From New York to Brighton

Friday, 28th September 2012

A couple of Velovangelistas were in NYC recently and spotted this on the subway:

Noche de Lluvia, San Salvador

Aracelis Girmay, b. 1977

Rain who nails the earth,

whose infinite legs

nail the earth, whose silver faces

touch my faces, I marry you. & open

all the windows of my house to hear

your million feral versions

of si si

                                                                                                        si

                                                                                           si

                                                                                                                    si

There’s been a LOT of rain in Brighton recently but I think our ‘fairweather’ cycling rep. may be improving.

Late summer, seafront, Saturday

Saturday, 20th August 2011

Aaaaah, lovely lovely Brighton (& Hove) and its main attraction, the 'Seafront' pulling 8 million visitors a year no less.
Football being played on Hove Lawns, kites flying, beach bbq smells, puppy dog tails...you get the idea... and our seafront bike path...which isn't wide enough.  Look at this:

 Couple chatting, two-way bike lane fully occupied...

...pass another couple chatting...eeek, now they're on the footway, there'll be blood on the streets!!...

 ...and away go other couple, still spilling out of the bike lane.

While visiting Copenhagen last year I learned of the ethos of creating bike lanes where people travelling by bicycle have enough width to ride side by side to chat and socialise.  These lanes are on average 2.4 metre wide.  One way. Hmmmmm.

Of course there is another option.  Please see below:

Three on a bike, child no. 1 singing to himself, adult looking unimpressed with me taking their photo, and child no. 2 (on the back, just her leg in this pic - left side) singing along too.  Great to see this and I'm not serious about the option against providing a wider bike lane.

Progressive change...?

Saturday, 7th May 2011

While Brighton Cycle Chic's ethos of remaining a-political still stands, I can't help but think that 23 Green local councillors has got to be good for people who - already do, are on the brink of, are thinking about, might be encouraged to - get about this city on a bike.

Undercliff.

Take an assertive position on the road...

Hove rush hour.

Home from school.

Meet 'Trigger' who is going fishing...

Spring bike ballet

Saturday, 9th April 2011

Warm, harmonious, civilised city life.

White trimmed delight

Friday, 25th March 2011

Tonight I met Russ and his pal Matt.  Russ was riding this simple beauty of a bicycle, and I asked if I could take his photo to share.  Russ told me he wasn’t part of any special club to do with special bikes.  He likes bikes and enjoys riding them - simple.  He offered to do a couple of tricks on his fixed gear, my novice camera expertise failing me & him (apologies Russ, I was impressed).

While chatting about the bike and Russ’s biking experiences a bunch of kids passed by, drinking pop and eating ice-creams all of them gawping and impressed by the bicycle…aspiring to a bicycle of beauty.

We talked about how people who cycle can be treated, and this was particularly in light of the ‘Cyclists dismount’ sign (seen in the background photo below).

What is it about contractors digging up this city and their inability to cater for bikes?  If someone can understand ‘cyclists dismount’, then they can also understand ‘cycle slowly’.  This would mean a legitimate detour for people on bikes around the works across the cycle path, alongside people on foot.  I should add that this cycle path is a ‘backbone’ cycle route of the city along the seafront which carries 2,500 people cycling a day.  Anyone seen any UK cycle friendly signs and detours?  I’d really like to post them here.

Back to the blog…by bus

Thursday, 24th March 2011

It is starting to get lighter in the evenings, though at 6.45pm the sky is indigo blue, dark.  As I pootled (cycled gently) home this evening on the faithful ‘Pink Lady’ I approached the bus stops just before Palmeira Square.  I held back to let a bus pull out and was thanked by the bus driver using dinker dinkers (indicators)!  People who drive tend to do this between themselves but this was person driving a bus to person riding a bike.  This small courteous connection gave me a lovely warm, happy feeling.  Thanks driver of 5B.  

Snooping in the North Laine

Saturday, 22^nd January 2011

Brighton locals know well and cherish the North Laine area of the city.  Any discerning daytripper will easily snoop it out.  If all you do when you visit from afar is drop down Queen’s Road from Brighton train station – more fool you!

One of my favourite coffee spots in B&H is the Off Beat.  Couldn’t help but notice the dinky pair of earrings being sported by one of the women working there.  She was more than happy to oblige with a close up of her ear (!). 

'Bicycle as icon’ ties in with my pre-Christmas Open House observations and I feel sure this will be a recurring theme for Brighton Cycle Chic.  On that note, I rather liked this place on the same street, with pix of bikes in snow…Nice.

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