Moving On

I wrote this peace when leaving a place I once lived. I moved to Swindon, Wiltshire, in the UK in July 1999. I moved there for a job and moved into a shared house just outside the town centre. It was a sunny day and I eagerly was awaiting a new chapter in my life, in a new place and meeting new people and challenges.

For many years I loved Swindon, its people and the things to do and see there. Over time however the town changed and it became over populated. Once home to many railway engineers, once the biggest new town growing town in Europe economically speaking had become full of people, big chain shops and lost a lot of its history.

With the bank crisis and recession in 2008 a lot of the big shops shut down and a lot of the big companies in the town left and unemployment rose. I remained in work however my personal life took a dramatic change for the worse. I lost a lot of friends. My love for Swindon went lower than ever and decided I would not be truly happy until I left. I left Swindon in June 2012 and do not miss it in the slightest.

I wish I could be more positive however even now, a year later, I struggle to find anything positive about the place. This however is only my opinion and is in no means factual. This is purely a self-indulgent peace expressing my strong opinion about a part of the world I dislike.

I wrote this piece, not to offend people from there and not to discourage people from going there but just to write about some of the things I experienced there, which I no longer wanted to have in my life …

The toilets in Farringdon Park,

The queues outside Primark.

 

Fat arse, short legs to aspire,

A night out to Destiny and Desire.

 

Smoking a fag while mending the gas,

Fantastic hen dos at Burger King.

 

Teenagers with prams, dogs and a frown,

Tourist information directs you out of town.

 

Get granny some fake tan for a treat,

You can see moss on the Dome-busters seat.

 

Old town museum had a crocodile and a map,

Coate Water has a diving board covered in bird crap.

 

Christmas tree in the middle of the magic roundabout,

Why do all the people seem to shout?

Be warned this is only what I believe,

I think I really need to leave!

Some Questions

This blog consists of over one hundred questions. I have always been encouraged to ask questions and always been quite curious about a range of different things. Curious comes from the Latin to “care” so I guess questions are a good thing. Don’t you think?

A lot of my questions involve word-play and sayings that are used. Some of them are a little cheeky but no offence is meant as I just do not know! Some of them are just asked for comical effect and have no answers. These are the sort of question I enjoy best!

I have a lot of questions on the origins of words but left a lot of them out as when thinking about then there was a lot of them … there were far too many to list! I have also asked a lot of questions that have been asked by a lot of other people before me. I do not claim this all my own list and certainly not a definitive list. It is a good start of my many questions. If you have any amusing answers please let me know …

How does a shepherd count his flock without falling asleep?

Do fish sleep?

Would a solar car be able to travel faster than the speed of light?

Is it not scary that the word “therapist” is the same as the words “the” and “rapist” put together?

Do sheep get static when they rub against each other?

Do pigs pull ham strings?

Why do people say “heads up” when they mean “duck”?

What do you say when someone says you’re in denial but you’re not?

If you had x-ray vision, but closed your eyes, could you still see? I guess if you could see through anything then you would actually see nothing?

If the wind is 50 mph and you drive your car at 50 mph downwind, if you stick your head out the window, would you feel the wind?

Why does closing “up” a shop and closing “down” a shop mean the same thing?

Why are things typed up but written down?

What does OK actually mean?

If someone said it “was an uphill battle” and someone else said “it when downhill from there” would they be having the same problems?

Why is it you can walk down a road even if it is uphill?

Why doesn’t the glue in the bottle dry up?

If Luke took a bath, would it be lukewarm?

If you decide that you are indecisive, which one would you be?

Why do we have the weight of the world on our shoulders but we have to get it off our chests?

If you tell someone that they are being judgemental are you not being judgemental yourself?

Why is your bottom is called that because it is in the middle if your body?

Whatever colour the liquid the froth is always white, why?

Why do they say “head over heels in love” when your head is always over your heels?

Why is the name of the phobia for the feel of long words called: Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia?

