What I really wanted to share:
Another Tuesday.
For a second time, I practiced the same scheme (new, in testing) – rode my bike to work on Friday, left the bike there, left the city for the weekend by bus. On Monday morning, back to the city by bus and using public city transport to work. In the Mon afternoon, rode the bike home again, so this morning it was back as it should be – riding my bike to work, nice and steady.
By putting myself through such contrasts, I realize more and more that I probably wouldn’t be able to live in the city (as opposed to my quiet little hometown) for long – or wouldn’t want to. Monday, public transport – various sorts of discomfort, noise, frustration from being “trapped” in a large vehicle, stuck in the morning traffic jam (oh yes, we do have priority bus lanes etc., but that doesn’t work everywhere throughout the city), depressingly helpless – unable to do anything about it! just wait. Average speed of travel well below the theoretical capacities of most of the vehicles engaged. Etc. Most people know that themselves. Surely, I am tough enough to put up with this everyday, every morning, but… why should I? (why should anyone?) Of course, driving a car in these circumstances is more or less the same thing. Or probably worse, as you can at least read a book (etc.) in a bus.
Well. This morning, Tuesday. Rode my bike to work – a few miles right accross the city, but avoiding most of the main arteries (just crossing them or riding along them for just a short part). With the right vehicle, such routes can be found almost everywhere. Left the home about 10 minutes earlier than usual, so I knew I can ride easy, just enjoy the morning sun (though the air was chilly). No aggressive, reckless or rule-breaking riding needed to go fluently, though not always fast, where I need to go. My main advantage is just the fact that I don’t have to stop and stay anywhere for longer than one cycle of a traffic light. Should “the city” get too dense to ride through at any point, I can always at least walk through… or away. Even though I ride slower than usual, I still need about 10 minutes less for the trip than if I would use the public transport. But the most important difference is… that I like it. “I like going to work in the morning” – how many people are ready to say that? It feels as if I enter the heart of the city, but I still keep away from all its madness or stress. Most of the days (surely, even the sun doesn’t shine every day).
What a glorious invention! Or some magic, probably.
oh, silly me!
I somehow omitted the main point… 8)
“By putting myself through such contrasts, I realize more and more that I probably wouldn’t be able to live in the city (as opposed to my quiet little hometown) for long – or wouldn’t want to…” should of course be finished by “… IF I COULDN’T USE MY BICYCLE to navigate the city…!”
You don’t say what city Birch?
In Coventry, UK, you are never more than 4 miles from the countryside!
In the 1960s, the local newspaper printed an article about a very cute place less than 3 miles from the city centre.
A little stream/brook made a small valley that is broached by a railway link. That track crosses the ‘valley’ at a place where a road does also and the two routes make a sort of ‘X’ at a nice arched bridge made from local sandstone. (‘Coat of Arms Bridge’ road)
There is a very nice cottage next to the road and the bridge which has all the aspects you might expect from an Olde-English building – even a duck pond!
The newspaper article made the point that none of our populace is more than 3 miles from the City Centre.
I took that to heart, as it means that I am never more than 6 miles from anywhere in the city and my bike is perfect to travel that far. Before I got my old-age bus pass (2 years ago) cycling was the cheapest way to get around, the ‘cost’ is now the stress of D***head drivers etc which do my fibrillation no good! I still enjoyed the ride to collect my medicine yesterday, despite the muggy heat. Nothing to complain about there after watching ‘Hart of Dixie’ and realising the thermal problems of those ‘blessed’ by a hot climate. We British talk about the weather more than anybody I think. Maybe the gulf stream effect that keeps our temperatures more moderate than many causes us to complain about the variable results?
(Tencon) Right now, its Brno, Czech republic. If you look it up on (e.g.) google maps, you will see it is not that big as a really large city like, let’s say, London (not even near that size), but it has many of the same characteristics – like, among the more prominent, a great amount of radial traffic coming in and out, communicating with a large area around it – with all the consequences.
