British Broadcasting for Cyclists

Curious.  On Monday the London SE News that tags onto the end of the 6 o'clock news did a feature on cycling outnumbering other vehicles on Cheapside, in the City of London.  They even sent a TV journalist over to stand on the pavement and talk about it.

And I, in turn, started a forum thread about it here: http://www.cyclechat.net/topic/86234-more-bikes-than-cars/ and cycled up to Cheapside the following day armed with a camera.  Unfortunately, it was well after the rush hour when I got there so cycle commuters were thin on the ground and there was nothing relevant worth photographing. 

Anyhow, it was from the thread I'd kicked off that I discovered, courtesy of ''EC2boy'' from Cyclists in the City that the information seemed to have been published on 19 June in the Sunday Times.  Cyclists in the City quote the ST as saying

"On Cheapside, a street in the City of London, cycles make up more than 50% of the commuter traffic, according to official data, and account for up to 42% of traffic on Southwark Bridge across the Thames. In one Bristol suburb more than one in four people cycle to work....Since Bristol was designated a “cycling city” in 2008 under a government scheme the proportion of cyclists on some of its roads has trebled. In the suburb of Ashley a quarter of people now bike to work."

So, all in all, congratulations to the British Bicyclists on Cheapside and also to the other BBC for actually covering the story on TV.

And yet....

...3 days later, Tom Edwards, ''Transport Correspondent, London,'' produces a blog entitled ''Cyclists outnumbering motorists: Strength in numbers?''  stating, amongst other things, that  ''A story has been doing the rounds about how on some roads cyclists outnumber motorists.'' but pooh-poohing such an absurd idea with this:

Having looked at the figures, one thing stood out. The figures seem to be measured only on bridges, in some cases where the cycling superhighways cross the Thames.

Now, I was a little confused as to how the BBC's ''Transport Correspondent, London'' could have been unaware of the transport item broadcast only 3 days earlier by his colleagues, the article in the Sunday Times 4 days earlier, yet attempt to assert that there was nothing to substantiate the claims of these cycling mythologists anywhere else but on the bridges, and preferably those bridges where there are occasional splashings of blue paint on the carriageway.

The  only explanation I could come up with boiled down to ''Man on Bridge with phone camera decides it's all about the bridge''

Oops, his photo is on a bus lane, not a''cycle superhighway'' anyway, so that doesn't really illustrate his thesis.

Anyhow, I thought that a little further information posted onto the comments on his blog might be useful for other readers.  So here's what I wrote:

Er, the regional programme that follows the 6pm BBC News (20/6/10) did an item on cyclists outnumbering other forms of transport on Cheapside in the City of London.  Cheapside doesn't cross the Thames.    The item appears to have been in response to a Sunday Times article on the 19th. More info here: http://cyclelondoncity.blogspot.com/2011/06/jeremy-clarkson-still-thinks-were-anti.html

However, that comment was never published.  It  spent a while in ''pre-moderation'' before it was rejected.  Why?

Your comment was considered to have broken the following House Rule:

"We reserve the right to fail comments which...

Are considered to be off-topic for the discussion."

So, let's get this straight.  BBC does story.  BBC bloke on a good wage does blog contradicting said story  ''doing the rounds''.  Commenter cites BBC to contradict Blog.  Blog rejects comment as off-topic.

If you want something that breaks the ''house rules,'' here goes:

Tom Edwards, and whoever rejects comments on your blog if it's not you, read the papers, watch the BBC - you know, those guys that pay you on the public's behalf - if you say something and a commenter says ''er, that's not true'' it's not off-topic.  It simply shows that you are a useless journalist and suppressing information from other people to stop you looking like a twat does nothing at all to stop you being a twat.

What's cooking?

Nice to see Doctor Who back on TV but by far the most unsettling image I saw was when it had finished.  I put the recording on hold, did a few potter-aboutish things and returned to the room.  There in front of me was this....

What on earth was she cooking?  Those TV chefs frighten me...

Forest Hill Beers

I should have got some work done today but it was such a fine morning that I thought I'd take advantage of the quieter roads on my ''ride every road'' travels.  Just passing Tintern Street, off Ferndale Street, SW4 I noticed a very faded sign on the side road so, as I had a camera on me, I stopped to take a photo.  Nothing spectacular

BARTS

MARKET

However, it was only when I looked 90 degrees to the right that I saw this...

