True Grit

We've been up to Redland, checking out that our roads have been properly gritted.

Remember, people, we pay for the roads, so you can grit them.

Imagine our surprise, therefore, when we found an Igloo, no moving cars, and a place full of community spirit. There were snowmen, of course, but the Igloo caught our attention, as it doesn't have planning permission.

Seasoned readers of this blog will appreciate that we can't stand law-breakers, although we're sure the police will be onto them as a crew from HTV West are reported to have turned up to film the miscreants that created the object.

A group of students (unwashed, probably) built it, and one apparently had the audacity to actually sleep in the Igloo last night to promote the plight of the homeless young in Bristol.

Worse still, they've set up a website where you can actually give money to a charity to support the homeless. Here: http://www.justgiving.com/redlandigloo. Here's the proof:

Quite why people should get involved with this sort of thing is beyond us. Surely their time would have been better spent gritting our roads? 

The upstanding residents of Woodland Road, next to the Igloo, have their priorities much more clearly focused, using the local grit bin to proper effect, ensuring they have direct access to Bristol's road network no matter what the weather.

Saving the taxpayer money

We like this.

By selflessly parking on the pavement, the driver of this Audi - WV56YKD - has managed to save us, the tax payers, the expense of at least 3 square metres of new pavement surfacing in Redland. We are impressed.

Occupy Redland

OK... College Green is full of tents. The grass is a bit buggered. Billy Bragg has sung to the masses. The Council is letting it happen. All good.


So it's nice to see that a break away group appears to have established itself in Redland. Not on the Green, but near it.

This car, we're sure, is the new outpost for "Occupy Redland". YCZ7199. It's been here for the last three days, making quite a statement by parking in a slightly anarchistic state. On the junction of Hartington Park and Woodstock Road.


We thought of inviting the Daily Mail down, with their heat seeking cameras, to see if it was being used at night, but so far we've had nothing positive. 

Rubbish Parking

There is a fair amount of pavement parking in Redland. We've chronicled a small proportion of it over the years. In roads like Woodstock Road, and Clarendon Road it's rife. 

So it was a shock to see a car (in fact more than one) with all four wheels on the road, parked next to a tree. We suspect that the tree may be the reason, but it's always the exception which proves the rule.

And the Redland Rule is "Park on the Pavement", unlike the Stokes Croft Rule, which is "Park in the Cycle Lane".

If you break the rules, though, you will come in for some flak...

Anger Management

The photos have come back from Jessops at last, and one reveals a pic of the car driven by the Redland Mum that caused me so much vexation last Saturday that I had to have a little lie-down and a strong snifter.

Yes, cyclists should be aware that this black Toyota Avensis FY58PVN, when driven by a woman with "no points after thirty years behind the wheel", may still cut you up to save one second off her drive home to the leafy Victorian suburb of Sustainable Redland.

Cyclists should also be aware, if they swear at this motorist, she may tell you that she "has no time for people like you."

I probably overreacted.

But a different driver in a different car managed to mangle my bike and break my elbow very effectively last year, and I was in such shock that I didn't swear at him.

So I swore at her instead. I have since washed my mouth out with soap.

Sketchy Weekend

Three things this weekend so far:

1. Very sketchy Critical Mass.

Difficult to hold the road (not enough riders, really), but had to make sure my children survived the impatience of certain drivers.

Interestingly though, Friday's ride did prove that even very few road-users can take control of the entire infrastructure. We will be alerting our friends at the Association of British Drivers to see if they can help next month.

2. The students are back.

Careful out there, boy and girls.

Bristol seems to have filled-up this week (and last) with strange new number plates. And although they all have six A* A levels, their driving skills leave something to be desired... But they know how to hoot cyclists. Fantastic.

Maybe they will become educated in the ways of the 'Cycling City' before they leave for top jobs in the (other) City...

3. Redland Mums are out.

Ouch. Or nearly. Be careful, also, for the Redland Mums. They don't say sorry when they cut you up, and they don't like it when you swear at them in front of their children.

I apologise.