I’ve often wondered why the traffic lights in Cardiff are so poorly synchronised that more time is spent at a stand than on the move but I think I now know the reason: there’re so many of the damned things!
On my regular route into work there are 20 sets (including 3 pedestrian crossings) in the last 3 miles, 8 of those in the last mile. Are they satisfied with that? Are they hell! Another 2 sets in the last half mile are ready to be commissioned.
From sighting the first set there’s only one short section, where there’s a bend immediately after one set, where I can’t see any. Am I alone in thinking this is a bit excessive?
I’m also sure some of them are set to deliberately annoy road users. You can be approaching some on green which will change just in time so you cannot get through before they’re red with nothing else around, then they’ll change back just as something approaches from the other direction and just it time to stop that poor sod. This situation, I’m sure, can and should be improved.
It’s these observations that lead me to conclude that Cardiff should be nominated as “The City of Lights”.
Cardiff – City of Lights?
Cycling on Pavements
It’s not a habit of mine, in fact about the only thing that’ll get me to ride on the pavement is when some ignorant Newport Bus driver decides to pull past me and pull as close to the kerb as possible (at a safe distance ahead, I’ll give him that much) so I can’t pass. Well HA to you sucker, I’m not that easily stopped! 😉
For the record, it’s ok for a cycle or motorcycle to overtake on the inside provided it’s safe to do so in a queue of traffic, and as traffic is supposed to keep 3′ from the kerb if possible (and it was) he was just being an arrogant arsehole 😉
Wronglish
Well from some word that just occurred to me while I was driving a train a couple of weeks ago, to a conversation on IRC during my break to lots of work by Shell and wronglish.com has been launched. I hope you all enjoy it 🙂
Thumbnails
I saw thumbnails in action on another WordPress based site I now help to admin and wondered why mine didn’t have the option. A bit of digging and I found out it was all to do with libgd, so I installed the libraries and enabled them and now I have thumbnail support. See my previous post titled Mud for an example. Future images will be larger via the linked thumbnails now I no longer have to miniaturise them 🙂
Roll of Tosserdom – Part 1
Although there have been a few previous, this is the first since I started this blog so the driver of a silver Ford Focus, registration number FY06 ZSG gets the dubious ‘honour’ of being the first recorded tosser on my list.
This idiot decided he needed to get as close to the kerb as he could possibly get while negotiating the roundabout at the bottom of Rumney Hill as I was cycling into work today; the trouble being the twat hadn’t yet passed me, and only stopped getting closer (about 2 inches from my pedals) as the loud “OI!” permeated his tiny brain.
This is a thankfully rare occurrence so my reactions were more instinct than thought but in future I hope to be able to keep some presense of mind enough to kick the bastard’s door or, when I get even more malicious and confident, to put a few nice circle marks on his/her paintwork via my pedals. That’d certainly make twats like that think twice before cutting up a cyclist in future!
Covers Finally Complete!
A project I started working on last year is finally complete! The description is on my main site so I won’t duplicate it all here, just go there, download it and enjoy… though I apologise in advance for my voice but it’s the only one I have 😉
Cordless Drills and Broken Fences
I don’t use it much but by Dog is it useful when I need it!
It was a Chrismas present from the dragon mother-in-law and it’s proven its worth many times now.
Last night some twat (apologies for the language but it needs saying) broke our front fence. Well it’s a good job I bought one too many pieces of 4×2 when I first built it because one of these was snapped off at ground level. Now I know the fence was loose but it’d take more than the kids who play around here to snap through that!
Anyway, I unscrewed the old one and screwed in the new piece in seconds. If I had to use a screwdriver I’d probably have been out there all morning!
All fixed now and not so loose any more. I packed the loose earth up with the broken 4×2 so it’s firmer than it has been for a while 🙂
Back To School part 1
The two youngest went back to school this morning, surprisingly without rushing or stress 🙂
Tomorrow is part 2, when my eldest is disposed of 😉
Back to normality (whatever that happens to be) on Thursday when #1 troublemaker goes back too. Bliss!
Mud!
This is the state of our garden after the pool was put into storage and the groundsheets taken up. Dog knows if that’ll get any better before the Winter really cuts in 🙁
I’m leaving it uncovered for a few days in a vain attempt to let some of it dry out before I cover it with the largest of the intact groundsheets… well the part by the door anyway 😐
Pool In Storage
Well today I got hold of a pump and drained the pool. It’s now awaiting purchase of some huge black bags so it can go away properly for the Winter. It’s going to need a good old fashioned cleanout before I fill it up next time though!
I’m really not happy with the state of the garden though, the mud is beyond belief. I’ll probably leave it fallow next year, unless I can sort out some decent drainage or other non-earth based surfacing.