Air last night? Just me, or was it full of nasties?

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.

arallsopp

Post of The Year 2009 winner
Location
Bromley, Kent
Just SE London, just my route, or just me last night?

Riding home, there were visible airborne nasties absolutely everywhere. Swirls of dust in the gutter. Trees dropping seeds, leaves, buds, et al.

It was awful. I passed some poor cyclist at Peckham, tears streaming down her face, sneezing like fury. I was utterly blocked up, had to stop at Lewisham to seek refuge in the shopping centre.

By the time I was home, my hands were black from rubbing my eyes. Lovely wife waiting in the doorway with tissues which I instantly turned to soot.

What the hell was going on?
 

zimzum42

Legendary Member
It's summertime, so lots more people out on the streets throwing up dust and litter, flowers coming out so more pollen, and no rain for ages to wash it away...
 

zimzum42

Legendary Member
Was standing on High Street Kensington on Saturday. Man came along to empty the bin, spilt stuff everywhere, all over the street, but didn't bother to pick any of it up, just moved along...

I would bet anything he's not allowed to pick rubbish from the floor for health and safety reasons, that's gonna be someone else's job, someone who has been trained! lol
 

tordis

New Member
Location
London
Not just you. My lips were covered in dust when I got home, and there were nasty bits of devil-knows-what flying in the air. If I wasn't wearing my glasses, I'd have my eyes full of them, too.
And yes, I live in SE London, too.
 

Matthames

Über Member
Location
East Sussex
It is the weather we have been having. It means the nasties are usually trapped in the boundary layer instead of being dispersed in the atmosphere.

What happens when we normally have high pressure like what we have been having is that an inversion layer forms on top of the boundary layer. This can quite clearly be seen using a weather balloon to measure the temperature profile of the atmosphere.

This inversion layer is like a lid and if you were to look to the horizon you can clearly see the boundary.

It is a particular problem in cities such as London as the pollution from traffic is trapped, what is worse is that a lot of it goes on to react with the sun light to produce some really hazardous to health chemicals.

There is also a lot more sulphides and silicate ash in the atmosphere at present due to the recent volcanic eruptions in Iceland.
 

dondare

Über Member
Location
London
In London we've got those plane trees which shed fibres from their leaves all through Spring and Summer.
 

Alan Whicker

Senior Member
All was well into I got to Victoria Park (E London) - then a sudden gusty wind blew up. There was a police helicopter nearby and I thought at first it was the downdraft from that. Horrible. Eyes and lungs full of dust. There were cyclists wobbling and peds staggering all over the place. I was still coughing up silt two hours later.
 

upsidedown

Waiting for the great leap forward
Location
The middle bit
It sounds nice down there.......
 

NigC

New Member
Location
Surrey
trustysteed said:
air was def full of nasties last nite but that had more to do with the massive plate of nachos i had for dinner!

Too much information xx(

I had the luxury of the car yesterday, so it sounds like I was lucky :biggrin:
 
Top Bottom