All 2 entries tagged Bikes

Making a New Year comeback

So I got back on the Brommie again yesterday and I'll tell you, i had good reason.

On Monday evening my taxi driver imprisoned me in his cab and refused to let me out until I threatened to call the police! Yes you did hear right, imprisoned me! Held me captive against my will! Truly!

How it happened is this: the driver arrived very early and then left 1 minute before the booked time and without picking me up. I called the cab firm, Trinity, and said he had to come back immediately as I would miss my train. He came back but of course by this time I was running very late. Traffic was bad on Kirby Corner Road so I asked him to turn around and take me to Tile Hill.

The fare I usually pay to Canley is between £5 and £6.50 but the fare to Tile Hill was £8. I said I would give him £6 and that's when he started shouting and swearing and locked the doors. He said he would take me back to the Uni. After much shouting and getting out my phone ready to dial 999 he eventually jumped out threw open my door and told me to "p*** off"!! (He kept the £6 of course)

So I made a formal complaint. What do you think of that? On another day I could have been really traumatised but luckily I wasn't too hormonal and hadn't had a bad day so I was more angry than frightened.

Anyway, the silver lining is that it really did force me back onto the bike. This morning was bloomin' freezin' tho so I might not last very long!

: 14 Jan 2009 16:55 |  Tags: Bikes Brompton Taxis |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

There are bad roads and then there's Charter Avenue

Got to work in one piece this morning but no thanks to the horror that is cycling down Charter Avenue - near the University. A grim place at the best of times but murder to sensitive bike wheels!

I've been told the road is made of concrete with a layer of tarmac on top - this means every 5 metres you get a jarringly deep trench where the concrete sections meet (or rather, don't meet) and the tarmac has caved in.

So, it's back to the hill of hell otherwise known as Westwood Heath Road. A pretty view but you can't see it if you're hunkered down over the bars repeating over and over "don't get off, don't get off, don't get off" while being passed by pedestrians.

: 02 Sep 2008 13:40 |  Tags: Bikes Roads |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem