What's going on in your city/country/region?

[jyng1]

Match point... mama mia!!!

[Madrigal]

Some of the districts around me are going back to full lockdown. I think it may be a week before we do as well. :/

[Limey]

Someone got stabbed in the heed and run over, but I think you have to do more than merely annoy and already ornery Scot to receive that. They found some other dude in the burn (small river)

Edinburgh's council are insisting on "spaces for people" schemes that cost millions and claim back spaces from car owners. The people are overwhelmingly against it, but somehow it gets pushed through by the greens, the SNP seem to just let them do it. Entire lanes of already busy roads are now bus lanes for empty buses and cycle and walking lanes have been created, which are largely ignored by many who will ride in the road, or on the footpath anyway. It's a special kind of fun to drive at 10mph behind someone in the easiest to peddle gear on their bike going about 10mph on a 40mph dual carriageway (with no divider!) -often while there's a perfectly good, brand new cycle lane off to their left.
They have this silly idea that they can just wave a budget wand and make the place like Amsterdam. Scottish people are not the same as Dutch people.

[Senseye]

Some of the districts around me are going back to full lockdown. I think it may be a week before we do as well. :/

I saw that on the news. But they also mention about 30% of Chileans have been vaccinated (one shot). Makes me wonder what vaccine they are using. Do you know? I suspect it is the Russian (Sputnik) or the Chinese one (Sinovac).

[Madrigal]

Some of the districts around me are going back to full lockdown. I think it may be a week before we do as well. :/

I saw that on the news. But they also mention about 30% of Chileans have been vaccinated (one shot). Makes me wonder what vaccine they are using. Do you know? I suspect it is the Russian (Sputnik) or the Chinese one (Sinovac).

Sinovac. Argentina's got Sputnik, which I would prefer.

I think the good thing about Sinovac is that it's a classic type of vaccine and, despite the low efficacy rate (50%), the other half of people getting covid would presumably have mild cases of it. That's good enough for me for the time being.

It's going to be a real pain in the ass having to shop for anything that's not food under a strict quarantine though. I remember it was nuts trying to find computer accesories.

We still have a lot of furnishing to do around here.

[jyng1]

I missed the last race because the 40 minutes it was on just happened to coincide with when I was heading to work. Spending a Saturday breakfast catching up...

[jyng1]

Edinburgh's council are insisting on "spaces for people" schemes that cost millions and claim back spaces from car owners. The people are overwhelmingly against it, but somehow it gets pushed through by the greens, the SNP seem to just let them do it. Entire lanes of already busy roads are now bus lanes for empty buses and cycle and walking lanes have been created, which are largely ignored by many who will ride in the road, or on the footpath anyway. It's a special kind of fun to drive at 10mph behind someone in the easiest to peddle gear on their bike going about 10mph on a 40mph dual carriageway (with no divider!) -often while there's a perfectly good, brand new cycle lane off to their left.
They have this silly idea that they can just wave a budget wand and make the place like Amsterdam. Scottish people are not the same as Dutch people.

They took out a popup bike lane on Kensington High Street and made congestion worse. Apparently cars cause congestion, who knew?

"The majority of people (56 per cent) support schemes to promote cycling and walking, whilst just 19 per cent objecting to them, according to a YouGov poll of 2,094 UK adults on behalf of the charity Cycling UK".

"But just one in three respondents (33 per cent) think the public is generally in favour of such measures, with 29 per cent believing there is overall opposition".

"In recent months Cycling UK has seen multiple reports of people claiming there is widespread opposition to the building of new bike lanes, but this and other surveys shows there's nothing widespread about it - just a small number of loud voices".

https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/ed ... y-19323735

[djm]

Edinburgh's council are insisting on "spaces for people" schemes that cost millions and claim back spaces from car owners. The people are overwhelmingly against it, but somehow it gets pushed through by the greens, the SNP seem to just let them do it. Entire lanes of already busy roads are now bus lanes for empty buses and cycle and walking lanes have been created, which are largely ignored by many who will ride in the road, or on the footpath anyway. It's a special kind of fun to drive at 10mph behind someone in the easiest to peddle gear on their bike going about 10mph on a 40mph dual carriageway (with no divider!) -often while there's a perfectly good, brand new cycle lane off to their left.
They have this silly idea that they can just wave a budget wand and make the place like Amsterdam. Scottish people are not the same as Dutch people.

They took out a popup bike lane on Kensington High Street and made congestion worse. Apparently cars cause congestion, who knew?

