why didn't you tell me this before?

biked to uni today. guess what? even with some minor getting lost, stopping to check the map 5 times, and reminding myself that the law would probably NOT be amused if i followed through on the impulse to kill or even just deck the irritating male cyclists, it still took about the same as getting the dlr and bus. i bet it gets quicker once i actually know where i'm going and can go at speed. now i have to break out the map and figure out just where i went, as opposed to where i meant to go.

on a side note, whoever does traffic planning in this burg is beyond on crack.

public service announcement

i have survived my first day navigating london with a bike instead of a travelcard. i was not injured, nor did i injure anyone. i did however curse all britain, in particular london traffic planners, to oblivion and back many times.

1. street signs are good. they're even better when they're at or above eye level someplace you'd expect to see them. (ie, not halfway down the street.)

2. on the subject of signage, what the flying fuck is up with the bike route signs? they're all over the place, just usually not at helpful points where you actually need them. more to the point, they point all over the place. if anyone was stupid enough to try to stick to bike route 1 by following the signs, they'd go in circles. or wind up in a canal. possibly both.

3. not biking in jeans again. those so need a wash.

4. cars suck. except the minivan that passed me on westferry road. i like them, because a kid leaned out the window and shouted, "good to see you're wearing a helmet!" and gave me a thumbs up. and i don't think he was being sarcastic.

5. there are 100 steps at each end of the greenwich foot tunnel. i counted. (well, i counted on the greenwich side. i didn't remember to start counting the docklands side until halfway down. not much point in counting only half or so.)

i really need a shower now. i should have changed into shorts before biking back from the cinema. (batman. again. because it's still good.)