British and the snow – why are there so many problems?

 After more than a week of ice and general snowy crap blocking my street, I think I have a fair idea of why Britain suffers so badly when the weather turns it up a notch. Popular opinion would suggest that it is down to the inability of local councils to clear roads due to limited resources – I beg to differ somewhat – there must certainly be something deeper at work in order to cause such widespread chaos.

Firstly – sure a council snowplough can clear snow a lot faster than a single chap with a shovel, but a snowplough cannot make it everywhere, nor can it really compete with the mass action of a whole neighborhood equipped with snow shovels to clear otherwise inaccessible routes! For 2 weeks my street sat covered in a thick layer of snow, which within a few days became an ice skating rink to play car hockey on. Not once did it get cleared, nor did anyone in the neighborhood attempt to shovel anything out. One of the locals at the local pub suggested that people were afraid to clear driveways and streets for fear of being sued should someone slip! I cant help but think if people shouldered some group responsibility and got on with the job that it might just be a success.

           

Another reason for the chaos has got to be the supreme lack of desire to go to work. Pretty much everyone knows about the great Australian sickie – the snow must be the same for the British – maybe it is symptomatic of an overworked society, sick of their soul-destroying, dead-end jobs?

While on the topic of snow - one of the most marked difference I have noticed, having soldiered on to work through the snow is the dramatic drop in traffic on the roads. Seeing a similar trend over the Autumn school holidays, It seems a no brainer to put this down to school closures. To go off on a small tangent, it amazes me the amount of parents who insisit on driving their children to school, and the difference this makes to an already overstretched road network.  It comes as no surprise then that school is canceled when it snows – that would mean 3 hours in traffic to get anywhere. Perhaps that is the answer to the mystery of school closures due to snow in Britain?

Finaly I have to say it, but Inexperience has to be at play; the Brits are better drivers than Australians every day of the week, but when some drivers decide to drive at 10Mph in a 60Mph zone, with no foreseeable obstacles to hit if braking was not possible, it would seem a tad ridiculous.  Inexeperience is not just limited to driving techniques, it also extends to equipment– Britain is one of the few European countries where winter tyres are not required by legislation, nor is the carrying of chains. It then comes as little surprise that several motorists became stranded on certain sections of road last week What is suprising however is how long it took for them to get out  - up to 2 days stuck on the side of a road! The whole event was a crisis, with motorists having to stay in their cars overnight to be rescued by the mountain rescue the next day– all within a few miles of the nearest village. I guess this is a reflection of modern society – someone else will look after it- look out if someone was to do something radical like take responsibility for their own actions and bail on foot to the nearest town and get a train home – crazy talk!

Overall I think the chaos in the snow can be put down to a society that is unorganized, and overly reliant on others to get the job done. I cant help but wonder what a difference it would make if people helped each other out and tried to get the whole country running, rather than simply complaining that things are not being done on their behalf. At the end of the day, I say let it snow – I can get to work faster, enjoy the drive much more, and keep up with my offices archaic HR policy and avoid losing pay.

“ You’ll never get good parts for it” – Peugeot Parts update

A while ago I comented on the parts shortage, or at least the perceived parts shortage for European vehicles in Australia. Now it would appear the shoe is firmly on the other foot. In September I became the proud owner of one of Peugeots smaller offerings for the equivalent of a measly $1,100 AUD equivalent. On face value, it was a bargain – 1 year registration and tax, recently serviced, well presented, and low mileage. Unfortunately I realized it was cheap due to a nasty underlying problem – a head gasket failure.  For those who are not into cars, these are caused by either running the engine too hot, or running out of water, but I can firmly add another to the usual list in the UK: Cheap parts.

I bought the car with a freshly done head gasket with a machined head, complete with new thermostat, radiator cap, and the works. Usually enough to secure the nasty job of changing the gasket done and dusted for the foreseeable future.  A few weeks into ownership I experienced the first overheating due to a dud thermostat. Whether or not this was the cause of what was to come who knows. After replacing the thermostat and radiator cap ( and discovering  much to my delight that they were the worth equivalent of about 2 seconds of a Peugeot mechanics time in Australia) along with 10 L of water in a few weeks, became obvious that the head gasket was gone. Big bucks in Oz. Thankfully this sort of thing is part and parcel for a UK mechanic and was taken care of backyard style in a day with just over a hundred bucks worth of bits. Yep some were even the real deal.