I didn't know that there had ever been such a company but, apparently, they were swallowed up by Whitbread in the 60s.  I wonder whether they ever made a Perryv Ale.  Looking back at Google's street view, it's clear that the sign has been recently and carefully restored.  This is how it looked before:

Meet Crunchy the Credit Crunch Monster

I celebrated the warmer weather today with another of my radial rides - this one took me over near Old Street and Liverpool Street.  It was there that I met Crunchy.  Actually, I wouldn't have known that it was Crunchy if it hadn't been for the blue plaque underneath:

Alongside the plaque there's a motto for our crowded and crunchy urban existences...and even the tube trains seem to have run out of space underground.

(Great Eastern Street, EC2)

Just around the corner in Leonard Street, Masker has been at work:

And these road signs did actually make me stop.

Sunshine!

It feels like it was the first time this year, and it was welcome.  My alarmingly  clunky bottom bracket managed to get me to the Wolds of Woolwich and back.  Here's a well-preserved bit of shop front that has far outlasted the shop itself.  It's on the corner of Eglinton Road and Herbert Road, SE18.  I'm trying to figure out whether it once had an entrance on both sides of the tile work.

Here it is a bit closer up, looking a bit like a big tin of peas:

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After cycling just over 3000 miles last year, I've set myself a 4000 target for this year.  And I'm already behind the 10.92 miles a day schedule.  But only by about 3 miles.  Most of this cycling will probably take place in and around the area as I continue my impossible ''ride every road'' project.  This is where I've got to so far.  (The red radials mark where I need to go next to keep expanding the circle).  It's only an area of just over 50 square miles, which would have taken no time to cover in open countryside.  In London, there are an awful lot of roads between Walworth and Woolwich, Borough and Bexley, Beckton and Beckenham, Bromley and...er...Bromley...  I've now forgotten more roads than the average Londoner has ever known.

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You can't put a bus lane there!

A festive Boxing Day ditty....

As I have never ever seen such a spectacular night's day of cricket, I thought a  mightily contrived Christmas song might be appropriately catchy....

On the first day at Melbourne my true love sent to me

12 balls for Watson

11 Aussies cussing

10 runs for Ponting with...

9 working fingers

8 for 77!

7 for 77!?

6 for 77!!!

5 no balls....

4 each for the swingers

3 stumps still standing

2 batting sessions

And they still couldn't knock up a ton...

Union Cycle Works

I noticed this sign back in September but the workshop, behind the Deptford Project Café, under the arches of the old horse ramp up to Deptford railway station, was closed.  Then, about a month later, Deptford Dame did this post with a link to an article about it on the East London Lines blog. 

Having recently spotted that Union Cycle Works were holding 'Open Tool' sessions on the 1st Saturday of the month, I eventually got down there to have a look around this morning.  Union Cycle Works is run as a community project that gives work skills training to disadvantaged people and, as a bonus, have started their 'Open Tool' sessions for people who don't have the room or the necessary tools at home.

I walked in as a complete stranger and got a warm welcome from Joe (though East London Lines names him as Jo Harrington) who was very happy to take the time and explain to me what they were doing and when they were doing it. 

So, if you need to get any fettling done and you don't have the room or tools at home, this might be just the place to bring your bike and, for a voluntary contribution, get a bit of advice and the use of their tools.  This place could prove to be a very useful little resource that not many people seem to know about yet.  So shush, don't tell everybody!. 

And you can also get a good meal and coffee in the railway carriage while you're at it.

Bike Buddies and Shop fronts

A short while ago somebody wrote in to the Bike Radar forum about a commuting journey into town from south east London.  They were having some doubts about doing the journey.   A handful of locals responded, offering  to accompany the person in.  We thought it would be a good idea to put up a list of people who would be able to help new or returning commuters make that mental leap from thinking wistfully about riding in while watching cyclists filter past their bus to actually doing it.

