People not "Getting It"

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thegravestoneman

three wheels on my wagon
My dear old Mum didn't understand me cycling first time around and absolutely hates me doing it this time. I have told her all the pro's about it and she won't have it at all. She recently said in that way only mothers can 'well you will have to cope without that bike for ten days when you are on holiday' to which I replied I have hired one whilst I am out there to which the withering reply was 'you will kill yourself!' Gotta love her she's the only one I have.
 

Mad Doug Biker

Banned from every bar in the Galaxy
Location
Craggy Island
I think you will find, as time goes by, that you will do many thinks your Mum won't 'get'. The woman you marry, the way you dress your kids, why you don't visit every other day etc. so look at this bicycle thing as practice.

Not quite the same, but apparently when my parents got married, my Aunt, who was quite the most monumental snob (she was a very intelligent woman, but also could be very silly about things) told my Dad

'You have made a big mistake there and I can more than guarantee that you will be divorced within 10 years!!'
38 years later, they are still married.... :whistle:
 

Sara_H

Guru
Not quite the same, but apparently when my parents got married, my Aunt, who was quite the most monumental snob (she was a very intelligent woman, but also could be very silly about things) told my Dad

'You have made a big mistake there and I can more than guarantee that you will be divorced within 10 years!!'
38 years later, they are still married.... :whistle:

At least your Aunty voiced her concerns, people don't generally tell you you're marrying a nobber until you're well into the divorce proceedings.
Pleased your Aunty was wrong, on this occasion, though!
 

Arch

Married to Night Train
Location
Salford, UK
We should start a thread about our trolleys :laugh:
I've got this very handy for bags of compost!


Phwoar!

I love trolleys... Although I especially like trolleys bodged together out of odd parts.

That said, I can't stand wheeled suitcases, but I think that's more to do with the general incompetence of people using them - running into your ankles, stopping dead in the middle of a crowd to pick them up etc.
 

Sara_H

Guru
Phwoar!

I love trolleys... Although I especially like trolleys bodged together out of odd parts.

That said, I can't stand wheeled suitcases, but I think that's more to do with the general incompetence of people using them - running into your ankles, stopping dead in the middle of a crowd to pick them up etc.

I love trolley's, wheeled suitcases, pushchairs, bicycles. I love being in charge of wheeled objects!
 

Amanda P

Legendary Member
I live in a small village. I don't think anyone else here 'gets' me and Mrs Uncle Phil cycling everywhere. But they've learned to wave at us from their cars as they go by. We have no idea who's waving - they all look the same in their tin boxes, but we wave back. I think they think we're harmless eccentrics.

One of our neighbours complained that our cars were left cluttering up the place all day every day. "Why do you have them if you never use them?" he asked. I pointed out that we did use them occasional weekends and evenings - and that we really enjoyed driving when it was an occasional pleasure and not an everyday chore.

We actually re-lived a Yehuda Moon moment - chatting to a woman at a village do, she said 'Oh, you're that couple who cycle everywhere then?'. We couldn't help replying (almost in unison) 'Yes. You must be one of the anonymous people who go everywhere by car?' (A bit snarky, but I think we got away with it!)

Many people are like sheep - desperate to fit in and be indistinguishable from the herd. You have to have a car and drive it everywhere, because that's what everyone else does. If you refuse to conform, and look as if you're actually enjoying not conforming, some people will resent you for it.
 

Peter Armstrong

Über Member
I had somthing like this yesterday. I came home from a ride, the next door neighboor said "you must be mad". Why thank you.
 

Peter Armstrong

Über Member
I live in a small village. I don't think anyone else here 'gets' me and Mrs Uncle Phil cycling everywhere. But they've learned to wave at us from their cars as they go by. We have no idea who's waving - they all look the same in their tin boxes, but we wave back. I think they think we're harmless eccentrics.