"The majority of people (56 per cent) support schemes to promote cycling and walking, whilst just 19 per cent objecting to them, according to a YouGov poll of 2,094 UK adults on behalf of the charity Cycling UK".

"But just one in three respondents (33 per cent) think the public is generally in favour of such measures, with 29 per cent believing there is overall opposition".

"In recent months Cycling UK has seen multiple reports of people claiming there is widespread opposition to the building of new bike lanes, but this and other surveys shows there's nothing widespread about it - just a small number of loud voices".

https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/ed ... y-19323735

I don't know anyone that supports this rubbish. The local council in Penwortham (where I lived until recently) and Preston (the nearest city) created carnage during lockdown putting up temporary 'covid cycle lanes'. The bridge from Penwortham to Preston over the River Ribble, which is the main bottleneck, was reduced to one lane, to create a contraflow cycle lane on either side. In six months driving over the bridge very slowly in traffic jams I did not see a single cyclist using it. I live in an area that constantly rains and is hilly. Cycling around here is the preserve of lycra clad retired folk riding three abreast deliberately holding up cars on back roads. It is simply not a viable way of getting your kids to school and yourself to work.

[jyng1]

Edinburgh's council are insisting on "spaces for people" schemes that cost millions and claim back spaces from car owners. The people are overwhelmingly against it, but somehow it gets pushed through by the greens, the SNP seem to just let them do it. Entire lanes of already busy roads are now bus lanes for empty buses and cycle and walking lanes have been created, which are largely ignored by many who will ride in the road, or on the footpath anyway. It's a special kind of fun to drive at 10mph behind someone in the easiest to peddle gear on their bike going about 10mph on a 40mph dual carriageway (with no divider!) -often while there's a perfectly good, brand new cycle lane off to their left.
They have this silly idea that they can just wave a budget wand and make the place like Amsterdam. Scottish people are not the same as Dutch people.

They took out a popup bike lane on Kensington High Street and made congestion worse. Apparently cars cause congestion, who knew?

"The majority of people (56 per cent) support schemes to promote cycling and walking, whilst just 19 per cent objecting to them, according to a YouGov poll of 2,094 UK adults on behalf of the charity Cycling UK".

"But just one in three respondents (33 per cent) think the public is generally in favour of such measures, with 29 per cent believing there is overall opposition".

"In recent months Cycling UK has seen multiple reports of people claiming there is widespread opposition to the building of new bike lanes, but this and other surveys shows there's nothing widespread about it - just a small number of loud voices".

https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/ed ... y-19323735

I don't know anyone that supports this rubbish.

The most comprehensive survey I've seen done was after the Christchurch earthquake when they surveyed the whole city on how they wanted it rebuilt. 80% wanted more walking and cycling amenities. The anti cycling rhetoric is exactly that.

They pulled out a cycle lane in Sydney that carried more people than the vehicle lane next to it (and that's in a country where you can get a $1,652 ticket for speeding on a bike).

The facts that I find the most compelling is that the happiest drivers in the world are the Dutch; they also have the happiest children.

The UK on the other hand has a childhood obesity problem and obesity as a whole costs the UK £27 Billion annually and angry gammons make themselves internet sensations by falling on their face trying to kick cyclists.

[djm]

I have nothing against cycling, and certainly don't condone anti-cyclist behaviour from motorists. However cycling in my part of the world is next to useless for everyday life, it's just a nice hobby. Agree we have a lot of fatties that need to eat less and exercise more though.

I can see how cycle lanes help in London, but in the local city here the lanes are permanently empty. The busses on bus lanes are always nearly empty too. Meanwhile every measure they take to put more bus and cycle lanes in makes traffic worse, whilst generating the square root of fuck all benefit.

I can't get up and do the 20-mile round trip to drop two kids off at school on a bike twice a day and still function. Neither is it much use picking up the groceries on the way back. I also could not do my job advising on farms, or carry a tonne of stuff over fields using one.

Regards Christchurch, last time I went there (about 18 months ago) it still looked like Dresden in 1945. The re-construction from the earthquake was poorly planned and roads were being re-routed almost at random. I get how starting effectively with a blank canvas in a metro area, it is a great idea putting proper cycle lanes in from the get-go.

Smaller British towns have streets put up anywhere between the medieval period and the victorian era, built more for foot traffic or horse-drawn carriages. Trying to fit cars and also bike lanes just creates a mess.