Council secures funding for £14m town centre overhaul… but fuming locals shoot down “bicycle-obsessed council” because plan includes a cycle lane; James May ‘invents’ the cargo bike + more on the live blog
SUMMARY
James May 'invents' the cargo bike
"With all the modern costs, it was getting harder": Leisure Lakes Bikes downsizes Cheltenham branch after 25 years in familiar town centre store
Leisure Lakes Bikes’ Cheltenham store has moved, the retailer leaving its previous premises [above] where it has operated since 2000, moving inside a Go Outdoors Express nearby.
Manager Ian Davis told Gloucestershire news site Punchl!ne it’s a move to “streamline” the business and run things “a little bit leaner”.
“With all the modern costs, it was getting harder,” he explained. “We were doing good business there but the cost of running it there was increasing. We can run it at the new place a little bit leaner.
“People have an attachment to that location. I worked there before it was Leisure Lakes, in the 90s when it was Bike Tech. But we have to move with the times, unfortunately. It’s put us in a good position, moving forward. We’re here to help people out and give them what they want.”
The classiest indoor training set-up we've ever seen: riding your steel Peugeot in a wine cellar
If only Clive were over in a certain other French wine region, not the Loire Valley, then we could officially dub this a Champagne cave… I’ll get my coat…
[Clive Humphry]
A corker of a find in the ‘Steel is Real’ Facebook page, Clive taking winter training up a notch. How he gets any riding done is a mystery to me, but apparently the wine cave is the “perfect temperature and view” to keep the legs turning.
10/10.
Parents and campaigners call for more school streets and action on "dangerous SUVs"
Parents and campaigners from Solve the School Run and Clean Cities are trying to raise awareness of the road dangers children face every day simply for trying to get to school. They’ve called for all councillors in London to commit to a ‘Safer Streets for Kids’ manifesto, including closures of streets around schools at drop off and pick up time, as well as measures to discourage driving and “dangerous SUVs”.
Research from Solve the School Run suggests on average 443 children are injured on their way to and from London schools each year, with 16 per cent of these serious or fatal injuries.
Solve the School Run says children “are disproportionately at risk if they walk or cycle to school”, with children walking and cycling to school in London making up 57 per cent of all school run journeys whilst making up 78 per cent of school run casualties.
“This demonstrates the need for councils to take much more action to protect children as they make their way to school, particularly given that almost all children will need to walk, for at least some of their journey,” the campaign group says.
“I screamed but by the time she realised what she’d done she had driven over the front wheel of Ben’s bike”
Katy Heald, a parent whose four-year-old son Ben was almost crushed by the driver of an SUV, has joined the campaign groups in asking for “action to discourage SUVs with higher parking charges” due to the vehicles’ high danger to children.
“We were at a traffic light crossing outside our local station,” Katy recalled. “The traffic was nose to tail, as it often is at the end of the school day, and an SUV had stopped just over the stop line. When the green man came on my four-year-old, Ben, went forwards on his balance bike while I followed with my toddler in the buggy. The traffic beyond the crossing shifted forward and the driver of the SUV – rather than observe the red light and green man, or even check the crossing was clear – moved with it.
“I screamed but by the time she realised what she’d done she had driven over the front wheel of Ben’s bike. The wheel and front fork of his bike were crushed, which tells you how close the wheel was to his leg. The driver had no idea that he was even there until his bike was under her car as the bonnet was so high, and we saw no evidence of the automatic braking or collision avoidance systems that car manufacturers talk about.
“Ben was distraught and so was the driver, who had her own kids in the back of the car. We need safer streets all the time, but particularly during the school run, when thousands of children are walking and cycling on the streets at the same time as thousands of cars are on the roads.”
As part of the Safer Streets for Kids manifesto, councils are being asked to sign up to a commitment to:
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An effective school street for every school – a school street is when the road by a school is closed to traffic during the hours of school drop off and pick up, keeping children safe.
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Access to a cargo bike for every family – this could be through subsidies, secure bike parking options or bike share schemes. Cargo bikes are (typically) e-bikes and carry children within them.
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Reallocate kerb space in a child-friendly way – more double yellow lines and crossing points to improve sightlines, so children can see and be seen, along with parking tariffs to discourage SUVs and carspreading.