If someone cannot hear they are called deaf, if they cannot see they are blind but there is no name for someone that cannot taste?

Why would superman want to leap over the tallest building in a single bound when he can fly?

Why is it called a tv set when there is only one?

If it is zero degrees outside today and tomorrow will be twice as cold, how cold will it be?

Why are accident, incident and emergency so long words as it could take vital mini-seconds off saving someone’s life?

If you are allergic to dogs and cats, can you go outside when it rains?

Is there another word for thesaurus?

Do cows drink milk?

Can a guy called “Nick” have a nickname?

If we are supposed to see birdies when we get knocked out, what do they see?

What is a male ladybird called?

Why an alarm clock called “going off” when it actually turns on?

If you mated a bulldog and a shih tzu what type of dog would that is that called?

Why are they called stairs inside but steps outside?

If an ambulance runs someone over on the way to an emergency, does it stop to help?

If Jimmy cracks corn and no one cares, why is there a song about him?

Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?

Is it not worrying that doctors call treating you in their “practice”?

What do you call female daddy-long-legs?

Why is it called a “drive-through” when you have to stop?

Why does mineral water that has “trickled through mountains for centuries” go out of date next year?

Do vampires get AIDS?

Why do toasters always have a setting that burns the toast to a horrible crisp that no one would eat?

Do geese get goose bumps?

Why can magicians make things disappear into thin air, but not thick air?

Why is it rain drops but snow falls?

Why is it that the slowest traffic is called rush hour?

What do people in China call their good plates?

Do feathers ever tickle birds?

Why is it that cargo is transported by ship while a shipment is transported by car?

Does peanut butter have any butter in it?

If someone vanished without a trace, how do people know they are missing?

Why are boxing rings square?

What was the best thing before sliced bread?

If love is blind why do we have love at first sight?

What would your own tongue taste like if you accidently ate it?

Why do we scrub down and wash up?

What is the opposite of opposite?

If practice makes perfect and nobody is perfect, why do we practice?

If you try to fail and succeed, what did you just do?

If you dig a tunnel straight through the earth, will you come out feet first?

Are zebras black with white strips or white with black strips?

What came first, the fruit or the colour orange?

Where does the white go when the snow melts?

Do dwarfs start stories: “When I was little”?

Can blind people see their dreams?

If there’s an exception to every rule, is there an exception to that rule?

Why does Tarzan not have a beard?

Are you tired of people asking you rhetorical questions and you do not know if they are rhetorical questions or not?

Why someone that handles your money is called a “Broker”?

Why do they call it taking a dump? Should it not be leaving a dump?

If quizzes are quizzical then what are tests?

Why do they sterilise needles for lethal injections?

What would happen if an irresistible force met with an immovable object?

How can you hear yourself think?

How come thaw and unthaw mean the same thing?

If you feed a bee nothing but oranges would it start making marmalade?

Why is it you get a penny for your thoughts, you have to spend a penny to go to the toilet but you have to put in your two cents worth?

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

Why do you get on a bus and on a train but in a car?

How can something be new and improved? If it is new what is being improved upon?

If you are in hell and mad at someone where would you tell them to go?

I know you can be under whelmed, you can be over whelmed but could you just be whelmed?

If you take an oriental person and spin them around a few times, do they become disorientated?

How come overtones and undertones are the same thing?

What do you use to dilute water?

Before they invented drawing boards, what did they go back to?

Why do they call it an asteroid when it is outside the hemisphere but call it a haemorrhoid when it comes out your ass?

Can you be a closet claustrophobic?

Do fish get cramps after eating?

Do one legged ducks swim in circles?

Have you ever imaged a world with no hypothetical situations?

How do you actually “draw a blank”?

How do you know when you are out of invisibility ink?

How does the guy who drives the snow-plough get into work in the morning?

How is it possible to have civil war?

If all the world is a stage, where does the audience sit?

If a bus station is where a bus stops and a train station is where a train stops, why do I have to start work at my work station?

