Bits and Bobs and Bikes

One thing to know if you ever plan to live in or do a bike tour through London is that regular sized bikes are not allowed on the tube - the just take up too much space. This, amongst other factors I'm sure, has helped fuel the rise of folding bikes. They are pretty fun little guys, mostly resembling BMX's, and generally cost as much as a new bike of comparable quality. On Sunday I was riding the escalator in Liverpool station when I saw someone standing in front of me with a folded up example. It stood on the step in front of him and was about the size of a modest trash bin - the like you'd find by a desk in someones study. I guess you could say that I stalked him in that I kept track of him from the station doors to the street so I could watch him unfold it. No special key seemed to be needed and it took him only about 30 seconds. Depending on where the winds of employment take me, I might look into one for myself.

Though I can't help being a little hesitant, foolishly, because of something else I've been seeing in regards to bikes and London. I'd say about every third bicyclist that I've seen on the street has been wearing a face mask air filter thing (rebreather?). When I see someone sitting directly behind an eighteen-wheeler I guess I can understand, but the implications - as well as the imagery - just creeps me out. It really reminds me of one of the old clean air advertisements from the early 1990's where a bunch of lawyers with personal air masks are strolling through a street where everything is a shade of brown or grey while a homeless begs for change so he can suck a few precious gasps of clean air from a kind of vending machine (Ten points if anyone can find a clip of it). At least there are plans for this, such as the Low Emissions Zone (which is the vast majority of London, but for a few communities which lay outside of the M25 highway that encircles the city), the Emissions Influenced Charges Proposal and the steady increase of congestion charges.