“We wanted to shine a light on the very real danger that children face getting to school. As parents we see and feel it every school day. We wanted to turn that experience into numbers that councils can understand, to demonstrate the need for immediate action,” said Claire McDonald, co-founder of Solve The School Run.
"It's not a good idea to put a giant white pole in the middle of a cycle lane"
Meanwhile in Auckland…
Auckland Transport (AT) admitted to Stuff the location of the sign, slap bang in the middle of a cycle path, is “far from ideal”, engineers to contact the contractor to “discuss an alternative”.
They must have been taking lessons from over here…
> Cyclists slam “poor planning” as new bike lane built right into path of zebra crossing pole
Factor terminates bike contract with Israel-Premier Tech after year of protests, as reports suggest Scott set to sponsor rebranded team
Yoga and The Rest is History podcasts... Mark Cavendish's retirement routine
What does a retired Mark Cavendish get up to these days? Well, speaking to the Standard, Cav says it’s running, yoga and history podcasts (plus as much riding as he can get away with, of course).
The school run might be one of his new favourite times of the day, but Cav would still “ride all day, if I can, especially with friends”, although the “thought of structured training doesn’t appeal any more unless I have a specific goal”.
“I’ve taken up running and even completed a marathon recently, which helped give me a new focus,” he explained. “And I’ve started doing an online yoga class. It’s been unexpectedly meditative — for that hour, the rest of the world disappears. It took time to embrace, but now I really feel the benefits. It’s not just physical; it’s a shift in awareness too.”
Cav also explained how podcasts have become a big part of his day and he loves The Rest is History or A Short History Of when on the move, travelling to an event or out walking. “I’ve always been drawn to storytelling and learning in bite-size ways,” he said.
Can’t say I’d mind listening to podcasts and doing yoga all day. Maybe not all day… but you get what I mean.
'Israel out of the Tour' protester who disrupted Tour de France finish fined €300 as prosecutor warns "freedom of expression cannot happen at the risk of other people's safety"
Tony Martin joins the pro cycling run club
Tony Martin is the latest pro/former pro to get his trainers on and clock an impressive time at a running event. In the case of the German it was a 1:24 half marathon.
“My first competition in four years and my first half marathon ever,” he said. “21 km in 1:24h… not bad for me, but so far from the top. It was really fun, but it was also incredibly tough and painful. Since last weekend, I have so much more respect for the performance of runners and triathletes. Next year I’ll be back to improve my time.”
Marcel Kittel was on hand with a handy tip for next time, telling Martin: “Next time you’ll listen to hardstyle from the Netherlands instead of children’s audiobooks, and you’ll run as fast as Tom Dumoulin.”
It has been a bumper off-season for running, Mathieu van der Poel stealing the headlines with his 33-minute 10km the other week. Greg Van Avermaet clocked a 1.21:31 half marathon, although that comes with the caveat that it came at the end of a triathlon, the Belgian winning his age group at the Ironman world championship.
British rider Lewis Askey is quite quick too, running a 1:12 at the Stroud half marathon earlier in the autumn.
Bike from Kraftwerk's iconic Tour de France music video sells for $57,600 at auction
The bike ridden in Kraftwerk’s Tour de France music video exceeded all expectations at auction, selling for $57,600 (around £44,000). Julians auctioned off personal goods of Florian Schneider, one of the founding members of the band, the bike going under the hammer alongside instruments and other belongings.
Stick that in a wine cellar and I think you might even beat the steel Peugeot from this morning’s posh indoor-training post…
RideLondon cycling event organiser "seeking further information as a matter of priority" after company chair revealed to have seriously injured cyclist in collision
Do not scratch your eyes... work to begin on Irish velodrome (finally)
Ryan’s in absolute disbelief, the days of the Irish track team having to travel to Mallorca to train in a velodrome might be coming to an end. RTE has this afternoon reported construction on a national velodrome at the Sport Ireland Campus in Abbotstown is set to begin early next year.
It will apparently cost between €50-100m, the news coming as Irish cycling enjoys something of a boom in the professional ranks. Ben Healy, of course, won a stage and wore the yellow jersey at the Tour de France this summer, while Lara Gillespie has impressed on the road too and took a historic gold at the recent Track World Championships in Chile.