If a chronic liar tells you he is a chronic liar do you believe him?

If a mute child swears, does his mother make him wash his hands with soap?

If a turtle loses his shell, is he homeless and naked?

If psychics know the winning lottery numbers, why are they all still working?

If knees were backwards, what would chairs look like?

If soap is used to make you clean, why does it leave a scum?

If you ate pasta and then anti-pasta, would you still be hungry?

If you got rid of all but one of your odds and ends, what would you call it?

Is it possible to be totally partial?

Why is it when two planes almost hit each other it is called a “near miss”? Should it not be called a “near hit”?

What colour would a chameleon go in a mirror?

What would you do when you had an endangered animal that only ate endangered plants?

What hair colour do you but on a driving licence for a bald man?

What is a free gift? Are not all gifts free?

What is another word for synonym?

Whose cruel idea was it for the word “lisp” to have an “s” in it?

Why are we scared of falling and not the sudden end to falling?

Why did kamikaze pilots where helmets?

Why do flammable and inflammable mean the same thing?

Why do we not hear of gruntled employees?

Why is it so hard to remember how to spell “mnemonic”?

Why is it called a “building” when it is already built?

Why is it called a bust, when it stops right before the part bit is named after?

Why is the alphabet in that order?

Why is there only one monopolies commission?

Why isn’t there mouse-flavoured cat food?

Old Dogs

This piece is regarding learning about me, my limits and what is and what is not possible. When you are a baby you cannot talk or write or read. Within five short years you generally can do all three to a basic level. You then learn more and more skills as you get older. I used to believe anyone could do anything if you tried hard enough. Well, I could anyway!

Suffering with dyslexia did not make learning new things easy. However with time and trying different techniques I mastered many things. I learned how to tie my shoe laces, draw pictures, how to measure things, how to make things, my times-tables (well most of them), how to ride a bike, how to use a computer, how to play sports and even speak and understand bits of another language. I learned lots of things that I could not possibly list here.

I grew older I learnt more things in life and throughout education. I learned how to read maps, put up tents, tie knots in my scouting experiences. I also learnt how to drive, how to cook when moving away from home, how to wash my clothes, how to manage my money and cope with living with people I did not know when I went to university. Educationally I will not even start saying all I learnt.

After my university training I did not find it all that difficult to get a job after I learnt what to do at interviews. In work I learned how to take minutes of meetings, manage and create data, talk to important people on the phone, send emails to get things done in a hurry by expressing urgency and also how to prioritise different tasks and keeping everyone happy by communicating what I was doing at all times.

I like to watch game shows on television and listen to them on the radio as I believe my general knowledge is reasonably above average and like to test myself. There are many different formats out there for quizzes but I have always thought Mastermind would be one of the easiest. I am sure if there was something I was interested in enough I am sure I could read all the books, listen any of the connected music and take in all there was to know about a set subject. If I was really interested in it and given enough time I am sure I could learn all there was to a basic subject. I do not know if I am being big headed but I am an optimist and believe if I want to I could do anything!

Up until recently given enough time and support I have not found much I could not do at some basic level and would be convinced that given the correct mind-set and help I would eventually be able to train my brain to achieve it! One thing that gave me slight reason for doubt it I once took a job that to all intents and purposes that was impossible! I tried many ways to get around the problems that I was experiencing and was still making mistakes. Over time, I came to the conclusion that a lot of it was to do with my dyslexia but even so, some of the work I got involved with seemed so inexact that there were no set rules and if there was then they keep changing. The job was impossible but for a while I doubted myself. Plus I feel I was not given the time and support needed to achieve what could have been possible.