So whats the point of all this? Sure European car parts prices are overinflated in Australia, but clearly the opposite problem is being faced in the UK, whereby cheap and nasty parts are readily available. There use is made even more attractive by the fact that cars are worth next to nothing after 10 years and the price of proper repair becomes significant in comparison. Sure the UK is far more competitive when it comes to business, as it still has a pseudo class structure, low minimum wage, and a far bigger market with enhanced buying power. But these very things that conspire to a varied and competitive market are also those that bring about the market for a cheaper option, of which my 106 had fallen victim.

I do wonder if there a country where one can have a Peugeot, and have it repaired reliably at a reasonable price? Think I’d better look at France, but then again, that brings a whole new problem when you considers the effects of the ever present touch-parking there!

Cyclocross



Well it has been a little while since I posted something cycling based under a different blog, so here goes once more. New country, new bike, new house, new job, No more fatigue!

So with the move to the UK now complete, the first mission, being sick and tired of dragging bicycles about on planes, was to source a new set of wheels (naturally). Having dabbled very briefly in ‘cross before, and hitting the UK right at the beginning of the season, also in need of a ‘one bike does all’ there was nothing for it but a cross bike. Naturally I also sourced a car, but am pleased to report that it did indeed conform to the rule of being cheaper than ones bike(s).

Back to the bike - for those unseasoned, cross bikes run cantilever brakes. Strangely the best ones are not even current tech ala shimano XTR 1997 spec. Nope these pups are straight from the early 80’s – yep those wide profile buggers. First impressions were not good at all. The brakes have less performance than a 6” disc that has had a full can of WD40 applied (not that I have ever accidently done that!). I questioned the chap selling me the bike about this – his response – it’s cross, it’s on grass, if you are doing it right you wont even need them. I had to take his word, hell he had ridden a world champs in his time!

First race near Leeds, was an absolute baptism of fire – more rain than the UK has seen all summer, and a course which once was a field now more likely resembling a peat bog. The first thing that hits you as a mountain biker about this sport is the sheer pace that can be achieved – cross is like riding a road bike on grass, that also happens to corner better than a mtb (still amazes me how far you can lean on 35c tyres). The course was no where near as technical as a mtb course, however, as it got wetter, the mud just got deeper – trouble on a mtb - but the cross bike goes straight through!

Next lesson aside from the supreme speed one can achieve is how to negotiate the course. MTB is a pretty simple affair –take the most direct route and brake at the last minute. Cross, you have to be thinking miles ahead with the brakes when it gets steep, but otherwise it’s a cinch: the fastest line is usually the widest (and the courses are a lot wider than XC), where you carry speed and try and slide the thing if it gets loose.  

So first race down in supremely nasty UK ‘summer’ conditions, and I was hooked – reeling in 18^th place of a 50 or so fleet, no ‘training’ in sight for 18 months or so. 2 weeks later and it was time for another – in the more familiar Notts-Derby league.  Arriving fashionably late once more (read I had to plead for the last entry 10 mins before the start), I was on the grid with mere seconds to spare in 200^th position. The turnouts to these races are epic when the weather is right.  200^th place was a familiar position on the grid from my earlier XC outings, so it was game on, and time to call this race a training exercise with many short burts to get to the head of the race. I ended up getting lapped just before the bell, being one of a handful of riders to get lapped – 6 mins or so down in 28^th place from 150 men. Not bad given that experience tells me you nearly loose this much time getting stuck in mass starts. Better get there earlier next time I reckon.

The course was even more of a school in ‘cross technique – the fastest way in even the tightest of forest tracks was once again super wide to carry speed. Once I had fought my way through traffic, I counted how many times I needed the brakes – just once to dab the rear through a tight set of ‘s’ bends.

Another lesson for those unfamiliar with cross is tyre pressure. Rocky sections are explicitly forbidden in cross races, so pinch flatting is pretty much not a risk. As a result, tyre pressures go down – as was once told to me “if you are not hitting the rim several times in a lap on a cross bike, you aint doin in right” I ran 35 just to be on the safe(r), as I am not flash enough to own a set of Tubs.

It’s early days in cross yet, but it would seem it has the best of both worlds, the speed and spectator friendliness of a crit / kermesse, but the social atmosphere of a mtb enduro – if you are having an average day you can still enjoy sliding and racing some punter for 120^th place –something the road cannot offer. There will be more of this madness to come no doubt! 

Stand development and Acros - the results

So in the last post i mentioned that i had given stand development a go. Now for the results. First up the good old favourite - Agfa APX100 1:100 Rodinal, 1 hr.

Looks pretty reasonable, and until this point had completely overwhelmed anyting i had seen before from 35mm for consistency and tonality. Prior i had been a fan of Ilford delta 100 - but its pretty fussy on exposure by comparison. 

Now for the newer Fuji Acros, a lot of my negs with 1:100 were pretty thick, but scanned very well anyhow. 

Not that there is any real difference in the scanned versions, but here is one from the 1:200 batch.

Next thing left to do is give this a go on the new 4x5 - I got lucky and managed to snag a few sheets of Acros before it was canned. Now the challenge is to work out how to scan it for a reasonable price!

Book review “iridescent Light – the art of stand development” – by Michael Axel

Well this being the first dedicated book on the topic, I was naturally very interested, having dabbled in the technique a little before. I was hoping for big things waiting the 3 weeks and laying out the $50 USD, but alas ive come away with the feeling of having watched an episode of any popular American series – where there is more substance in the ad’s than the actual episode.

First off there is little evidence of proofing – typos are rife in the text. Next there is little coherence in the actual layout – not that these are major issue given that Mr Axel is no author, rather a pro photographer. His pictures and examples go some way to making up for this.

My biggest gripe with the book is the whole reason I purchased it – to get some concrete recommendations on what dilutions and times to use for developing. There are a whole list of films the author has tried and tested – complete with nice little comments – yet no mention of suggested chemistry for each. Worse than this is the author’s preferred chemistry to use with Fuji acros - including rodinal (1:300), xtol, ¼ teaspoon borax, and 10g ascorbic acid - In 800ml water for 3 hrs. Now this may seem all well and fair, apart from the borax and bit – he mentions “borax (not boraxo)” well sorry you are selling to an international market – I haven’t got a clue as to what Boraxo is – a simpler option would be to perhaps offer a description or chemical formula. I ended up giving it a go with plain old liquid borax (as that is what is available here), and I assumed I was on the same page as Axel. Well I wasn’t, I suspect this misunderstanding on Borax was the undoing of my 3 hr stand trial – my result was precisely nothing! Not even a few scant highlights!

At this point ill mention that this wasn’t my first go with stand - I have successfully developed a few rolls of APX100, APX 400 and Tri-x using the standard rodinal 1:100 for 1 hr, 1:100 @ 2 hrs for pushing. So I was a little disappointed with the 3 hr stand technique, and have since improved on it. Axel is certainly not wrong in recommending Acros as a good stand dev candidate. My results have been a little strong for the conventional 1 hr 1:100, and closer to the money at 1:200 for the same time.

To get back to the point, I think the biggest undoing of the book was that the issue of tank volume was not outlined clearly enough. This is critical for stand development, whereby if the tank volume is insufficient the developer will exhaust and result in incomplete development. All too frequently “experts” on the internet with little scientific knowledge seem to want to be able to measure 1mL or less of fluid to fit their 300 mL tanks or so. My solution – use a large tank – at least over 500mL per film, and make up the dilution to a volume you can actually accurately measure (5mL is a heck of a lot more accurate to measure than 1mL taking into account residual volume and meniscus effects). I have no problem with making up 1L of solution, and turfing the rest – im only wasting a few precious mL of developer and getting a nice accurate dilution.

Overall, after reading the book, I had the overwhelming impression that it was the author’s opinion that stand development was the only way forward – a little preachy if you ask me. Axel clearly knows his topic, as he is a regular poster on several online forums. I just wish he carried this through in his book that I had to pay for!

Why Brisbane cyclists cop a bad rap

So recently I jumped to the defense of Brisbane’s poor cycling community. Well I think now its probably fair to offer a few reasons as to why they suffer the bad rap that they do. You see this weekend I made a trip to the west-end market, as I often do on a Saturday morning. For those unfamiliar with it’s location, the market is located just in from the river, close to a cycleway, which forms part of the infamous “river loop”. West end, as most brisbanites are aware is fairly trendy, and is home to many hippies and yuppies who frequent this market, often arriving by pedal power. So what is this sight im greeted with? A group of said hippies is crossing the cycleway to the sound of “you f*&#ing pin head”. Quite funny really that this much aggression is necessary.

I think this all boils back to a very basic principle that is clearly missing in Brisbane. Cars should respect cyclists, and cyclists should respect pedestrians. Pretty simple really. This also works two fold. The said pedestrian who is abused not only hates cyclists now and is more likely to side with silly courier mail style “get registered” campaigns, but is more likely to take that rage behind the wheel with them the next time they go driving and get held up by a cyclist.

