Good to hear at least one company is starting to take these issues seriously, Yossarian.

Attaches a really bulky new master socket box, tests line, connects new router, discovers the broadband doesn’t work, goes outside to the cab’, comes back, finds bb still doesn’t work, ‘phones his manager, ‘phones BT Retail to find out why bb doesn’t work, fails to get a satisfactory answer, apologises, declines the offer of a cup of tea, ‘phones manager again, waits, receives call from manager to say that BT Retail have failed to schedule switchover from old service to Infinity, apologises profusely, suggests it may be on by midnight, leaves number to call BT Customer Services, leaves.

3 days later, following some hours spent on ‘phone to BT Customer Services to complain about total lack of bb service, speaking to quite a number of individuals, some fluent in english, others not so, another engineer turns up, vows not to leave until service is working again, fiddles about, does tests, reconnects old service, declines offer of a cup of tea, apologises profusely for the BT Retail **** up, leaves.

Ever heard the expression ‘if it ain’t broke…’

Good luck.

Stayed at a friend’s place on the isle of Dogs last night, so commuted in to the RCJ. Used CS3 and then up past Monument and St Pauls. Here are some observations:

*CS3 along Narrow Street then Cable Street is an excellent route, although it has been there long before Boris had it painted blue. Safe and quick, keeps you away from the Highway and Commercial Road, both very dangerous arterial routes.

*Surprisingly few cyclists use bells to alert other cyclists as to their intentions, or to warn pedestrians.

*Tower Hill is **** dangerous, with several arterials converging to a pinch point. The Bus lane entrance at Great Tower Street is inexplicably closed to cyclists.

*About 1 in 6-8 vehicles is a large construction work type truck.

*Addison Lee vehicles appear to be driven by morons.

*Black Cab drivers are surprisingly reasonable towards other road users. Especially if they have passengers on board.

*Every ASL and yellow-hatched box junction had motor vehicles in them when traffic was stationary.

*Cycles are by some margin the fastest vehicles on the road during rush hour.

*Quite a few on-road ‘cycle lanes’ seem to peter out after a short distance. Many vehicles drive in what lanes there are.

*St Pauls looks amazing in the morning sun.

*Ludgate Hill is another pinch-point, not helped one bit by current road works.

*The majority of RLJers I saw were motorists.

*Many motorists don’t indicate when turning left. Neither, for that matter, do most cyclists.

*None of the cyclists I saw were wearing headphones, texting/using ‘phones, or otherwise distracted. At least a dozen motorists I saw were using ‘phones.

*A 42/16t SS ratio, whilst offering a reasonable 15-17mph cruising speed, is a little too high in very slow traffic, or to offer good acceleration. A 40 or 38t is better suited for such conditions.

*Some motorists won’t see you even though you are wearing a hi-vis vest, and there’s bright sunlight. These motorists may look quite perplexed when you suggest they ‘get a **** eye test’.

But above all else:

*Cycling is by far the best way to get around town.

Roads themselves aren’t inherently unsafe. It’s the vehicles that use them that make them so.

Yet with every crash, with every death the same tired old shpeel is trotted out – “Cyclists behaving dangerously!!”…

And little or no mention of the huge several tonne truck or bus that crushed them being dangerous.

I joined this forum a month ago, initially to discuss issues surrounding the accessibility of mountain biking as a sport and activity. Before that? I’m someone with many years experience of cycling in London, and other places. I’m a member of a number of cycling organisations, and work for one which helps promote cycling. I’ve found this forum to be quite a good place for discussions and debates. I’d like to think I can be a positive contributor to this forum, and cycling in general.

You may find my comments disagreeable, even distasteful Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. I’d be interested to hear yours regarding Boris’ recent comments, as I gather from other threads you are a London cyclist too.

You can take fabulous photos with only one focal length, of course. But you can only take one kind of fabulous photo

H C-B took all kinds of fabulous photos. He just didn’t need loads of different lenses to take them with.

Despite Boris being a self-serving right wing twonk, what exactly can he do?

Do us all a favour, and resign.

They had a guy on the radio from some cycling organisation moaning that their demands had been repeatedly ignored. And what were these demands? Banning lorries from Londons streets. He didn’t elaborate on the logistics of achieving that

Why should he? That’s not his job. Large trucks are involved in far too many deaths. London’s streets simply weren’t/aren’t designed to cope with such large vehicles, especially not considering the already excessive volume of motor vehicle traffic. Without from greedy corporations and developers wanting to build massive monstrosities in central London, there would be no need for such numbers of lorries. Why aren;’t those same developers looking at alternatives? There’s a **** great big river running through the centre of London, why can’t they use that to transport materials in/out? Better still, why aren’t they looking at other parts of Britain to develop in; like some of those northern cities desperate for investment? London’s full, we don’t need any more skyscrapers.