In the past, I also lived – and rode my bike – in Prague for several years, and even in the mentioned London (though there it was only a few weeks). Even when I travel as a tourist, I prefer to ride a bicycle to explore the new terrain, if possible (for example by renting a bike on the spot), so I have experienced, however briefly, the traffic in a few other European cities as well. That’s why I dare to say that large(r) cities from a certain size up are comparable in many aspects regarding traffic, even if one has a population of 500 000 and another ten times more…
//
I guess that weather is such a great universal conversational topic – not only in the UK – because it has many properties making it perfect for such a use. It is truly universal – everybody experiences and observes it, so everybody is entitled to comment – no one can be left out as ignorant of the topic. It is also quite objective, or better said non-subjective… or should we say “neutral”? Even when people disagree to some extent (“I like sunshine” vs. “I prefer when it’s overcast (because I have sensitive eyes/skin/don’t like the heat or whatever”), it is unlikely to bring up any conflict or confrontation – most mentally healthy people are willing to let others prefer whatever they choose to prefer (at least regarding the weather), as it is beyond anyone’s control anyway. On the other hand, it can provide some bonding, community-reassuring moments, as we are all physically conditioned in a similar way – so, most people in one community are ready to agree on things such as “it has been raining non-stop for forty days and forty nights now, that is really terrible, isn’t it” … ) Or, perhaps most often, it can just serve as a starting – or only, if suitable – topic of communication with strangers (not only), to first check out/demonstrate the way a person communicates in general…
Thanks for that Birch – Brno looks like a nice place! From my quick exploration with Google just now, it doesn’t look that far from the Donau/Danube? My friend and I are planning to follow the Rhine from the English Channel to it’s source, then the Danube from it’s source in Donaueschingen to it’s delta in Romania/Ukraine. We will need to do a lot of research before we go – I don’t want to go anywhere dangerous, although most of it seems to have ended now, things change?
I hope to make a few excursions along the way and Brno looks like it might be a great place to add to the list?
Well, that’s a plan!
I myself am considering a part of it – to go down the river from my hometown, leading to another river… and finally to Danube (reaching the Danube in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia). Then to the delta… using my small boat. Actually, I have been considering it for a few years now… but to really set on the voyage, that’s still a great step. But the boat is almost ready now, so what remains to do is mainly to arrange / reserve enough free time…
Are you planning to go by boat, or just along the rivers, but by land?
Brno is not that far from Danube, but not exactly near either. However, such a detour could be arranged easily, even just for a single day. It would be probably best to get to Bratislava (a city definitely worth visiting itself!) and head for Brno from there – either by train (if you choose something like Eurocity/Intercity, it’s about 1 and 1/2 hour) or using the D2/E65 motorway, about 80 miles.
I’ve always assumed Yehuda and Sister Sprocket would couple-up. That much tension has to include attraction, else they’d simply avoid (be replelled by) each other. (Does anybody here remember dipping a girl’s ponytail in an inkwell or pulling pig-tails?)
Idle Crossing is already starting to learn that any relationship with Yehuda will be only on his terms….not that this is necessarily a bad thing. By definition zealots are incredibly focused and single-minded; now if someone — Idle Crossing, Sister Sprocket, someone as yet unintroduced — can find a way to tap into that and get some of that intensity directed towards herself, you might end up with a match for the ages.
How easy to go :first: from a different time-zone! (So really, what’s the point?)
Would that make a tandem second base?
A tandem specially sized for a specific pair of people is more like an engagement ring.
What I really wanted to share:
Even though I ride slower than usual, I still need about 10 minutes less for the trip than if I would use the public transport. But the most important difference is… that I like it. “I like going to work in the morning” – how many people are ready to say that? 
It feels as if I enter the heart of the city, but I still keep away from all its madness or stress. Most of the days (surely, even the sun doesn’t shine every day).
Another Tuesday.
For a second time, I practiced the same scheme (new, in testing) – rode my bike to work on Friday, left the bike there, left the city for the weekend by bus. On Monday morning, back to the city by bus and using public city transport to work. In the Mon afternoon, rode the bike home again, so this morning it was back as it should be – riding my bike to work, nice and steady.
