Hourbike hits BRS

In The Centre, there is now a stand for bicycles. At first glance, some more secure bike parking, but on a closer look, its less secure bike parking, but a way to rent a bike by the hour

There are instructions, apparently there are places in UWE and Bristol Parkway that join up too. That could make the short but not very exciting walk from Parkway to UWE easier.

In the town centre, there's not much you can do with it, not unless Templemeads and the bus station come into the story. Here in the centre, 3/4 of the roads have you endangered by car, bus, van and taxi, one bit is bus-only, but in that stretch the buses really don't think bikes should be there, and will pull out without looking.

The bikes are practical, some gearing, some luggage handling. QR saddles to adapt for customer height, though without the anti-theft cable to ensure the saddle will stay there overnight. Perhaps the width and styling of the saddle will discourage such thefts, for which the nearby watershed bike park area is infamous for.

Mr H is being somewhat critical of the process, but where it could be useful is if once you are registered, you are also entrusted with access to rental bikes in other places -London, Cardiff, Oxford, etc. That would mean when you visit one of these places, you can use a bike for the day.

No helmets, no high viz clothing, no discount aldi or lidl waterproof trousers. Users will be expected to bring those themselves. Or worse -go without!

Cornering Problems

There's an HGV on the zig-zags, overhanging the zebra crossing, and making negotiating Cotham Hill tricky in the pre-9am peak period

Parked? Not really. People are out trying to solve a problem. What problem? This car.

It's up on the pavement by Domino's Pizza, but whoever parked there last night doesnt know that during working hours, you get truck deliveries to the building supplies site, and cornering in from Whiteladies Road is fairly sharp. If they had parked further up on the pavement -the way most Domino's Pizza staff and customers appear to do- there wouldn't have been any problems, but as it is, it's sticking out.

This is something people always get wrong: they assume that if you leave space for a car, there's nothing to worry about. But you have to leave space for a truck. Because they don't care that much if they damage your vehicle on the way through, and they will get through. This lot did. Eventually.

The Pavement is So Hot Right Now!

It's official. What once was a rare and daring manoeuvre, parking up the pavement, has now become an everyday activity and the officially accepted way of parking. To celebrate the dawning of this new era in parking, teams across Bristol are forming to show off the many styles and approaches to this groundbreaking new pastime.

Pictured here on Victoria Avenue we have a stunning display of Synchronised Pavement Parking from the beautifully co-ordinated team of elegant white vans, EU03ONX and 1946BSK. Support for this new craze is widespread, with this particular team being sponsored by Garden Doctor, The choice for the Green Gardener.

There's no prizes been awarded yet, but rumour has it that these two stand a good chance of being eligible for the coveted Yellow Sticker, a highly regarded award that that has been known to cause quite an overwhelming outburst of appreciation from previous recipients. I'm informed that this team have earned themselves extra points by leaving enough width between them for two cars. On a normal two way road this is something that wouldn't really be noticed by the judges, but performing such a daring feat on a one way road places them at the top of their game. I'm told that extra consideration is also given for the narrowness of pavement left for pedestrians and pavement users, because as everyone knows a slower pavement user is a pavement user more likely to have the time to fully appreciate this outstanding display of talent and technique.

Now we know there's those of you out there that say this pavement parking is nothing new, change the record, it's boring, but you're obviously not noticing the subtlety that takes it to a whole new level. You have to keep an open mind about these new trends. You have to keep your finger on the pulse. Don't close yourself off to these new horizons and possibilities. United we could really see events and celebrations like this blossom. This could be the thing that puts Bristol firmly on the map, a bit like Cabot's Circus did back in 2006. Who knows, before long we might even be enjoying events like the Double Yellow Dawdle (top points for the smallest purchases made while parked up) or the Speed Limit Shuffle (witness the magic as teams of illusionists transform areas that you previously thought had 20mph limits into 30mph and even 40mph zones).

Together we can do it. Together we can make Bristol a Parking City!

(photos and text by "AG". Thank you!)

Warning: main road

This is the sustrans route from Pill to Portishead, links up with the avon gorge towpath, and provides a track to the city that allows cyclists to avoid getting stuck where the A369 meets the M5. You can ride all the way to the new harbour development now.



All the way but here, the Warning: Cyclists Dismount sign. Because there's a zebra crossing here



And it would endanger everyone if cyclists rode over, rather than walked over.

Some thoughts arise on a road that seems to lead to a surplus car parking area for the avonmouth complex

1. are bicycles required to walk over zebra crossings? Its not a pavement, after all?
2.  if it doesn't have the belisha beacons, is it actually a zebra crossing? And if not, what is it?

Remembering Pete Taylor

Where the Railway Path runs into all the schoolkids crossing to whitehall, there's now a sign up: Thank you for not driving.

It is more than just a recognition of the fact that so many of the people on the path are doing just that, it is a way of remembering Pete Taylor, who was the man behind the signs.

There's going to be a memorial on July 18

We will meet at the Kebele centre at 9.30-10 on Sat 18^th July. For those of you that don’t know it, you can get directions at the website - . It is hoped that a few people will bring some cakes, and we can have a coffee and nibble whilst we all gather. Pete loved cake so this seemed to be a fitting start to proceedings!! Let me know if you are up for bringing cake contribution!

We will then amble down the cycle path to the Oak trees Pete planted where we will scatter his ashes and remember him. Everyone is welcome and people are invited to share their memories and celebrate his achievements in any way they see fit – music, talk, poems, songs – whatever!

I’d really appreciate it if people could spread the word via word of mouth, and please also forward this email to anyone I’ve forgotten to send it to.
Many thanks and I look forward to meeting as many of you as possible on the 18^th.

Kind regards,

Genevieve Taylor (Pete’s niece)"

For those of you who don't know the full story, there's a two page article in this summer's Bristol Cycling Campaign magazine. Pete used to find acorns, germinate them and nurture the seedlings until they were ready to be planted, which he then did. The oaks growing along the path are his work, and they will outlive all of us.

Saturday Evening on "The Strip"

James Barlow observes that while he was having dinner, the BBC were using his license fees to film in a restaurant off whiteladies road.

What he doesn't mention is that on the street outside, people were running around and outside the running shoe shop, stopping to play a game involve floating toys in a paddling pool.

Each person wearing the adventure-racer rucksack has paid £30 to take part in this two day event, which hopefully involved other kids games, including a trampoline.

Going over the edge in Kingsdown

Always interesting to see what notes get stuck on car windscreens. This car is parked legally, not blocking any junction or driveway, isn't even within 50' of a junction, that being a parking law that doesn't exist in Bristol or any other UK city. Ever.

What does the note say?

"IF YOU DON'T LIVE
HERE, DON'T PARK
HERE - YOU MAKE
IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR
THE RESIDENT FAMILIES"

Perfect punctuation, capital lettered. Someone spent time on this.

The problem is, parking on a road where it is legal to do so, not blocking driveways etc is in fact technically legal. So there isn't much you can do about it. There's also the question of what the resident families were planning on doing with their cars -they weren't trying to go to another part of town themselves, park in front of someone else's house, do a school dropoff or similar -where they?

It would seem equally legitimate for this commuter to go round putting notes on everyone's doors complaining that the resident families make it impossible for commuters to park. And for both the resident families and the commuters to put notes under the windscreen of every car owned by a resident that doesn't get used for commuting or school runs, but instead sits there while the parent -selfishly- doesn't drive to school or work. It is those people, the so-called environmentally friendly cyclists, who are the worst. Not only do they slow cars down on the road, by leaving their cars in the street, they are the ones denying the rest of the city parking spaces!