bikes and things

Whilst Peckham Rye is being dug up I found what I thought to be a little detour to avoid the road works and take me onto a quieter road. Unfortunately not. It seems to have placed me on the most dangerous roundabout I’ve ever had the misfortune to use. If you click on the map below it’ll take you to the street view version of it. You can clearly see the drivers going East not giving way correctly on the roundabout (the transit and grey 4×4). I take the route of the red car and have almost been hit a couple of times. When asking the driver if they saw me I’ve had some pretty shocking responses, one proceeded to ram me with her car and drive up on the kerb, one apologised for almost killing me and the other had their passenger get out and try and beat me up. I’d report them to the police but I’ve got little hope of them doing anything about it really. They’re just not interested in cycling related issues. They are interested in giving tickets out at red lights and raising revenue though.

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Hurrrah! At last a driver in London gets their comeuppance for driving like a moron.

I’ve just bookmarked this page www.met.police.uk/roadsafelondon and will be reporting any driver that acts like a total dick whilst I’m on my bike. I wish I’d known about this before.

3 people have been killed by HGVs in London this year, which makes watching this even more terrifying.

A bit more photo news. I’ve been approached about submitting some work to a website specialising in Black and White photos of London – appropriately titled blackandwhitecapital.com.

I’ve put together a contact sheet and just need to agree the images to submit. Would be nice if some of these things could start generating a bit of income so I could afford some more lenses which would in turn help me generate some more work hopefully.

Since the LCA arrived back from being fixed I’ve put a roll of Kodak Portra VC through it. It hasn’t been amazing weather recently but pretty pleased with the results. I really like the lens on it. Seems to have a nice effect to it and much sharper than I had thought it would be. Here’s a few of my favourites.

Last night I worked late at work and had an awesome ride home with virtually empty roads. This morning I rode to work in the pouring rain but still loved it. No nodders due to the rain and nice and clear roads again. Completely soaked through but after a shower and a coffee I felt great.

This morning I went past a big BMW private hire car who had his left wing mirror tucked in. I gestured that it was in. He then started honking his horn at me! Oops. Thought I’d made him mad and carried on hoping to lose him. Turns out he wanted me to tap it down for him! Smiles all round and a bit of a laugh at the confusion.

Looking forward to this talk by Morley Von Sternberg. Should be good!

Might be due for a make over according to this Building Design article.

The well-used track is one of the oldest in the world. It opened in 1891 and hosted the cycling events at the London Olympics of 1908 and 1948. But its covered grandstand is now so dilapidated it has become unsafe.

I went there last September time to do my track induction. It would be great to see the place brought back to life, especially as it’s a five minute ride from my house. There’s also a beautiful Victorian pavilion that is in serious danger of collapse.

Fingers crossed for a decent revamp!

Paul Mill-Elite cyclist, originally uploaded by mikekingphoto.

This is a topic that’s very close to my heart after writing my dissertation on the privatisation of public space (amongst other things).

A great little project from the guys at www.spacehijackers.org.

“Hey you, stop smoking”
“You slow down, No Running”
“No Cycling”
“No mobile phones please sir”
“Oi, you two, further apart please, No Petting”
“Oi Son, take that hood down”
“You keep moving, you’re loitering”
It seemed everyone was doing something wrong.

Palestra, Alsop Architects, originally uploaded by Andy*Matthews.

Trip out with the tilt shift tonight.