One of our neighbours complained that our cars were left cluttering up the place all day every day. "Why do you have them if you never use them?" he asked. I pointed out that we did use them occasional weekends and evenings - and that we really enjoyed driving when it was an occasional pleasure and not an everyday chore.

We actually re-lived a Yehuda Moon moment - chatting to a woman at a village do, she said 'Oh, you're that couple who cycle everywhere then?'. We couldn't help replying (almost in unison) 'Yes. You must be one of the anonymous people who go everywhere by car?' (A bit snarky, but I think we got away with it!)

Many people are like sheep - desperate to fit in and be indistinguishable from the herd. You have to have a car and drive it everywhere, because that's what everyone else does. If you refuse to conform, and look as if you're actually enjoying not conforming, some people will resent you for it.
Ha HA "I think they think we're harmless eccentrics"
 
U

User482

Guest
My parents have health problems because they don't take any exercise, yet why I would choose to cycle is a mystery to them. When I announced that I was going to do a race in France this summer, they assumed this would result in my wife leaving me.

I simply avoid mentioning anything to do with cycling now.
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
Ever since getting back into cycling in 1989, I had fancied cycling from my house in West Yorkshire to visit my parents in Coventry. I'd worked out a fantastic route taking in the local hills, Holme Moss, Snake Pass and a great swathe of the Peak District. It was about 140 very hilly miles - a nicely challenging route.

The problem was my elderly father. I knew that if I did the ride while he was still alive, I would have got endless criticism for it ... how stupid I had been, what risks I had taken, how much it worried him and my mum, how could I be so selfish etc.

So, I waited for the old chap to pop his clogs and did the ride the following year! I took the precaution of not telling my mum that I was cycling down. She thought I was travelling by train and looked very shocked when I rolled up in full cycling kit.

I told her what a great ride it had been. I still don't think that she 'got it' but at least she didn't criticise me for doing what I loved.

I forget how different some people's mindset is. I've had a bizarre conversation with a driver who wanted to know how I would get back from a cafe 10 miles from home! They thought that the 10 mile ride out would have left me so exhausted that I would be stranded, whereas I thought it was a wind-up! The same kind of people think that a 5 mile stroll is something only elite athletes could manage ... :wacko:
 

Sara_H

Guru
Ever since getting back into cycling in 1989, I had fancied cycling from my house in West Yorkshire to visit my parents in Coventry. I'd worked out a fantastic route taking in the local hills, Holme Moss, Snake Pass and a great swathe of the Peak District. It was about 140 very hilly miles - a nicely challenging route.

The problem was my elderly father. I knew that if I did the ride while he was still alive, I would have got endless criticism for it ... how stupid I had been, what risks I had taken, how much it worried him and my mum, how could I be so selfish etc.

So, I waited for the old chap to pop his clogs and did the ride the following year! I took the precaution of not telling my mum that I was cycling down. She thought I was travelling by train and looked very shocked when I rolled up in full cycling kit.

I told her what a great ride it had been. I still don't think that she 'got it' but at least she didn't criticise me for doing what I loved.

I forget how different some people's mindset is. I've had a bizarre conversation with a driver who wanted to know how I would get back from a cafe 10 miles from home! They thought that the 10 mile ride out would have left me so exhausted that I would be stranded, whereas I thought it was a wind-up! The same kind of people think that a 5 mile stroll is something only elite athletes could manage ... :wacko:

This is one of the problems we're having with the ex wife. Step son 2 is 14 yrs old and is starting a new school in September. New school is six miles away, we've suggested to step son that he might consider biking to school, all hell has broken loose, its like we've suggested having him adopted by Jimmy Saville.
 

ColinJ

Puzzle game procrastinator!
This is one of the problems we're having with the ex wife. Step son 2 is 14 yrs old and is starting a new school in September. New school is six miles away, we've suggested to step son that he might consider biking to school, all hell has broken loose, its like we've suggested having him adopted by Jimmy Saville.
I feel your pain!
 
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