And so an online Google docs spreadsheet was born.  It's a list of experienced riders, what time and which way their route takes them, with contact details.  Nobody's pretending to be a qualified cycling instructor - it's just people who are already out and about who are happy to encourage a few more out onto the road.  Because it was first set up in south east London, a lot of the routes so far run from there into town - but there are also names from further afield and it's not restricted to any given area.  It should work the same for any regular commuting destination.

So, if you are a regular cyclist willing to give a bit of encouragement or if you are thinking about taking the plunge, have a look at the ''Cycling Buddies'' page up above.  It might be possible to rendez-vous.

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It was high time I took my camera with me on the bike to take few photos.  I was up around Spitalfields and then back via Borough.

Opposite the church in Fournier Street, E1, just over Commercial Street from the market is the remains of the Market Café's frontage over the windows.

Then, just south of the market, in Crispin Street, E1, is this shop front for all those looking for notable paper bag merchants.

And, two doors away - for nut nostalgics - there's Percy Daltons (I assume they're no longer trading but maybe they're still around.)

And around the corner in Brushfield Street, E1, there are a couple of well-preserved shop fronts.  First there's A Gold's.

Which, once upon a time, was a French Milliners.  More recently they've been trading in foodstuffs though.  Once again, I'm assuming that  Little Lemon Ladies is something you eat and not what type of clientèle they serve.

Just to the left is a boundary marker which caught my eye because I've only just discovered that the old parish I live in was also called Christchurch

And immediately to the right of Gold's is another picturesque shop front, Verde's.

This is the view from around the corner - the woman behind the shop window has just realised she's being framed.  (And I've just realised my bike and red jacket are visible in the reflection - still, it's good to be visible when you're on a bike....)

From there, with my toes getting numb from the cold, I went over Southwark Bridge - on the Cycle Superhighway number 7 - to Borough.

This Monster one in Borough High Street is pretty well known - I'm just adding it to my collection.

And another one I'd never spotted before further south on the SC7.  But I can't for the life of me remember what street this wardrobe dealer - ''Wardrobes Built to any size'' - was in, nor had my toes recovered enough circulation for me to stop and try to figure out what the previous name was - just a few letters are legible in the picture.

Music pub, Kennington

I came across the Sir Robert Peel in Langdale Close, SE17 on my travels.  Not only does it do music in that after-work hiatus on a Friday night (Juanita will be performing right now, until 7:30) but above each door it has a tune, complete with music.  I've never seen that before.

 and

 Here are the lyrics for the 2 songs.  The connections between the two seem to be a) Jimmy Roselli has recorded them both and b) they both reprise the changing of hair colour from gold to silver. 

PAL OF MY CRADLE DAYS  (1919)
Recorded by: Rose Marie; Ann Breen; Jimmy Rosselli;

What a friend, what a pal, only now I can see,
How you dreamed and you planned all for me,
I never knew what a mother goes through,
There's nothing that you didn't do.

Chorus:
Pal of my cradle days, I've needed you always.
Since I was a baby upon your knee,
You sacrificed everything for me.
I stole the gold from your hair.
I put the silver threads there,
I don't know any way I could ever repay,
Pal of my cradle days.

Greatest friend, dearest pal,
It was me who caused you
Every sorrow and heartache you knew,
Your face so fair Is wrinkled with care,
I placed every line that is there,

Repeat Chorus: End

WHEN YOUR OLD WEDDING RING WAS NEW
(Douglas / McCarthy / Solieri)

Jimmy Dean - 1964
Jimmy Roselli - 1967
Sonny Knowles - 1990
Also recorded by: Joe Longthorne; Rose Marie;
Sydney Devine; David Alexander; Schmitt Bros;
Ray Anthony; Nighthawks Barbershop Quartet;
George Wallington Trio; Majella; Pat Roper;
Tony Kenny; Don Cornell.


Shades of night are falling
Bringing memories
Memories of a bygone day
Though it may be December
Though we're old and gray
To me you're still my blushing bride of May

When your old wedding ring was new
And each dream that we dreamed came true
I remember with pride how we stood side by side
What a beautiful picture you made as my bride
Even though silver crowns your hair
I can still see those gold ringlets there
Love's old flame is the same
As the day I changed your name
When your old wedding ring was new

Bicycle Quoits, Onions and various fadeds.