I voted for him.
Mostly because the alternative was the utterly hateful Ken Livingstone – who was worse in everyway.

I’d like to know exactly how Ken Livingstone can possible be any worse than the lying, cheating, racist, sexist philandering **** that is Boris Johnson.

Let’s look at some facts:

Under Ken

Congestion Charge – massive success, provides much needed revenue, reduces congestion (!), reduces pollution, encourages people to look at alternative means of transport.

Implemented hundreds of miles of new safe cycle lane development.

Bicycle Hire Scheme – yes, it was during Ken’s reign, that the scheme was proposed, designed and given the go-ahead. In fact it was Jenny Jones who was part of the committee that first proposed it.

Transport Fares -lowered significantly, discount fares for the unemployed (gives greater mobility to look for work), free transport for under 18s in full time employment, universally popular with Londoners. The fuel deal with Venezuela was instrumental in enabling this, and meant Venezueala could benefit from London’s transport expertise. Win-win.

Oh, and Ken was instrumental in London getting the Olympics.

Under Boris

Western extension of CC scrapped to appease his Kensington chums. More congestion and less revenue for London.

Bicycle Hire Scheme- did a dodgy deal with his chums at Barclays, to give them a fantastically cheap promotional vehicle by painting a few dangerous roads with blue strips, and giving Londoners a worse deal as other companies were willing to invest much larger sums into the scheme. Hire charges have increased; initial/30 min hire has doubled to £2. The whole scheme costs taxpayers’ money, contrary to Boris’ promises that it wouldn’t.

Transport Fares- more than doubled. Cheap fares for the unemployed scrapped. Venezuelan oil deal scrapped on purely ideological grounds. ‘Boris Bus’ cost astronomical and actually a lot more expensive than existing designs, and unlikely to ever be profitable. Little more than a vanity project, like the **** useless waste of taxpayers’ money that is the ‘Emirates Airline’, which was meant to be 100% privately funded; yet another one of Boris’ lies.

Oh, and the Olympics ended up costing several times what it was meant to…

In short, Boris has benefited no-one except big business and his chums. Meanwhile Londoners are worse off. Nero fiddling while Rome burns.

If a large truck turns left on him, I won’t be shedding any tears.

Or nuke slough.

Has it not already been nuked?

Slough town centre, earlier:

The Pentax LX is a fantastic camera, and an alternative to the Nikon F3 and Canon F1n, both superb professional machines. Production of all 3 went on into the 90’s, which shows how popular they were.

I have one of those Pentax MXs, apparently it was the lightest SLR you could buy back in 1976. Mine has a winder/grip too. Bit battered but I think it’d survive a nuclear blast!!

Pah! This, the Students’ Favourite and AK-47 of the camera world, could survive our sun going supernova:

Armageddon-proof! 😀

It’s amazing what you can accomplish with one lens.

Henri Cartier-Bresson used a 50mm lens for the vast majority of his photographs.

10 Things Henri Cartier-Bresson Can Teach You About Street Photography

I take a short zoom (28-70) out with me if I’m unsure of what I might photograph, and I don’t want to take a bulky load with me, but I prefer the quality of primes over the convenience of most zooms. Some high end zooms, such as the Nikkor 80-200 f2.8, offer fantastic quality to rival any prime lens, which is why many Nikon users use them rather than a collection of primes within that range. But a lot of lower end ‘kit’ zooms really are too compromised in design (squeezing a huge range like 18-200mm into one lens without it being enormous is always going to involve compromise) to be fully effective across the zoom and aperture range. Plus most people tend to use mainly the extreme ends of the zoom, which is often where optical quality is most compromised.

Having one ‘do-it-all’ lens on the camera can be a real bonus in some situations, like travelling or situations where having loads of kit/changing lenses a lot isn’t practical. But you can have a relatively lightweight outfit with say a 24/28mm, 50mm and a short telephoto like 105/135mm. But everyone has their own preferences and style, so different strokes and all that.

Likewise, I enjoy photography way more with DSLRs.

