Glow worm
Legendary Member
- Location
- Near Newmarket
Especially it seems in Cambridgeshire- a county not really famous for warm welcoming locals at the best of times.
So there I was yesterday - a nice sunny day albeit a bit blowy - deciding to do a slow 18 mile ride around the Fen. (Near Wicken for any locals). I planned to do a little birding as well as to look at where some new bridges are to be put in by the National Trust (to create a new cycle link from Cambridge to Ely).
A nice plan you'd have thought, and yet all I seemed to do was piss people off just by, well I'm not really sure- existing? riding a bike? wearing a hat? First a posh git shouts at me for not 'thanking' him after he over dramatically steps aside on cycle path, where there was no need to do any dramatic stepping aside as a. the path was at least 9ft wide and b. I was only doing 5mph (I checked as I'd just stopped to look at a flock of fieldfares) and would have happily got off and walked if circumstances were different. Do some folks just spend their lives just spoiling for a fight?
Then a couple of drivers on a lane try to knock me off near Upware (though as usual the farmers were great, polite and safe drivers) by driving way too close and fast. And then -this pissed me off the most - I'm tootling along at 9mph on a cycle path and come up behind an old fella going more slowly. I sit back as I don't want to make him jump, then when the path's wider, I ring my bell and pass when I know he's heard me. The guy then suddenly starts hurling foul mouthed abuse at me. Charming. Now I'm out on a supposedly pleasant ride so I don't get involved but what is it with people these days?
Today another bloke (fat ped) in Ely jumps off the pavement in front of me without looking and starts swearing at me for nearly running into him (I'm on the road exactly where I should be). Well, it's a work day so I'm less inclined to let things go and I used a few choice words that may have included 'fat' 'cambridge' and 'prick'. He skulks off and jumps in his car and tries to run into me. I stop, to indicate I'd like to extend our debate further in the street, but old Cambridgeshite lardy boy puts his foot down and does one. Coward. I stupidly didn't note the number plate as I'd have reported him.
I then get to Norwich on the train, cycle through the busiest parts of the City as well as the quietest. And the contrast with how folks are couldn't be more different. Everyone (drivers and peds) seems pleasant, polite and safe. And friendly. Exactly my usual experience of cycling in the Fair County. Like another planet really.
I'm dreading my commute into Cambridge tomorrow now. Folks around here seem to be getting worse almost by the day. I just can't understand why- it's a beautiful area, well it would be if you removed the people. I normally go weeks, or months without any incidents but these days, around here, it's getting to be a nightmare. My emmigration papers for Norfolk are now out and ready for completion.
So there I was yesterday - a nice sunny day albeit a bit blowy - deciding to do a slow 18 mile ride around the Fen. (Near Wicken for any locals). I planned to do a little birding as well as to look at where some new bridges are to be put in by the National Trust (to create a new cycle link from Cambridge to Ely).
A nice plan you'd have thought, and yet all I seemed to do was piss people off just by, well I'm not really sure- existing? riding a bike? wearing a hat? First a posh git shouts at me for not 'thanking' him after he over dramatically steps aside on cycle path, where there was no need to do any dramatic stepping aside as a. the path was at least 9ft wide and b. I was only doing 5mph (I checked as I'd just stopped to look at a flock of fieldfares) and would have happily got off and walked if circumstances were different. Do some folks just spend their lives just spoiling for a fight?
Then a couple of drivers on a lane try to knock me off near Upware (though as usual the farmers were great, polite and safe drivers) by driving way too close and fast. And then -this pissed me off the most - I'm tootling along at 9mph on a cycle path and come up behind an old fella going more slowly. I sit back as I don't want to make him jump, then when the path's wider, I ring my bell and pass when I know he's heard me. The guy then suddenly starts hurling foul mouthed abuse at me. Charming. Now I'm out on a supposedly pleasant ride so I don't get involved but what is it with people these days?
Today another bloke (fat ped) in Ely jumps off the pavement in front of me without looking and starts swearing at me for nearly running into him (I'm on the road exactly where I should be). Well, it's a work day so I'm less inclined to let things go and I used a few choice words that may have included 'fat' 'cambridge' and 'prick'. He skulks off and jumps in his car and tries to run into me. I stop, to indicate I'd like to extend our debate further in the street, but old Cambridgeshite lardy boy puts his foot down and does one. Coward. I stupidly didn't note the number plate as I'd have reported him.
I then get to Norwich on the train, cycle through the busiest parts of the City as well as the quietest. And the contrast with how folks are couldn't be more different. Everyone (drivers and peds) seems pleasant, polite and safe. And friendly. Exactly my usual experience of cycling in the Fair County. Like another planet really.
I'm dreading my commute into Cambridge tomorrow now. Folks around here seem to be getting worse almost by the day. I just can't understand why- it's a beautiful area, well it would be if you removed the people. I normally go weeks, or months without any incidents but these days, around here, it's getting to be a nightmare. My emmigration papers for Norfolk are now out and ready for completion.