Bicycle quoits looks like a fun game.  Does anybody know the rules?

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In the middle of this extensive cyclepath, by College Road, Dulwich, the council have thoughtfully provided a bin with a place to stub your cigarettes out.  I admit to liking the occasional roll up but I can usually cover that kind of distance without having to light up.

(On the positive side, though, it will protect you from colliding with the lamp post.)

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There was even a man in a beret selling onions and garlic outside this rather busy shop in Lordship Lane today.  Wow, I thought, a genuine French Onion seller!  Well, the writing and the prices are French so he may well have come over from Brittany but that bike hasn't gone anywhere for a long time to judge by the flat tyres...shame, really, I preferred the illusion.

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I spotted a few faded signs around the west end of Lordship Lane a while ago and remembered to bring my camera with me went I passed by today.  This one is on the corner with Blackwater Road.

And not far away on Pellatt Road, just off the north side of Lordship Lane, there's this one

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Below, a pretty well-known one from Stepney Green on an earlier day's ride.  I've uploaded it simply because it's the best-preserved sign I know of around here.

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You get to spot some strange things when you're exploring the  [snigger, snigger] back routes.  This is something I saw while I was behind [ahem!] Daren...

Where are these?

Instead of saying where these are, I wondered if anyone could pinpoint these, or work out roughly where I'd been cycling on yesterday's lovely autumn afternoon.

 Location 1: Cycle and Motor Works

 

 Location 2: Plumber, ''...& Hot Water Engineer, Carpenter, Decorating...'' and ''The House Shop and ...''
(all three taken from the same spot)

 Location 3:  ''Sharon''

Location 4: ''John Campion, Merchant Tailor, Hosiery and Boys Outfitter''
                    ''Broadway House, for Clothing Hosiery Hats, Boys Outfitting''

Serving red herrings since 1770

This seems to be a local Greenwich speciality - backdating heritage.

The new fish and chip shop on the one-way system in Greenwich has only been open for months at most.  And yet they claim to have been serving fish since 1770.

No they haven't!  ''Established 2010'' has less of a ring about it though.  I wonder where they got the idea....

Established 2009, I believe.  They do do a beer that might taste like a beer would have done when there actually was a brewery nearby but I might as well claim to have be living in an Anglo-Saxon house because there might have been Anglo-Saxons around on the same site as where I live.

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Anyhow, here's a house martin's nest under the eaves of a Greenwich South Street house

This nest was established shortly after the last ice age.  Fact!

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And here's a photo of the film props in the Old Naval College.  I'm only posting it because security tried to stop me taking photos.  I'm not sure how you can privatise sight in a tourist centre.  Perhaps it's been like that since 1717.  Or was it 1770?

But I suppose if you're not allowed to take photos, it makes this a pirated image, which seems perfectly appropriate under the circumstances.

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This Creek Road tree's determination not to give up has long been a sort of encouragement for me.  But I noticed today that despite its regrowth, it might not be long for this world as the bark has dropped and the wood underneath is rotten.  Because it's been like a personal symbol for me, I found this saddening.

Partially Entire.

So it was off for a ride around Walworth for the last day of summer - which, given the band of rain descending on us from the north-west, could well turn out to truly feel like the last day of summer.  Trawling around the side roads, I came across this in John Ruskin Street, SE17.

As I was taking the photo, a chap on one of those electric wheelchairs came gliding past and said ''That used to be a good pub.''  ''Did it have its own courtyard?'' I asked and he said, ''Yes, but it's all 'Mews' now.''   Its sign has been well-preserved but looks strangely incongruous in what is longish continuously-terraced street.  But it may have been the length of the terrace that explains the courtyard - apparently it also served as a passageway to the next street, Grosvenor Terrace.  One of those short cuts that may have taken longer than planned on a hot day perhaps. 

And it strikes me as a strange name for a pub, The Entire. 

Here's the sign in more detail, showing the mosaic:

Around the corner, in Iliffe Street, I came across this attractive shop front.

And back on the Walworth Road, at the  junction with Fielding Street, here's a genuinely faded sign.  I can make out ''BANKS'' at the top and ''AND FANCY GOODS'' at the bottom.  I'll leave the rest for you to work out...