When reviewing my role in this previous job I had been informed that the person who did the job before me could not cope with it and struggled under the pressure. For a long time I kept telling myself that I would get the hang of it and get some systems in place to make it easier. Unfortunately the goal posts kept moving and also the pressure. There was time pressure, a pressure of having to do bits of one job and then switching to another quickly but having to maintain focus and real accuracy. The problem was also when being trained for the role it was always been rushed through and I had not a lot of time to digest what I was being taught. I also felt relying on other people and companies to provide me with information was frustrating as they could took a while to get anything done.

After a few frustrating months and many sleepless nights and stress filled days I spoke to the lady in my life about these things. I said that I believed I could do anything when I was younger. I said I believed you could train your brain to do anything. I just thought this job was impossible however not a word I really liked using. She turned round to me and said:

“You are not a spring chicken anymore, and your brain probably doesn’t pick things up as quickly as a teenager anymore”!  She did not in any way call me an old dog however I was reminded of the phase:

“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”! I knew what she meant that when you are young your mind is as big a sponge as it can be and I can struggle a lot more now to pick lots of bits up. I was convinced that I would find a way around the issue or fully explain the full extent of the issues I was having and gain some better help or give up.

I tried to speak to my manager to explain all the issues I was having and explain that there was still a lot I was missing and needed support in. I did not want to quit as I had never quit anything in my life and wanted to prove I was not an old dog and could master anything I put my mind towards.

A number of weeks went on and I was still not sleeping very well and struggling with the job. It came to a point when I was looking in the mirror after brushing my teeth at night and it looked like my head was much bigger. I thought that I could not being having a growth spurt at the age I was then. I thought I may have a bit of a growth or a tumour with all my stress. I spoke to my partner about this and she said it was just me losing my hair. It made sense! It was not as bad as a tumour but it was a wakeup call and I realised I was not coping very well. Over the next weekend I realised that I could not cope with the job, the job was impossible and did not want to be so stressed it would make me potentially ill or age before my time. I realised that health and happiness were much more important than my work and career.

I realised that it was not the fact I could not learn new things and it was an impossible job and although I could not do the job fully as it was impossible I did learn that health and happiness that was important.  The next week I quit the job and gave my months notice even though I had no new job to go to. I was so desperate that I would have taken any job. I went to many agencies, the job centre, bought a paper and went online and applied for loads of jobs. After a few interviews and money not being an option I was offered many roles and so had a pick of them.

Several months on now, I am in a steady job, my hair has mostly grown back, and I am happier in my job and this makes my time off much better and healthier. 

Talking To Others

I sometimes worry with all the new technology around. We send quick text messages, short emails and statuses on social networking sites. I wonder whether we lose the ability to tell stories and actually communicate fully and learn from others. With books becoming electronic now and newspapers all being online and easily accessible to all. I guess one day we will not be able to talk at all! I am sure written communication is taking over and we no longer speak. I often think this at work when sending emails to the person sits two desks down from me or ordering a pizza on the internet rather than picking up the phone to a take-away!

Everyone has a story to tell. I was sat in a popular coffee chain this morning having a drink before heading back out into the rain again. I was sat alone in a new city that I did not know on one of my days exploring the country. I watched the rain in the puddles outside and the gray clouds. There would not be any let up on the rain today. A couple were sat on the table opposite. There was an elderly lady sat talking to a middle aged man with a small child on his lap asleep. I found myself thinking the child was the lucky one! I was wrong!

The elderly lady was talking to the man about her life. She was telling him that she smokes but does not drink alcohol. She told him she does not eat chocolate because she was diabetic. She told him how it is her only luxury in life these days. She told him how many she smokes a day and when she needs one.

The lady spoke about the middle aged mans son and when she was little she was a “Tom-Boy” and how she feels for the youth of today. She said she was always climbing trees and getting told off. She spoke about her grand children and goes on to say she never smokes in front of them. The man was looking tired of her endless stories but nodded appropriately. I felt his boredom. I was wrong! 

This took me back to a journey I took from London to Paris on the coach and overnight ferry. The coach left at midnight and I never sleep on these things! I usually read or wrote down some thoughts but very rarely talk to people. I left knowing it would be a long journey and I would not arrive into Paris until nine the next morning.