By putting myself through such contrasts, I realize more and more that I probably wouldn’t be able to live in the city (as opposed to my quiet little hometown) for long – or wouldn’t want to. Monday, public transport – various sorts of discomfort, noise, frustration from being “trapped” in a large vehicle, stuck in the morning traffic jam (oh yes, we do have priority bus lanes etc., but that doesn’t work everywhere throughout the city), depressingly helpless – unable to do anything about it! just wait. Average speed of travel well below the theoretical capacities of most of the vehicles engaged. Etc. Most people know that themselves. Surely, I am tough enough to put up with this everyday, every morning, but… why should I? (why should anyone?) Of course, driving a car in these circumstances is more or less the same thing. Or probably worse, as you can at least read a book (etc.) in a bus.
Well. This morning, Tuesday. Rode my bike to work – a few miles right accross the city, but avoiding most of the main arteries (just crossing them or riding along them for just a short part). With the right vehicle, such routes can be found almost everywhere. Left the home about 10 minutes earlier than usual, so I knew I can ride easy, just enjoy the morning sun (though the air was chilly). No aggressive, reckless or rule-breaking riding needed to go fluently, though not always fast, where I need to go. My main advantage is just the fact that I don’t have to stop and stay anywhere for longer than one cycle of a traffic light. Should “the city” get too dense to ride through at any point, I can always at least walk through… or away.
What a glorious invention! Or some magic, probably.
oh, silly me!
I somehow omitted the main point… 8)
“By putting myself through such contrasts, I realize more and more that I probably wouldn’t be able to live in the city (as opposed to my quiet little hometown) for long – or wouldn’t want to…” should of course be finished by “… IF I COULDN’T USE MY BICYCLE to navigate the city…!”
You don’t say what city Birch?
In Coventry, UK, you are never more than 4 miles from the countryside!
In the 1960s, the local newspaper printed an article about a very cute place less than 3 miles from the city centre.
A little stream/brook made a small valley that is broached by a railway link. That track crosses the ‘valley’ at a place where a road does also and the two routes make a sort of ‘X’ at a nice arched bridge made from local sandstone. (‘Coat of Arms Bridge’ road)
There is a very nice cottage next to the road and the bridge which has all the aspects you might expect from an Olde-English building – even a duck pond!
The newspaper article made the point that none of our populace is more than 3 miles from the City Centre.
I took that to heart, as it means that I am never more than 6 miles from anywhere in the city and my bike is perfect to travel that far. Before I got my old-age bus pass (2 years ago) cycling was the cheapest way to get around, the ‘cost’ is now the stress of D***head drivers etc which do my fibrillation no good! I still enjoyed the ride to collect my medicine yesterday, despite the muggy heat. Nothing to complain about there after watching ‘Hart of Dixie’ and realising the thermal problems of those ‘blessed’ by a hot climate. We British talk about the weather more than anybody I think. Maybe the gulf stream effect that keeps our temperatures more moderate than many causes us to complain about the variable results?
(Tencon) Right now, its Brno, Czech republic. If you look it up on (e.g.) google maps, you will see it is not that big as a really large city like, let’s say, London (not even near that size), but it has many of the same characteristics – like, among the more prominent, a great amount of radial traffic coming in and out, communicating with a large area around it – with all the consequences.
– in Prague for several years, and even in the mentioned London (though there it was only a few weeks). Even when I travel as a tourist, I prefer to ride a bicycle to explore the new terrain, if possible (for example by renting a bike on the spot), so I have experienced, however briefly, the traffic in a few other European cities as well. That’s why I dare to say that large(r) cities from a certain size up are comparable in many aspects regarding traffic, even if one has a population of 500 000 and another ten times more…
In the past, I also lived – and rode my bike
//
I guess that weather is such a great universal conversational topic – not only in the UK – because it has many properties making it perfect for such a use. It is truly universal – everybody experiences and observes it, so everybody is entitled to comment – no one can be left out as ignorant of the topic. It is also quite objective, or better said non-subjective… or should we say “neutral”? Even when people disagree to some extent (“I like sunshine” vs. “I prefer when it’s overcast (because I have sensitive eyes/skin/don’t like the heat or whatever”), it is unlikely to bring up any conflict or confrontation – most mentally healthy people are willing to let others prefer whatever they choose to prefer (at least regarding the weather), as it is beyond anyone’s control anyway.