The Irish government hopes to build on the success, a national velodrome hopefully helping the next generation of Irish cycling stars reach their potential.
"Coming out the other side felt insane": Inside Matt Jones' scarily amazing jump between two moving trucks
Something fun from our friends at off-road.cc to finish the day…
Council secures funding for £14m town centre overhaul... but fuming locals shoot down "bicycle-obsessed council" because plan includes a cycle lane
Up in Harrogate, North Yorkshire Council was pleased to announce it would be investing in the town centre having won £38m of investment from central government’s Transforming Cities Fund (TCF). Alongside other investment in Skipton and Selby, around £14.3m of that is to be used “improving Harrogate town centre [by] providing better access to public transport, and ensuring people are connected to economic and educational opportunities”. Positive news? Well, apparently not, according to residents on Facebook…
You’ve probably worked out how these sort of things go by now, but North Yorkshire Council has been accused of being “bicycle obsessed” because there’s a major new cycle lane included in the plans.
It is worth pointing out there were also some concerns about if there could be more greenery in the plans, but for many the big issue was, to quote one local, “Cycle lanes, cycle lanes, cycle lanes?!?!?”
As this funding is specifically from the TCF the council clearly has to abide by that and can’t just put the £14m towards some of the more day-to-day local authority service issues that some residents suggested would be a better destination for the money. Sorry, got distracted there, back to the fury that sight of a cycle lane causes.
“Bicycle obsessed council …. There aren’t any!” John Scott said.
“Artists impression — who’s ever seen three cyclists on Station Parade?!” Chrissy Fincham added, a comment which… some might argue is… well… perhaps the point of providing a safe, protected route so people can.
Gary Fitzsimmons commented: “Cycle lanes, cycle lanes, cycle lanes?!?!? Why not build a proper hub that links to bus and train stations together, the one that was promised over 20 years ago! The bridge across to the car park from the Victoria Centre was meant to be part of it, hence the eyesore that has been left there looking like a temporary rig! Wrong priorities!!”
“That money would be better spent lowering business rates to actually help store owners, a cycle path will do nothing,” Neal King said.
We’ll give the last ranty comment to Steve Lilley: “Have the powers that be carried out a survey to see the flow of cyclists who use that section of road. I think not because they don’t exist. I have not seen one cyclist on that section. What a complete waste of money.”
It’s fairly standard for discourse around these sort of town centre projects to be dominated by cycle lane complaints, even if the Harrogate scheme also includes improved traffic signals, a bus lane, new paving on pedestrian areas, and cycle parking at the station. There will also be traffic-signal improvements at junctions on the A61.
Work is set to begin in the New Year to avoid disruption over the festive period and the scheme is due be completed in autumn 2027.
“The aims of the programme are to provide more accessible, affordable and attractive greener transport options, connect people to employment and educational opportunities, and create happier and healthier communities,” the council explained.
Executive member for highways and transport, Cllr Malcolm Taylor, added: “The scheme has been in the making for around five years, with several rounds of consultation and engagement to produce the final designs. We have maintained our commitment to delivering the scheme, which will be key in promoting sustainable travel and public transport options. The town centre will become more visibly appealing, ultimately driving economic prosperity through improved access to employment and future investment.”
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@Rendel Harris you've painted a rather alluring picture of social harmony there, but unfortunately you've got my name wrong. I'm Jack, not Nigel. However, to return the compliment, I must think of a story for you. I imagine you sat outside a pub, real ale and pipe propped on the adjacent table, in a similar fashion to Nigel Farage at his populist best. You turn to your wife. "You know what dear? I think I've been a bit harsh in my time. I've shunned the politeness and wisdom of others for too long and want to change my ways.* "There there Rendel", says Mrs Harris. "You're not a bad old stick, it's just living in London that's emptied your soul of kindness and compassion. I've found a lovely new place where we can settle down in our later years. It's on a leafy cul de sac, surrounded by friendly neighbours and smiling faces. There's a guy a couple of doors down, a remarkable man. As well as his towering intellect and rapier wit, he's also a keen cyclist, holding severa local KOMs. Don't be perturbed dear - he'll ride with anyone provided they show other road users the kindness and courtesy they deserve." Rendel turned emotionally, voice shaking. "Oh my dear, thank you for this second chance", and with that the rest of the pub goers turned and applauded the couple, throwing garlands of petals in their wake. The end.
