So, yesterday morning's commute started nicely, with a much lighter morning following the re-introduciton of GMT at the weekend.
I'd loaded the pannier with the usual gubbins, and was trundling down the road. Seeing another commuter up ahead, I said to myself "You have sore legs from the weekend's riding; if you catch him, you're riding too hard". And, so, I continued on, through the traffic lights, at a steady pace.
Less than a minute up the road, as if from nowehere, a black jacketed, bald-headed man strode straight into my path. Not 20 metres away. Not 10. Right into the perfect spot for us to collide perfectly.
Boom, went the explosion, as the middle of my face struck the side of his head. And then I'm sliding along the floor, separated from my bike. Afer a moment of assuring myself nithing was obviouslt broken, I reached for my glasses - amazingly intact - and lifted my head. My front teeth hurt, but were stioll there. And then the blood started rushing from my nose. This feels broken, I though, as I lifted myself to a kneeling position in the middle of the road.
Glancing across to my left, my assailant was lying motionless and sayiung nothing. Then he started groaning, but wasn't moving. Quickly, people gathered, and traffic stopped (well, not all traffic - most of it just drove around us). There were legs and squatting bodies helping the pedestrian as he lay in the road, someone explaining what had happened to him. Another guy stood over me, and was on the phone to 999. A voice suggested I get myself out of the road - my response was rather terse.
Eventually, me, and Derek - the pedestrian - shared a ride in an Ambulance to A&E for both of us to be checked out. Last I heard he was fine, though needed a couple of stitches in his head. I just had a broken nose and a bad headache.
Lesson learned: even when riding out into a lane, don't assume that all pedestrians will remain on the pavement, especically if they are partially sighted and rely on sound as well as (limited) vision to help them cross a road where there are no pedestrian crossings. It was about as "accident" as it can get, but not very nice for either of us.
I shall go and see him and make sure he's OK, but we both live to fight another day.
(Oh, and bike damage is fairly minimal: trashed front wheel - it looks like a pringle - and a nicely bent pannier rack.)
(No, this isn't an invitation for the neo-Darwinists to start...!)
