Travels With A Daughter

This week I have been cycling with my daughter. We went on a return trip from Salford to Radcliffe along part of cycle route 6, through Prestwich Forest Park - an 'Urban Woodland' redeveloped industrial area now with lots of mountain bike trails - before crossing the M60 Motorway onto an old rail line called the Outwood Trail.

I know she has a great time on her tagalong but I don't get to see her face much while we are chatting on the go. I thought I'd use my bullet cam to catch some of her expressions. I liked them so much I made a little film. This shows an (edited) outward section from Prestwich to Radcliffe.

Horses For Courses

Just look at these three fools, riding horses none the less, blatantly jumping the red lights. Such a dangerous thing to do and typical of non motorists. They should all be registered and have to carry number plates, pay "Road Tax" and at least have third party insurance. Why are horses even allowed on the roads anyway? They pollute the environment with noxious emissions, hold up law abiding motorists and damage the road surface with big heavy hooves. Disgraceful!

It is interesting to note here how all the motorists patiently wait and let them progress on their law-breaking antics without beeping horns or driving at them to give them a justified warning. Truly, car drivers are the 'Knights of the Road'. Anyway, horses are really only good for sport or glue and should be kept off the highway so innocent motorists are not inconvenienced in such a manner.

Just more proof (if needed) I am not waging an anti-motorist campaign.

Roads Are For Motorists

Continuing my theme of not being anti-motorist, I would now like to illustrate the rightful dominance of the car in society today using the two photographs below. 

The first shows a scene along the A56 Bury New Road close to where I reside. This was taken sometime in the early 1900's. As you can see these were dark times indeed and the car in not apparent. While this is obviously a single moment in time and motorists may have been able to make use of this highway, they would certainly have had to battle with a number of obstacles to do so. Here we can see a tram (complete with annoying tracks), a number of horse drawn vehicles, several pedestrians and a cyclist who cannot even be bothered riding his damnable contraption and is certainly not wearing a helmet or hi viz gear. It is also arguable the road surface is not of adequate quality for the modern motorist who needs to travel everywhere as quickly as possible.

The more recent photograph (taken today at 09.30hrs) show a somewhat different scene. Here the motorist has rightful dominance along the same stretch of road (the viewpoint is slightly different as the crash barriers limit access to the road and I certainly wouldn't want to get in the way of any motorists and impede their progress). It is clear to see the road surface has been improved and pedestrians coralled more tightly. What is really needed here is get rid of that annoying crossing and build some kind of elevated or sunken walkway to allow pedestrians to cross the road or better still give them all a car each so they don't have to walk anywhere. Once these footwalkers have been dealt with then the official speed limit could be increased to 40 or maybe even 50mph.

Still happier motoring times don't you think?