My DSLR pees over any film camera I’ve owned, for capability, flexibility and ultimate image quality, but again, that’s not the point! My cheap digital watch is far more accurate than my (reasonably) expensive Seiko. I prefer wearing the inaccurate overpriced bauble though. 🙂

What I miss most of all, is winding the film on after each shot. That act of conclusion and progression, all in one flick of the thumb. ‘That one’s done; move onto the next one’.

I did love film.

😥

It’s a lot easier if your dad is well-connected in the media industry. I wonder just how successful she’d be if she weren’t Keith Allen’s daughter?

I mean, let’s face it; she’s mediocre at best, and her work is nothing more than an auto-tuned turd rolled in glitter.

I can’t say I have any fond recollections of film cameras. They were a complete pain in the arse.

See, I can’t get excited about the new digital stuff. 😐

To the OP – I got an F4s last year £150 with a 24-50 Nikkor on it
in mint condition – do it – just look for the newest best condition one you can get there is a lot of choice – (serial number 24x onwards if you can) It has possibly the best viewfinder I have ever used – apart from LF

Thanks; I’ll revisit the idea of buying one after the festive season I think. Not sure whether to get the standard version, or an S or E. I have a criminally undersused F5 somewhere; always regret buying it over an F100, as the F5 is so big and heavy, I ended up not taking it out much. 🙁 Amazing camera though.

Mind you, compared to an RB67, it’s a veritable ‘compact’! 😮

Fake retro but I really like Nikon’s new DF, shame about the unaffordable price:

From what I gather, it’s a D600 in a metal body, without the video facility. For almost twice as much! Nice, but a bit expensive. Like the nod to the FM though.

Speaking of which:

How d’you make a brilliant camera even better? Make it out of titanium! 😀

I looked at both Vaude and Ortlieb, couldn’t see any difference in quality (they both appear to be made from exactly the same materials), so bought the £20 cheaper Vaudes.

Truth though, innit?

“I took an technically crap pic” or “I didn’t have a camera”

You choose.

You’re completely missing the point of this thread. 🙄

Almost bought one of these, many years ago, before coming to my senses!

Little more than jewellery really, but absolutely gorgeous.

Another I’ve always promised myself; had a remarkably good lens for such a tiny and relatively cheap camera:

To me, the best camera isn’t the nicest one, or the most expensive, or the coolest or whatever.

It’s the one you’ve got with you when you need to take that picture…. the one you’re never without.

That tired cliché aside, this is about the appreciation of mechanical devices, rather than what they can or cannot do. A bit like admiring classic cars (which may be crap in performance relative to a modern generic Ford/Vauxhaul/Honda etc), or old watches, etc.

Ok I’ll get her to try them again. If they really are unsuitable, then they’ll have to go back. Opticians quoted a 30 day cool off period, but I’d imagine statutory consumer rights laws trump this.

Classic Hasselblad 500cm; beautifully made (very very expensive) modular system. Body machined from a block of aluminium. Exquisite quality cameras and lenses. Produced pin-sharp images. Owned one for 1 roll of film, but couldn’t justify keeping it. 😥

Always been a Nikon man, but the Canon T90 was revolutionary, and defined the styling of most of Canon’s SLR range since:

Depending on what camera you have, I’d recommend the Nikkor 50mm f1.8 AF-D, as it’s a superb lens. Some reviews certainly have it as superior to the AFS-G version, although the af on the latter may be a bit faster. If your camera lacks the mechanical af conncetion, then you’ll be limited to the AF S-G version. For portraiture, you might prefer the f1.4 version, as it’s 9-bladed aperture gives a smoother bokeh. Expensive though.

The advantage of primes over zooms, is that primes will be sharper across the entire image, at larger apertures. I have an old 28-70mm f2.8 zoom, and my 50mm is noticeably sharper wide open at the extremes of the frame. The zoom needs stopping down to at least f5.6 to get anywhere near as sharp.

Large aperture primes are easier to manual focus in dimly lit situations, although with af this probably won’t be an issue. Easier to see what’s in front of you though due to the brighter viewfinder image. Many ‘kit’ zooms are quite murky at the long end.

A 50mm lens would be excellent for using with extension tubes for macro work, although that might not be what you have in mind.

If your camera can take the AF-D lens, s/h versions are relatively very cheap, maybe £50-60 on ebay etc. The 50mm is a small, light, very capable lens, and it’s quality will pee over any ‘consumer’ zoom. Get one.

So it’s worth persisting with them then? Of course, it’s ‘my fault’ because I encouraged my wife to listen to the optician’s recommendations of varifocals (she was getting fed up of having to take her specs off to look across the room), but there you go. 😐

I felt I was (justifiably) challenging your views. I’m sorry that you feel the way you do. I think this part of the discussion is done, and am happy to leave it there and move on. No hard feelings.

