Wednesday 2 July 2014

I'm not sure... But I think the sunshine is making people in Aberdeen Mad.

So... I'm meeting the Gids and a mate for dinner in town, and naturally I whip out The Brompton.  My route is pretty straight forward, up though the bottom half of Old Town, round the back of the Uni down the back of the top end of George Street, round the side of the posh school and I'm more or less there.

When I get to the back of the Uni, a man in a company van (I know the company so if it happens again, you can guess what I'll be doing) drives up along side of me (on a two lane road, with islands) and shouts and swears at me because I moved out of the cycle lane, which ended, and into the normal road area.  Then, on the same road, I signal to turn right, and a woman in a volvo takes that moment to try to take me over, to be fair when we make eye contact she moves back again.  Then when I'm cutting through the back of George Street, a man who makes a wide turn, stops and tries to tell me it's a one way road.  It's not.  I have to point out there are no No Entry signs from where I was coming from, nor is there any 'One Way' blue signs from where he came. The 20 mph limit paint work is even marked both sides of the road. Whilst he didn't like being told he was wrong, I wasn't swore at either, so I'll take that as a friendly exchange.

Now, cycling in Aberdeen has got better.  This week, when my ankle went and I slipped of my pedal and the guy driving the car behind me (even though he had a face like fizz) waited until I got myself and my bike on the pavement, but there was no shouting or anything.  I've been stood at the edge of the road whilst out on a training ride and had folks nice enough to stop and ask me if everything is OK?  Is my tyre flat? Am I lost?  The answer to that last one is usually 'Yes' but in the fun way, not 'In the desert' kind of way.  More people than ever that used to drive cars are on their bikes, so more people are happier to give you more room, wait for adequate space to take you over, and know where and what a bike lane is.  It's just... It has to be the weather.  The long days... are  reverse werewolf's the folks here.  Instead of ravenous animalistic behaviour at night, they'd rather passively aggressively, or some times just down aggressively have a go at an easy target.  It doesn't figure.


Is there any particular time of year or weather that you find drives people nuts?  I think it might just be Aberdeen that does this but it'd be nice to know geogeraphically if this weather type phenomena happens anywhere else.

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