As a Councillor, Edward needs to be paying some attention to all that parking obstructing visibility and manoeuvres at the junction, and sorting out those radii.
Ed Hill was chucked out by Reform in 2025, though TBF to him it was about how to run it rather than ideology I think. He is now reportedly closer to Advance UK, which is distinctly more extreme than Reform. I'd call this Alan Amos style attention seeking.
Emily, thank you for such an insightful piece. I’m a man, but I enjoy watching the women’s races, possibly more than the men’s. The racing is so much closer, we rarely know who’s going to win. You painted a wonderful picture of how a true champion is able to ‘rise above’ setbacks and distractions, and focus their energy on the task in hand. ‘All’s fair in live and war -and sport, but always good to hear riders expressing their admiration for their competitors
@Nigel Garage ...and then everyone applauded my courtesy and I waved courteously to all the people who were courteously throwing flowers and cheering and courteously waving flags that said "Nigel is the best!"
The picture from street view clearly shows give way lines from the roads to the green painted cycle/pedestrian lane. The road user should give way (or must...) to the user of the green lane. This would of course apply to any cyclist on the roadway.
If I recall there is a cave or two along the route - perhaps they were sheltering from the heat in one of those having taken it for a Golf bunker?
“So if there’s a cyclist travelling down the cycle path at the moment, from this position I can’t see them because my blind spots are too big on the left hand side of the vehicle”, claims Hill. Well, there's your problem, right there...🙄
First impression from the headline that he's likely a twit. Then the detail he was expelled from Reform makes you suspect that failing even their low bar requirements he really is. Then he clearly explains his vehicle is unsafe for the highway because he can't see to give way when turning. Any collision he now has should have that video run out explaining he drove a vehicle he knew to be unsafe. Advice for motorists; instead of thinking that pedestrians and cyclists are low risk 100kg objects, imagine them as a 300 Tonne trains that will crush you and your vehicle if you cross into their paths. You'd give way to the train, so you equally can to the others.
I've had a brief look on Facebook, and Ed Hill (who now appears to be affiliated with Advance UK) seems to have taken some useful road safety improvements under his remit, including an initiative to help local pedestrians on unpaved roads, where the wider council won't help due to planning failures. Regarding the cycle path, I think this is linked to a wider misunderstanding about giving way at junctions and I'm afraid I cannot agree with Mr Hill's conclusion. Regardless of the suitability of the cycle path, vehicles should give way at the junction to both pedestrians crossing and cyclists. It seems to be a poorly understood rule among motorists where some believe they have priority at junctions like this, where they certainly do not. I once had a similar issue myself, while leisurely walking to Waitrose to buy some lunchtime fripperies. A driver beeped their horn as I crossed the junction, despite me having priority, and was shocked and apologetic when I explained I had priority. A polite conversation later, the driver departed, educated and updated on the rules of the road.
33 thoughts on “Council secures funding for £14m town centre overhaul… but fuming locals shoot down “bicycle-obsessed council” because plan includes a cycle lane; James May ‘invents’ the cargo bike + more on the live blog”
Gary Fitzsimmons wrote:
So far as I can see, it’s only cycle lane – singular.
Yes and it’s one-way, so
Yes and it’s one-way, so depending on where you live you can either get to or from the station on it, but not both.
(some) Harrogate residents
(some) Harrogate residents never cease to amaze me – this plan by Harrogate BC and now North Yorkshire Council has been rumbling on for years. Some local business person seems to think that cars rule and is prepared to back, to the tune of £££, all sorts of legal challenges, most if not all have failed. Meanwhile, 15 miles south Leeds City Council is quietly getting on with builkding miles and miles of protected cyclke lanes all over the city. The new infrastructure may have it’s critics (certainly not very loud) but the public consultation results were overwhelmingly in-favour of it all !
I’ve been happily suprised by
I’ve been happily suprised by the quality of the cycle lanes in Leeds.
Navigating through the city to my friends place in Moortown is now a dream!
Leeds City Council seem to be
Leeds City Council seem to be doing very well.