I made a makeshift lathe using a pillar drill and an old bearing unit to mill a Hope 135mm axle down to 130mm, and was very proud of my endeavours.

Seeing this thread makes me want to go and sob quietly in the corner to myself, and dwell on my true uselessness. 😥

I included all the ‘data’ rather than using it selectively to make a point (which you’ve actually failed to make there). The fact still stands that the gap is widening, not falling as you seem to believe.

But Binners; have you read any economic data releases? Because if you had, you’d surely know that there’s a good reason for that discrepancy. And be able to defend the growing inequality. 😉

So having slated me for my use of anecdotal evidence

No; I’ve ‘slated’ you for your unconstructive sexist comments.

We should be discussing how to improve matters for all road users, not arguing over which group is worse than another. Because by doing that, we just end up being bogged down in unhelpful arguments, rather than addressing the real issues.

No cybicle, I prefer to walk around with my eyes shut, ignore any economic data releases, never read a paper or listen to the radio. It’s a lovely dreamland isn’t it?

So you’ll be aware that child poverty in increasing in the UK then:

In the short run, relative child poverty is forecast to remain broadly constant between 2009—10
and 2012—13, before rising slightly in 2013—14. Relative working-age adult poverty is forecast
to rise slightly between 2009—10 and 2012—13, before rising faster in 2013—14. Absolute child
and working-age adult poverty are forecast to rise continuously, and by more than relative
poverty, over this period. This unusual pattern arises because the living standards of low-income
families are set to fall over the period — which will increase absolute poverty — but they are
forecast to fall by less than the living standards of families at median income, and so relative
poverty is forecast to have fallen in 2010—11. Indeed, at its low point, real median household
income is forecast to be 7% lower in 2012—13 than it was in 2009—10, and to remain below its
2009—10 level until at least 2015—16. This unprecedented collapse in living standards is chiefly
due to the (actual or forecast) high inflation and weak earnings growth over this period. As
families in poverty get much of their income from state benefits and tax credits, which are
typically increased in line with inflation, a fall in real earnings closes the gap between them and
families around median income, who get much of their income from earnings.

http://www.ifs.org.uk/comms/comm121.pdf

Children’s campaigners say the true figure is higher and that 300,000 more children live in poor homes than in the previous year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-22887005

And that tuberculosis, the ‘disease of poverty’, is on the increase in the UK:

The report’s author, Professor Alimuddin Zumla of University College London, attributes the rise to people living under “Victorian” conditions, with poor housing, inadequate ventilation and overcrowding in certain deprived areas of London.

http://www.nhs.uk/news/2010/12December/Pages/tb-tuberculosis-cases-rise-london-uk.aspx

More a nightmare, than a dreamland, I’d say.

So, Njee20, you claimed that:

a lot of people ride really really badly, particularly women

Yet the very articles you linked to state:

Women cyclists are far more likely to be killed by a lorry because, unlike men, they tend to obey red lights and wait at junctions in the driver’s blind spot, according to a study.

Women may be over-represented in (collisions with goods vehicles) because they are less likely than men to disobey red lights.

So, far from riding ‘really badly’, women are actually more likely to obey the rules of the road. So you’re basically saying women are poor cyclists because they obey the rules of the road?

See, I interpret that information as road junctions being poorly designed, as well as trucks having poor all round visibility, rather than female cyclists being at fault. A conclusion I have come to by actually studying the facts, and thinking carefully about the issues, rather than laying the blame at the feet of the victims.

I also considered other factors, such as the type of bicycles that many women tend to ride, which don’t lend themselves to the quick acceleration out of danger (we could also talk about men perhaps being on average stronger and quicker at accelerating), and the naturally greater levels of aggression in men, as mentioned in that report.

May we have your evidence to the contrary?

30+ years of cycling in London, cycling pretty much every day in London over the last 25 years at least, being a cycle courier for a period, knowing lots of women who cycle (of all cyclists I know, it’s the men who have had the greater number of accidents by far), working in bike shops (higher proportion of female customers inquired about safety equipment such as helmets, lights, hi-viz etc), and the shocking statistic that a far higher proportion of deaths caused by traffic collisions are in fact male. Most of the people I see riding without lights at night are male. Most of the accidents/near misses i’ve seen have involved male cyclists. Just about all the incidents I’ve had involving stupid/ignorant/dangerous behaviour by other cyclists have involved blokes.