On this occasion I was nervous about the journey and what was to greet me the other end. I decided to speak to an elderly lady next to me. Fortunately she was travelling alone as well and seemed to talk back. Communication is difficult for me but she was easy to talk to. I felt the need to talk. I found a lot about this lady and where she was going, where she grew up, where she went to school, what she did for a living and also her friends and family. We spoke about music, television, current affairs. I felt I found out all about her and told her a lot about myself. Towards the end of the journey we swopped address and promised we would write when we returned home and tell each other about our time away! Neither of us actually did! I was wrong!

Everyone has a story to tell and this is what separates us from animals. I guess this is why I love to blog. This is to express my opinions and views of the world and to see if there is anyone out there on this big world. I guess this is why this lady was speaking to this man. I thought this was nice. I started off thinking he must be bored stupid of listening to this lady. As I got up to leave and pay my bill the man behind the counter said:

“She can talk the hind leg off a donkey and bet he wishes he had never come in”!

I said: “I think his son had the right idea”!

I then walked out the coffee shop and carried on exploring. I was however wrong and wish the lady had come over to me and spoken to me! They say “Talk is cheap” but sometimes it can be very valuable to some people and wish I had written to that lady I met on the way to Paris. When I said what I did to the man behind the counter I did not see the bigger picture. The elderly lady was maybe anxious or lonely. I was wrong.

Here and Now

A lot of my thoughts start in the shower. This one started on a Sunday evening. I had been out for a walk to get some fresh air. I had done some work on a Christmas present sewing kit. I had watched the grand prix and fell asleep through most of the race only to wake up and see the interviews afterwards! I had little jobs to do around the house and thought about washing up and doing some tidying. This job could lead to bigger jobs and I would get into organising lots of bits and this would not be relaxing unless I could do all of it! I therefore selected to have a shower to save time the next morning.

The next day I had a day off work and I was going exploring. I needed some time off as it had been a stressful few weeks and needed to rest and the weekend was not long enough! I did not want to be stuck at home and wanted to explore a bit more of the area around me! I was sick of watching television of being stuck in front of a computer. I wanted some fresh air, to get out, to see new sites.

Anyway back to my shower! I thought a bit about what I was going to do on my day off; however when thinking about this I realised that today, Sunday, was also a day off! I started thinking about how much of my life was spent waiting for things. Some of the time I was thinking about long term things like starting a family and some of them shorter term like getting the bus and then getting the train to where I was going and also what I was going to have for tea. I thought in one form or other I spending most of my life waiting! My Mum used to say:

“Don’t wish your life away!” However I was and I do! When I was at school I would wish for the weekends and then the holidays and then the end of school so I could go to college. I guess ever since I have had a conscience mind I have been waiting for things to happen!

Thinking further I asked myself a question if there was ever a point in time when I was not waiting for things. My thoughts went back to big events in my life and if these events were worth waiting for and if I actually fully enjoyed them when I was participating in them. I had always told myself to:

“Make the most of them”! I thought back and on the whole I generally was pleased to think that I did. My mind after these events ultimately moved on to the next thing. I therefore have concluded that waiting for things should be limited and I should enjoy the day and concentrate on the here and the now! I guessed there were so many things I was waiting for in the long and the short term! I thought about setting myself down some rules for living.

I did think that I should spend very short amounts of time looking at long term goals such as building a family. I thought I should spend medium amounts of time thinking about what I will be doing in the next few months such as a summer holiday and going to see my friends’ daughter getting christened. Finally a bit longer thinking short term such as what I will do when I get off this train. (This is the place I am writing this blog). I will try and set myself the goal of only thinking of three main things I am thinking to do next. Such as get off this train, get a lift to get some food and finally choose something to eat! I will try not to think overly anymore than that! I will not think of the long drive back home from the restaurant. I will try and sit back and enjoy the journey!