Part of it is having in-house expertise so they can get on with things quickly, which gives less time to opponents to have multiple goes at objecting. It also saves money on consultants.
Quote:
Hopefully Harrogate Spa will be along to correct that “black is white” misapprehention.
Also – while it’s shown with a quantum of separation, what we need is properly separate “cycle paths, cycle paths, cycle paths”. As mentioned on the “but red light jumping threatens pedestrians” threads one of the benefits of a bit more separation is it can help pedestrians cross the path easily * AND facilitate movement by cyclists.
Why cycle lanes are sometimes still seen even in NL and why they’re poor “infra”:
* Crossing the cycle path: https://bicycledutch.wordpress.com/2019/06/12/how-hard-is-it-to-cross-the-cycle-path/
I can confirm that North
I can confirm that North Yorkshire Council has a very poor track record for building cycle infrastructure.
Steve Lilley wrote:
I know it gets used a lot but only because it’s so appropriate: I’ve never seen anybody swimming across that shark-and-crocodile-infested river, which completely proves that it would be a total waste of money to build a bridge.
Are the antis being
Are the antis being deliberately obtuse?
Thickos: Why would you build cycle lanes when there aren’t any cyclists on the routes?
Answer: Because there aren’t any cyclists on the route.
GMBasix wrote:
It’s rather like that famous piece of logic applied during World War II, isn’t it, when the planes were returning from raids with the majority of the bullet damage around the fuselage and so designers thought they should reinforce those parts until someone pointed out that those were the planes that were coming home, so the ones that weren’t coming home were the ones hit in the wings and tailplane and that was what needed reinforcing. Similarly, routes that are heavily used by cyclists are most likely to be the ones least in need of a cycle lane, and vice versa.
Its a perfectly valid
Its a perfectly valid arguement, no one uses these routes because it to aggressive to do so, so making it less aggressive won’t help; wait a minute that isn’t a valid argument
I wonder why these “bicycle
I wonder why these “bicycle obsessed councils” never seem to think about bicycle parking at any point.
You mean roofed and secured
You mean roofed and secured bicycle parking?
This popped up on my feed
This popped up on my feed earlier, so seemed like a good opportunity to share. Everyone driving clearly working well.
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/trafford-centre-customer-vows-never-32888975
“We were at a traffic light
“We were at a traffic light crossing outside our local station,” Katy recalled. “The traffic was nose to tail, as it often is at the end of the school day, and an SUV had stopped just over the stop line. When the green man came on my four-year-old, Ben, went forwards on his balance bike while I followed with my toddler in the buggy. The traffic beyond the crossing shifted forward and the driver of the SUV – rather than observe the red light and green man, or even check the crossing was clear – moved with it.”
We had a similar horrifying experience on the school run, which involves crossing a four lane (20mph limit – honoured in the breach) road. Green man; started crossing. Three lanes stopped. Driver in the fourth lane went through at speed (not necessarily speeding, but not crawling traffic), missing our kid who was out ahead on a scooter by inches. And recently a driver failed to stop for me (and professed not to have seen me) on a zebra, despite oncoming traffic having stopped and me being half way across. Is it getting worse, or am I just getting older and more angry?
quiff wrote:
Just admit it, its both!
Its getting worse. Cars are
Its getting worse. Cars are getting bigger with more energy behind them as well as the higher bonnets making them far more dangerous for pedestrians, especially children. Everyone is in a rush, people speed constantly no matter where they are or what time of day it is because shockingly, despite drivers protestations, there isn’t a war against motorists, there is in fact almost 0 enforcement of the rules and you have to be very unlucky to get caught. Oh and more and more people are distracted by their phones while they drive.
As background, Harrogate
As background, Harrogate Station Gateway was supposed to be a sustainable travel scheme, but it is now largely about fancy traffic lights to get motor vehicles through the town centre as fast as possible.
The cycle infra has been reduced to what you see in the picture – a one-way cycle track along part of Station Parade.
Under current plans, it doesn’t take people both ways, and it abandons them on a busy dual carriageway with no further provision. If it gets built, it will need to be joined up to other facilities otherwise it will be no use.
I suppose it’s good that road.cc covers these issues, but I do object to the ‘ragebait’ approach they take. There will always be people on social media saying ignorant anti-cycling things, but I don’t need to hear about them on a cycling website.