On the other hand, it can provide some bonding, community-reassuring moments, as we are all physically conditioned in a similar way – so, most people in one community are ready to agree on things such as “it has been raining non-stop for forty days and forty nights now, that is really terrible, isn’t it” … 
) Or, perhaps most often, it can just serve as a starting – or only, if suitable – topic of communication with strangers (not only), to first check out/demonstrate the way a person communicates in general…
Et cetera. I’m sure you know…
Thanks for that Birch – Brno looks like a nice place!
From my quick exploration with Google just now, it doesn’t look that far from the Donau/Danube?
My friend and I are planning to follow the Rhine from the English Channel to it’s source, then the Danube from it’s source in Donaueschingen to it’s delta in Romania/Ukraine.
We will need to do a lot of research before we go – I don’t want to go anywhere dangerous, although most of it seems to have ended now, things change?
I hope to make a few excursions along the way and Brno looks like it might be a great place to add to the list?
Well, that’s a plan!
But the boat is almost ready now, so what remains to do is mainly to arrange / reserve enough free time…
I myself am considering a part of it – to go down the river from my hometown, leading to another river… and finally to Danube (reaching the Danube in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia). Then to the delta… using my small boat. Actually, I have been considering it for a few years now… but to really set on the voyage, that’s still a great step.
Are you planning to go by boat, or just along the rivers, but by land?
Brno is not that far from Danube, but not exactly near either. However, such a detour could be arranged easily, even just for a single day. It would be probably best to get to Bratislava (a city definitely worth visiting itself!) and head for Brno from there – either by train (if you choose something like Eurocity/Intercity, it’s about 1 and 1/2 hour) or using the D2/E65 motorway, about 80 miles.
Brno is definitely an interesting place, yes. And, along the way from the Danube to Brno, there are many places worth seeing as well
… just one, for instance: https://www.google.cz/search?q=p%C3%A1lava&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:cs:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=cs&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=HMvFT4LUHcLY8AP8rODrBQ&biw=1366&bih=616&sei=HsvFT7OROoq38QPcrYCHBg (pictures – “Palava hills” – a peculiar rocky ridge dominating the flats along the Dyje river).
Oh, Yehuda only wants another cyclist out on the streets, not a girlfriend
sounds like a Menage A Bike…
Then… Tricycles? Naw… Yehuda would go straight to a Skuut.
While I was verifying the spelling and prices of Skuuts I found this little jem…
http://hollimanchronicles.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html
To make the Skuut shorter for younger riders, people are assembling them with the body upside down (and they look more like a chopper motorcycle)
Most peculiar, it looks LONGER to my eyes after the re-assembly…
Longer in length, shorter in height
Aha! Didn’t think of this interpretation in this context.
I’ve always assumed Yehuda and Sister Sprocket would couple-up. That much tension has to include attraction, else they’d simply avoid (be replelled by) each other. (Does anybody here remember dipping a girl’s ponytail in an inkwell or pulling pig-tails?)
Twisting your partner’s finger during country dance lessons….
Good grief, that shows how long ago I was at school….
yehuda is not gonna be fun to try and have a relationship with.
Idle Crossing is already starting to learn that any relationship with Yehuda will be only on his terms….not that this is necessarily a bad thing. By definition zealots are incredibly focused and single-minded; now if someone — Idle Crossing, Sister Sprocket, someone as yet unintroduced — can find a way to tap into that and get some of that intensity directed towards herself, you might end up with a match for the ages.