing far enough to hit him either but I'm counting my blessings today.

suzyb

Holy crap oodboo. Bet there will be a few more cycle commuters tomorrow after being on that bus today

I have concluded if I cycled to work, the fact I was on my way to work would ruin the ride. I hate my job. Like it as a hobby when you can pick and choose when / what to do, hate it as a job.

king_jeffers

Topaxci wrote:

Yesterday not a good day - today not looking any better either.

Hope things get better for you, my intended mini rant about the work canteen seems lost now

Topaxci

King Jeffers wrote:

Topaxci wrote:

Yesterday not a good day - today not looking any better either.

Hope things get better for you, my intended mini rant about the work canteen seems lost now

Thanks, don't hold back though, we all need a little rant to help get it out of our system every now and again.

On the bright side our cat is back home. He made a recovery without treatment, so vet thinks it was a neurological episode. Just means we have to keep him in under observation for a week (which he will hate), but it could be the symptoms of somthing more severe, like a cancer or tumor.

This morning rant is a bit darker, people driving without lights
Moped without lights nearly clipped me at a junction this morning as I just did not see him. He went whizzing off into the city centre - clearly has a deathwish.
On my way out of the city saw another car with no lights coming towards me, both me and a jogger on the opposite path waved and shouted. Don't think they got the message though.
Finally it was like the Twilight Zone this morning on one section as all the streetlights were turning off in groups just in front of me. I'm all for saving power but it was 06:30 and still dark.

Ben6899

Topaxci wrote:

On the bright side our cat is back home. He made a recovery without treatment, so vet thinks it was a neurological episode. Just means we have to keep him in under observation for a week (which he will hate), but it could be the symptoms of somthing more severe, like a cancer or tumor.

When I read your rant yesterday, I had a bit of a gulp and a lump in my throat. I'm so glad you have your dear cat back home, even if he will hate being stuck indoors! Spoil him to make up for the temporary grounding.

It's funny you say he'll hate it... our cat won't go out at this time of year. She's a proper explorer in the warmer months but when it's like this, no chance.

My rant. I am SICK TO THE BACK TEETH of being other peoples' eyes when out walking or running. I appreciate that I have to take additional responsiblity if I'm moving along at ~9mph, but these people glued to iphone screens and not paying attention to Task #1: Walking without bumping into anything do my nut! It's tempting to brace and bump and give them a taste of O2's insurance protocol.

optimisticbiker

Today's rant is about snow...

not the lovely pristine white stuff on the fields, or even the gunky brown stuff by the side of the road...

but the stuff that some a**eholes fail to remove from the tops of their vehicles so it comes off in chunks either right in front of me (usually on a corner) so I have to emulate a slalom skier, or worse, into the back of my neck when I'm sitting at the lights and some tw*t in a transit stops too fast and too close...

redvee

Nearly got taken out by an Audi A1 dinnertime on the pavement. He was bolting his bike to the roofrack and as I got level with the car we made eye contact as he got in the car and as soon as he shut the door he made to drive off as I was beside the car. He did realise his stupidity and apologise with a hand signal.

optimisticbiker

Not sure its my rant, but I'm doing so on behalf of all intimidated women cyclists everywhere (not that I am intimidated or a woman)....

Walking back from the sandwich shop on Farringdon Road at lunchtime, a guy walks out of an office towing a wheeled carrier, almost trips me up, then carries on straight across the road forcing a pootling lady cyclist to brake hard and take avoiding action resulting in her almost coming off (being a step through frame she didn't but it wasn't exactly a controlled dismount). He gives her a mouthful of invective and she almost burst into tears and was apologising profusely.... she was totally intimidated by his stupidity and foul mouth. If he hadn't had 6" and 50lbs on me I'd have decked him...

suzyb

You shouldn't want to deck him, you should pity him. He obviously isn't getting any and never will (sex or love) with an attitude like that. he deserves to be pitied not punched.

veronese68

Instead of decking him your time would have been far better served going to the rescue of said damsel.A bit of sympathy and a few consoling words. Then you might have got some of what Mr Angry Twunt isn't getting.