Silly parents. Don’t they
Silly parents. Don’t they know that the path to safely getting your child to school is just to have the largest and heaviest SUV so that your little Tarquinnius is at no danger from anyone else.
You obviously have to embrace this lack of empathy or thought for anyone else though. Park as close to the school entrance as possible. Park over the pavement completely (you wouldn’t want to impede other cars…well…unless the choice is walking 5m or blocking the road). If you really want to embrace it, make sure that you drive like a dangerous cunt around the school as well.
Indeed.
Indeed.
Rather like this genius driver doing a 700 METRE school run.
(My estimation based on the distance between the school and where I later found the car parked on a residential street.)
Not driving an SUV, but still the mindset to do this manouver is mental.
Cav’s retirement sounds
Cav’s retirement sounds excellent
“Dangerous SUVs” … indeed..
“Dangerous SUVs” … indeed…
Pretty much anything is dangerous if the user is an idiot or intent on causing harm.
As seen by this school run mum driving a small car through a zebra crossing whilst a parent and child were ON it.
https://youtu.be/gs2Vr3EF5R0
How long untill SUVs are banned around schools during drop off and pick up times?
SUVs shouldn’t be allowed in
SUVs shouldn’t be allowed in urban centres. That would make for a simple rule to learn and understand.
“It’s not a good idea to put
“It’s not a good idea to put a giant white pole in the middle of a cycle lane”
Pleased to note that the linked crossing (in Salisbury) finally had the light poles relocated this autumn! However the track has now been blocked nearby by the contractor’s (Kier) site compound!
White pole? Up here in Leeds
White pole? Up here in Leeds we have a whole bus stop in our segregated cycle lane:
https://road.cc/content/news/229242-leeds-council-builds-bus-stop-cycle-lane-and-designates-it-shared-space
At least it’s not standard
At least it’s not standard British post grey! Even if they paint a small white triangle either side of said grey pole.
“That money would be better
“That money would be better spent lowering business rates to actually help store owners, a cycle path will do nothing,” Neal King said.
Which is exactly the opposite of what actually happens, and city centres with decent facilities for cyclists and pedestrians thrive whilst those with none fail. It’s astonishing that some people still believe the opposite, despite decades of proof. Or perhaps he hates cyclists and adjusts his beliefs to accommodate that.
So basically, Neal King is
So basically, Neal King is saying “just give me the money instead of using it for the community”.
This type of area is exactly
This type of area is exactly what helps businesses. A quieter more pleasant area attracts people who then spend more time and more money as proven in various places. Look at what happened when Waltham Forest redesigned their area.
If I still lived in Harrogate
If I still lived in Harrogate, which im glad to say I never would again, I would be totally dismayed at N.Yorks council’s actions. The obviously dont live in the town since the disolution of the Harrogate council decsions are made by people in Northallerton miles away.
One one hand, they pander to the people living in the south. The town desperately needs a bypass road and the sensible option would be close to where the rich NIMBYs live who constanlty shout down the idea. The place is one of the worst towns for getting about, road works and temp lights everywhere, there is zero thought into the town planning elsewhere. The cycle path plans are moronic. Ive said it before on here, cycing in the area around Harrogate is brilliant. You can find nice roads in every direction. But the town itself is horrendeous. Fun Fact: There are more SUV owners per capita in Harrogate than anywhere else outside London. Narrow twisting roads with terraced houses and a poorly designed town centre make getting about a chore. Cars block streets and its very narrow and cars still pass far too close.
I hate Harrogate with a passion. Sure, its a tourist area, but to live there is a nightmare. Kids trying to get to school have very few options except walk or car drop off. Busses dont run from the North yet all the senior schools are in the South. 3 of them in very close proximity. If I still lived there I wouldnt feel safe letting my kids cycle to school. So a cycle path should make sense right? Wrong! Where there already exists cycle paths they are pseudo parking spaces or so badly laid out they are a total joke. A few paths and pedestrian area in the town centre is too little too late.
Ah, someone who really
Ah, someone who really appreciates the place. How does it go?
Tony Martin seems to have
Tony Martin seems to have forgotten two basic rules of cycling which also apply to running – light and aero. Next year, leave the headphones at home.
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