New Digs

Skye and Ruby have immediately taken to the perch, added to their run this afternoon. And if you think Skye, on the left, is looking a bit scraggly that's because she is. Going through a full-on moult, even to the extent of having lost her tail feathers and her comb shrinking back. She's bottom of the pecking order anyway, and not the most 'confiding' of chickens (basically the others are VERY easily caught), so she's gone completely skittish. Took three laps of the garden before I managed to herd her into the new run.

Anyway, they seem happy and already settled in, and the old girls seem to accepted them being so near because they're not actually in their territory. Makes it all worthwhile.

Work today (I went in for the morning, then worked form home in the afternoon) was yet another day of hassle from bosses who are acting as if everything is just the same as before the mass redundancies. Hard to deal with at times, especially when you're the one being queried about mistakes others have made as if there was some way you could have stopped something you knew nothing about from ever happening...

Yeah, it kinda went downhill after a good start with coffee at Peter's Yard with some cycling buddies (including the delightful Min). A coffee that occasioned this email to the owners:

Dear Sirs

I'm a fan, and reasonably regular customer, of your Edinburgh bakery/cafe - arriving by bike en route to work in the mornings. At least once a month a group of us meet up to chat and indulge in cakes (calorie-neutral, you see, since we rode there...). Anyway, this morning we noticed new signs by part of the railings where we normally chain up declaring "No Bicycles Please". A polite notice, granted, but not terribly helpful.

There are some other railings, but when busy (the cafe being located beside one of the busiest cycle routes in the city) it can be difficult (occasionally impossible) to find a spot. Those which have the sign attached appear to border the plush flats beside the cafe, and so I assume the sign was at their behest rather than that of Peter's Yard. Not exactly encouraging a continental style cafe-cycling culture, the thought process seems to have been 'stop cyclists parking here by means of discouragement' rather than 'stop cyclists parking here by offer of something better and more secure'. Not really a thought process I can see being replicated in bike-friendly Scandinavia.

The knock-on is, of course, that if there is no space people will simply ride by. Even now, in the midst of winter, there are often a lot of bikes parked outside - come the summer, with passing commuters and students, that number will only multiply. Or would. If there was space to park.

I don't know if it is at all possible for you to speak to the developers of that area and even see about getting a few Sheffield Stands in. I can't honestly say that the possiblity of not getting a space to lock the bike would tempt me away from making the diversion off the main road, but it would be a painful disappointment to have to carry on riding by for lack of that space due to a few residents, who have to virtually lean out of windows to see the railings in question, complaining and retaining the 'blank' nature of the area seemingly devoid of any life save for that in your cafe.

Regards
Anth

The Sign