I do play the game when someone asks me what I am going to do and I make a long and detailed list of everything I am planning to do and separate this with the words “and then”! I have made a pact with myself I am not going to do this anymore! Firstly because it bores people, secondly because it makes life seem like a list of jobs and thirdly because it may not happen like that! I have subsequently been told this is called pacing!

Whilst writing this I have not been thinking about what is next and I have just been enjoying the moment of writing. I think I need to have more time like this one and not think too far in the future.

My final point is to remember when not looking too far in the future is to also not look too far back in the past. The same rules will apply the opposite way around. I will spend little time thinking about the long ago past such as the hard days of school. I will think a medium amount of time thinking about the last few months like if I should have maybe found a nicer place to live for my rented accommodation. Finally a bit longer thinking about the things that happened recently. For example should I have given that man with the big bags my seat?

I should however therefore mostly enjoy the here and now. For exactly enjoy writing up my blog in the present!

Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and now if a gift. This is why it is called the present!

A Happy Place – Not What You Might Think!

I started writing this blog in a dentist surgery waiting for an appointment to get a filling. I was in early as I had an early appointment before work. I got there early because:

A: I did not know how long it would take to get here and;
B: A phobia of being late for anything!

I started wring this blog to drown out the noise of the drills and the thought of pain and panic of the injection ahead. Also to take-away the thought of constant pain afterwards that will make my teeth ache much more than they ever did before I came to the dentists in the first place!

I noticed there were many children’s’ books for reading to cover various new experiences such as: “Lucy Moves House”, “Katy Goes to Hospital” and “George Goes to the Airport”. There was nothing to help and support adults through the possible pain they will go through having to go to the dentist! I was tempted to read one but I thought I would get some strange looks! Plus if I started one and they called me in I would want to finish it, and I would want to read the whole series! My mind drifted to better places and places I would rather be. My mind wondered to being in a motorway service station …

I think a motorway service station is like a little version of the country as a whole. They are fantastic places full of life and always full of different characters. When I am there I love to people watch and put myself in their shoes. You may think it odd to enjoy such a place, but despite maybe not enjoying the place a number of differing people always end up there.

The different people I have enjoyed watching do various things in motorway service stations include:

·         People who want to save money, they have brought their own sandwiches and eat them outside just to have a break from driving.

·         People who want to stuff food into their mouths for energy and enjoy a nine piece fry up for £6.99 or some food from a well-known fast food company.

·         People who want to just sit and drink coffee and have a break from driving in silent reflection.

·         People who want to stretch their legs and walk around.

·         People that have been in a car, coach, bus or bike for hours and need to get some fresh air - They get out and light up a cigarette!

·         People who walk quickly, but do not run as not to draw attention to themselves - their eyes darting everywhere seeking out a desperate visit to the toilet!

Motorway service stations think of everything that people may need and much more including:

·         Massage chairs

·         Fruit machines for people who need a gambling fix

·         Weighing scales in case people think they have lost weight from driving

·         Business card making machines in case someone has come up with a great business idea whilst driving

The possibilities are endless!

People may mock my love of motorway service stations but a lot of people use them and I am sure everyone has been in one at least once in their life.  People complain about the extremely expensive prices but people need to have a break when traveling a long way. I think this is a bit like life. I know people use them as a way to re-assure themselves that they are almost at their destination. People use them habitually as they always stop at the same place to mark a point in a journey if they are regular travellers on the same route. People also use them to meet people and drop off and pick other people. They are a little version of the country!

I do not have a favourite motorway service station as thankfully I do not have to do much travelling but I love to sit in these places and stare at people. They will never see me again so what does it matter! I love to watch others and their behaviours and their interactions with others; Interactions with their travelling companions and with members of staff that work there!