So after all that, you seem to be suggesting that women don’t ride ‘agressively’ enough. Do you not think that’s an issue that’s related to the design and layout of roads, design of trucks etc, rather than women being at fault?

Leaving aside the inconvnenient truth that negative trends in income inequality have finally been halted/reversed under, of all things a Tory led coalition

This is a slow, mild recovery

😯

What kind of dreamland are you living in?? Have you not looked around you, at Reality?

the independent ONS

😆

My wife recently spent over £300 on a pair that she simply can’t get on with. She hates them so much she won’t even wear them. Should she persist, and will she ever get used to them, or is it really a case of making the wrong choice?

Saw them in half, thus reducing the overall length to within the defined limits for cheaper postage.

Simples! 🙂

a lot of people ride really really badly, particularly women

Can you actually prove this? It’s just that from my own experience, I have a totally opposite opinion.

not being sexist in any way

Really? 🙄

And here we are again, attacking/finding fault with particular groups. And instead ignoring the real issue, which is that there are far too many cars on London’s roads, using infrastructure that in the main, was not originally designed for large volume motor vehicle traffic. Ignoring that fact won’t make it go away.

If we sold morphine at £10/hit, they’d sell heroin at £9.

Make the ‘legal’ product far purer and safer than the illegal one, make availability of the legal product much easier, and the vast majority will prefer paying the small premium. If I am in Amsterdam and I want Cannabis, I simply pop into a convenient coffee shop, and purchase in safe, comfortable surroundings. I don’t have to venture into the bowels of some nasty ‘sink estate’ and deal with some scrote with a pitbull who’s going to use the money to buy a gun. 😉

People are gonna use regardless. Decriminalisation creates a better environment for users, more openness about use (which leads to improvements in being able to administer healthcare), and the evaporation of the social stigma towards users.

I remember when Ecstasy was de rigeur; everyone ignored the Daily Mail style scaremongering, and just got on with enjoying their weekends. Millions were taking the drug, yet deaths were extremely rare (and often caused by other factors). Violence at raves/clubs was very low compared to pubs etc, and the whole atmosphere was pretty good. The only thing that really soured the fun, was the criminal gangs distributing and controlling sales. Because a drug which is relatively far safer to use than alcohol was illegal. It’s daft.

Who/what is CM? I got there quite late, and missed the ‘occupation’ of the roundabout.

That quote from the driver just sums up the selfishness of sadly the majority of drivers in London. They really believe they have the ‘right’ above all others to do as they please, and seldom consider the consequences of their actions.

But while the car manufacturing and oil production lobbies continue to enjoy so much influence on government policy, we’ll see very little change. A change of thinking must happen on a big scale, not just painting some bits of road blue.

I went along to Bow last night; was a very small group of perhaps 20-30 people, and it didn’t go on for very long (finished just after 7). Was nice to see a few folk out paying respects though.

I can’t believe any cyclist would want to go anywhere near that junction. It’s practically a motorway interchange. The sheer volume of motor traffic is huge. Utterly terrifying.

Thing is, there are actually possible alternatives; there are two footbridges between the Bow interchange and Hackney Wick. These would link Old Ford and Victoria Park with Fish Island, the Greenway and the Olympic Park. Both are quite narrow so probably not suitable for high numbers of cyclists. I’m sure they could be upgraded though. What with all the money spent on the Olympics, I’m amazed such a project wasn’t considered, as this could really help give cyclists a safer alternative route. The A11/A118 is a major bottleneck, always has been. With today’s tragic death, that’s now 3 in 2 weeks on the same stretch of road. The ‘cycle superhighway’ much heralded by the mayor. Well, I hope Barclays have got what they wanted from the cheap advertising deal.

Just about to head over to Bow. Come along if you can make it; more numbers means a greater voice. I’ll be on a silver/blue Trek 7300 ss ratbike with carbon fork if anyone wants to say hi/chat.

Well said Bez. Action, not apathy, is what’s needed. Better to go and make your protest publicly felt, than sit around anonymously moaning about thing in the internet.

Have a think about how to do this and do it in a few weeks time when a mourning period has passed.

When everyone’s conveniently forgotten about it? Far from being ‘disrespectful’ as you seem to suggest, it’s actually an attempt to not let yet another cyclist die in vain.

Somewhat off my normal commute, but will try to get along to support. Too many deaths at this one spot alone, well overdue for something to be done about it.

Thanks for the heads up, Bez,