The Thing

Movie Reference 8/31

It felt like 'the Thing' with the odd looks you get (there's a clearer shot of the actual bike here), but how smugly environmental do I feel? Well, it's caveated, because I was still throwing stuff out, and I'd borrowed the 8 Freight because the car is still new and wants to remain 'new' a little while longer, so I didn't want to whack a load of broken, mucky old stuff in the back.

Still, on a morning like today it was a real pleasure to ride!

For the record there was a dead lawnmower, dead ironing board, broken glass, board to stop the broken glass moving about, and MASSIVE (but crushed down) cardboard box in the back...

En route to the tip I got my first sight (and ride through) of the ex-Seafield Roundabout near our house. But Seafield Roundabout is no more, replaced by a huge traffic-lit junction. 6 months late (yes, it surprised me that taking away a roundabout could even take 6 months in the first place, let alone be that late) and allegedly £2m over budget, it's allegedly a wondrous thing.

As the road into Portobello was re-opened Councillor Wheeler once again stated, as had been said at the start of the works, that this would be a much safer option, especially, and yes he did single them out, for cyclists.

Now. The ASL, and incumbent cycle reservoir, is one of those things trumpeted as a great safety innovation for cyclists (the issue is debatable, but let's take it at face value since we're dealing with the general public who take these things verbatim). Why then, in creating a junction that is 'safer' for cyclists, do two entrances to the junction (from Sir Harry Lauder Road and Seafield Road) have no ASLs, and coming from the city there is only a partial ASL (if you're turning right on a bike and there is none - this photo should hopefully make this reasonably clear)?

Once again there are words from the Council that bear no relation whatsoever to the reality on the roads. I personally would rather they said they were doing nothing, than promise loads of stuff and deliver a hotchpotch solution (which goes for anything promised to me as a cyclist, motorist (I made up for my environmental trip to the tip with a fair bit of driving later on), or pedestrian).