I once worked in a motorway service station and it was one of my first jobs when I was just sixteen. I found people on the whole generally nice, as they were just relieved to have some different people to talk to or just a change from the journey. There were a few grumpy people who were tired from long trips but on the whole I found people who came to my place of work all very different. They were all looking for slightly different things out of the experience. In a way - just like life. My job in the motorway service station was to work on the hot plate serving breakfasts and also to clear tables. Both jobs were extremely hard physical work and we were always very busy. I would not go back and do the job again – Then again I might as I loved watching the people!

There were all sorts of people including:

·         Old people off a coach out on a trip,

·         Young families with babies staring around the amazing different faces,

·         Couples with young children and the children looking at things to spend their newly acquired or last of their holiday money on,

·         Couples dating and visiting some relatives – sometimes for the first time,

·         Groups of men going down the motorway to a football match,

·         Groups of girls going on a hen weekend,

·         School children on a school trip and;

·         Business colleagues going off to a meeting – To name but a few!

In conclusion they are great places to see people living and resting from the journey of not only their trip, but also their life. People who are not interested in other people’s lives and journeys are bored with life and that is very sad. I cannot think of anywhere else that illustrates life in such a way!

Cyclists in the Snow

I am not one to make judgements on people … well not that much! However recently I have reason to question people’s sanity. As you may or may not know I enjoy walking. I generally enjoy my walk to and from work each day. I do not mind walking in any weather however I do not particularly like ice and rain (although a little is fine). The rain makes me wet and then I am wet for the rest of the day. One thing that does annoy me is cyclists on the cycle path. The cycle path is for cycles but also for people walking. They often ride very fast and feel the need to get very close to people walking. This is quiet intimidating, particularly at night!

My reason for this particular blog is to write about the idiots, on their bikes, in the snow and ice! I do not like walking in the snow and the ice however at least I am on my feet and if I slip a bit I can re-arrange my legs enough to not fall completely over. Also, if I do slip, I am not going very fast. Cyclists however do not have that luxury of being on their feet. Plus they also have their feet in foot grips so cannot get loose quickly if they are to lose balance. Plus they have really thin tires that have little contact with the ground (often smaller surface area then people walking). This will lead to endless problems if they hit a patch of ice. Their tyres will just slip right over and the cyclist will go flying. If cyclists go over a stone or something, they will have even less grip! They are idiots of the highest order! Cyclists often still think it is their right to go as fast as they can to show they can get to where they are going quicker than pedestrians! Poo for brains!

If you are in a car and it is icy and you hit some ice, the car will spin round and hit something. Many cars have airbags and the metal shell of the car will partially protect the person inside. Admittedly a lot of car drivers still drive too fast, even in the dry. Some drivers cut you up and overtake you on both sides of the road (inside and outside), and a lot seem to think they own the road. I often wish I was an undercover policeman and ban them from driving for life. Some of them I would just like to chop off parts of their body so they cannot reproduce and breed more future idiots on the road. Anyway this rant was about idiot cyclists not car drivers!

The other day with fresh snow on the ground on my walk to work (see pictures around this blog) was beautiful to look at but there were still some foolish cyclists. I had a big rant, when I got into work, about this very subject! I accused them of being psychopaths on the cycle path! Today with ice on the pavement (particularly the picture on the bottom of this blog) made it even more slippery and still cyclists insisted in haring past me at a great speed. I was slipping and sliding a bit and I was just walking slowly!

The final straw for me today blogging was today seeing one idiot cyclist, one handed (as the other hand was texting on his mobile phone), without a helmet! Words completely failed me! I know there is a big thing that helmets are not all as safe as they could be however surely if their wheels went from under them or they had to suddenly stop and go head over heels and they hit the concrete pavement, something between their head and the concrete would probably be a good thing! I had a large compulsion to stop the cyclist and ask him why he was being so stupid! I think the reason I get so mad is that I do not want to see someone hurt themselves. The hospitals are full enough and I do not want the job of performing first aid and calling for the ambulance! It is crazy but I guess a lot of cyclists have nothing inside their heads anyway! I just do not want to pick up the pieces and be late for work! Rant over!