[David9694]

A new catch-all Tea Shop thread for those miscellaneous new stories that don’t quite fit with parking, crashing into buildings or trapped/prisoners in their homes. 

Topic

[David9694]

Stop taunting me with all the

Stop taunting me with all the Netherlands travelogue stuff – you know fine we’re not allowed nice things. 

[OnYerBike]

Unfortunately, thinking it

Unfortunately, thinking it looks like a footpath does not make it a footpath. It is not marked as any kind of Public Right of Way (https://www.lincolnshire.gov.uk/coast-countryside/public-rights-way/3). It’s not clear if the land is owned privately (presumably by the Church?) or publicly (most likely by the council) – it does not appear to have been registered, but then nor are the Church grounds (https://www.landregistry-uk.com/map-search). If privately owned by the Church, and no other restrictions exist, then they are free to drive down it. 

[wycombewheeler]

David9694 wrote:

Battle rumbles on as ‘inconsiderate’ neighbour blocks access again to St Wulfram’s Church in Grantham

https://www.granthamjournal.co.uk/news/battle-rumbles-on-as-inconsiderate-neighbour-blocks-access-9321412/

it seems to me the inconsiderate neighbour in this story in the church, using a footpath to access the church instead of nearby church street. Allegedly wedding cars have been unable to access. Because apparently brides can’t walk the 66m along this footpath. (the distance from the actual road to the church is about the same as the length of the church, so who knows what they do once they get inside. Funerals I have more sympathy for, but again if the church were to remove the two steps from the access in church street they would have perfect access without driving on a footpath.

Even the google streetview car appears to have gone down this road footpath ffs.

[chrisonabike]

David9694 wrote:

“There were fears of families being separated by road closures and significantly longer car journeys, as well as worries that it could put some people off moving to the area. One man simply told DevonLive: “I can’t get out of my house.”

Thanks!  Trapped!  Trapped, I tell you!

I think it’s all on the continuum, made dramatic by our inbuilt loss aversion and experience with unsympathetic authorities / “other people” being the problem.

At one end is “what the adverts sold you” e.g. “buy our car and enjoy freedom whizzing down empty open roads, pulling up wherever you want!” / “house in remote beauty spot, right next to the silent, totally unused road which takes *you* smoothly to work / people / amenities in ten minutes, tops”.

The other end is “I grew up here” / “lived here for years” / “need to be here for work / medical care / because it’s the only spot I can afford within 50 miles” but “things have got worse” (more traffic, fewer buses).  And now “they’re *ruining* it” by making life harder by removing parking, making drives longer, no doubt congestion will go through the roof…

I have more empathy for the latter.  In particular we should be sympathetic (and ready to go several extra miles to demonstrate bona fides) to the concerns of those with disabilities, with poor or no sight, or those who are otherwise already “marginal”.  Remember – they’ve ample experience of the councils etc. doing as much for them as they used to do for cycling!  And everyone saying “we hear you” while pushing into the queue in front of them.

As always I find Robert Weetman’s musings on “change” interesting (e.g. “divide and rule” / “this isn’t going to be easy“).  I believe he was involved in disability activism before getting involved in cycling / active travel so brings another dimension to considering this.

[David9694]

Follow up article 

Follow up article 

“The other thing which I think is unfortunate with this scheme is many schemes allow care workers, taxis and blue badge holders to go through bus gates but this doesn’t. Therefore I think life is going to be made unnecessarily tough for some people who are truly dependent on their vehicles. That seems to me unfair.”

(full house!)

“There were fears of families being separated by road closures and significantly longer car journeys, as well as worries that it could put some people off moving to the area. One man simply told DevonLive: “I can’t get out of my house.”

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/exeter-residents-fear-cut-road-8633046

[David9694]

[/quote]

[/quote]

I’ve always wondered about ground-nesting birds.  You see the signs up on gates saying take care.  Bringing it on themselves, I say, plenty of decent trees about the place*.

* OK since the early neolithic those numbers have (mostly) been coming down, but that’s about 5000 years in these parts – plenty of time to move house to a decent area…

[/quote]

You mean like people who live on main roads? 

Village FB exchange re the motorbikes that blast through our village* inevitably included the “don’t live there then” schtick. I hear them sometimes and I live a mile away – should I not do?

*I only ever hear them, never seen them but they sound very fast 

[essexian]

Better still….use this

Better still….use this method from 1970 

[chrisonabike]

I’ve got the soundtrack to

I’ve got the soundtrack to that, almost:

Beware, it says “Jazz Funk”…

Can’t recall if it’s already been here but NotJustBikes musings on “Why Cars Rarely Crash into Buildings in the Netherlands” are a classic, and could make this thread much less busy.

[David9694]

why am I put in mind of that

why am I put in mind of that awful aviva insurance advert “I’ve crashed into a pet shop”?

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=215322103430909

https://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/news/crime/two-people-seriously-injured-after-car-crashed-into-pet-shop-3298115

[chrisonabike]

Yup!

Yup!

Always comes up and (as with any change) people don’t know how much better it could be.  Especially those with other issues to deal with.  Given their experience they often think that not only will any change be a real hassle to adapt to it will make things worse.  Our councils (and indeed mainstream society) normally fulfils those expectations…

[chrisonabike]

David9694 wrote:

Locals mock Mercedes driver for mistaking Westcountry beach for ‘free car park'

It’s only a mercy the whole shoal didn’t strand.  Give it the beached whale treatment maybe – bury it there or tow it out to sea?

[David9694]

I’m able-bodied and I

I’m able-bodied and I frequently find an environment designed around cars an inconvenience at the best of times, and that would be without any actual cars. 

[David9694]

‘Tis the season 

‘Tis the season 

Locals mock Mercedes driver for mistaking Westcountry beach for ‘free car park’

One local placed a ‘road narrows on left ahead’ triangle next to the stuck vehicle

https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/locals-mock-mercedes-driver-mistaking-8633997

[chrisonabike]

David9694 wrote:

David9694 wrote:

Any species that didn’t react to signs of change in their environment (eg food / water supply, predators) would not be well favoured by natural selection. 

I’ve always wondered about ground-nesting birds.  You see the signs up on gates saying take care.  Bringing it on themselves, I say, plenty of decent trees about the place*.

* OK since the early neolithic those numbers have (mostly) been coming down, but that’s about 5000 years in these parts – plenty of time to move house to a decent area…

[chrisonabike]

David9694 wrote:

It’s people’s ability to blank out things they don’t want to hear that really interests me here – in this case, until the wheels have turned and it’s (probably) too late.

Any species that didn’t react to signs of change in their environment (eg food / water supply, predators) would not be well favoured by natural selection. 

Agree – but that is all of us about something!  Belief – or hope – that things will remain the same is very common.  Our outrage when they don’t?  Simply because nature took a handy shortcut in our design which means if we’re given a banana we’re pleased but if someone then takes that banana away we get boilingly angry or miserably upset about our loss.

These scenes are (in the best case!) going to be enacted in every mid-sized habitation and up across the land.  And as always the disadvantaged, the old, the poor etc. will be worst affected.   And those who oppose change – who are often the least affected themselves and don’t normally give a stuff – will immediately cry discrimination on their behalf.

So these processes are worth a look.  I certainly learned just how differently I saw things from some people when listening in on some council sessions concerning covid-era infra changes.

[Author]

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