Now to ask the question- where is all this rage coming from? I think it lies in the fact that brisbanites are deeply territorial – they must own their own piece of dirt, and god help you if you get in their way. I personally think it is silly to assume you have exclusive access to a bikeway near a busy market – it’s presence shouldn’t really disturb a Sunday cyclist, and as for the fast guys - do your intervals elsewhere. I get the idea that Brisbane is suffering a pretty bad case of passing anger down the vehicular food chain at the moment – cars hate cyclists, and cyclists hate pedestrians – which leads to everyone hating cyclists. The question I think that needs to be asked is, where and when did cyclists become aggressive like this? In the 80’s it was golf, now, its cycling. Yep it’s the new ‘team bonding’ activity for edgy over-stressed corporate types. These are the kind of cyclists who race home at 5 pm, scaring the living daylights out of pedestrians in the “punter grand prix”, these are the ones overcrowding popular training routes and turning commuter paths into a raceway, not to mention jamming up suburban streets with their inability to ride in a coherent group.

By saying all this, in no way do i condone the poor treatment of cyclists in the courier mail, nor by equally abusive motorists. I can however sympathize with where they are coming from with these kind of cyclists. Problem is you cant tar everyone with the same brush, and by and large the number of aggressive motorists outweighs these corporate wannabe’s. I think these pretender pros need a good crack up the backside – its time to stop passing the buck down the foodchain – show a bit of patience everyone, look in your own backyard, and maybe learn to ride your bike. The classic saying “all the gear and no idea” springs to mind. No wonder the courier mail rips cyclists to shreds for wearing lycra. If you aint sponsored by them, or got their Jersey for a ridiculously cheap deal – Don’t wear it!


This idea that these wanabe cyclists cannot ride was highlighted to me a few weeks by an incident involving my coach (who I might add is a former world champ), who had the misfortune of a nasty accident in a QLD masters event recently, having encountered one of these said cycling corporates or the like. Incompetent riding was most likely the cause of the accident, taking down 5 riders at 50kmhr. Yet when confronted, the accused seemed to think it was not too much his fault. I think the whole incompetency thing stems back to the cycling culture we have here – training is a smash fest that you squeeze in at maximum speed before work. In other parts of the world, where sports have seasons, and there is actually a less frantic season, where riders spend time together learning to ride as a team. That is a tight coherent bunch that does not occupy the whole road. I think there is a great need in Brisbane for experienced cyclists and clubs alike to start pulling their fingers out and encouraging appropriate riding, rather than ‘smash fests’. It would probably solve whole heap of accidents, not to mention limit road rage, and reduce overtraining injuries. Just a thought…

'Pro' camera labs

This week I have had the pleasure of shooting my very first 5x4” shots – naturally that meant getting them developed as soon as possible of course. So a trip back to one of Brisbane’s pro labs was in order. Now 5x4 is pretty advanced stuff in this day and age – the cameras have no automation whatsoever, and the user generally loads the negatives themselves. That would tend to imply the use has to know what they are shooting!
Well it wasn’t good enough for the people at the pro lab. First I was asked if they were colour. Then I was asked a second time to confirm that they were black and white – madness – yet the woman didn’t seem to care what film it was at all – and of course every black and white film requires a different developing time.
So next, simply out of curiosity I enquired about which developer the labs use. Of course the woman had no clue and it must have caused her the greatest inconvenience to ask the lab tech.

It was kind of surprising to find out that the lab uses Kodak HC110 for everything. Now I can see why, looking at some of the push processed films I have had done at this lab that they are really much grainier than they could be if using specific speed increasing chemistry. Want an example? Well here it is. Home developed HP5 @ISO 1600 using Ilford Microphen (shot in Briabane), compared with lab developed HP5@ 800 (Top of Alpe d'Huez). Click for full size!

Kuripla Bridge, Brisbane

Lifts, Alpe D'Huez - summer

I know it is not an entirely accurate comparison, since they are at different speeds on different days, but I think the film shot in Brisbane is clearly the winner, with less grain, and more shadow / highlight detail than the shot at Alpe d’Huez. I guess it is also accentuated by the fact that the light in Brisbane has a larger brightness range– meaning more problems with shadow and highlight details with push processing. At the end of the day I think , given the general vibe of the situation, id rather be using the correct chemistry for the correct situation.

So the question I pose is this. Why, when you can buy a full 5 L of any Kodak developer, capable of developing up to 50 films for between $8 and $15 would you insist on using one developer for all films? Even if you only developed 2-3 films per 5L, you would still be ahead at the kind of prices these places charge. Clearly each film or situation has its own suitable developer – and particularly when your lab advertises services such as push and pull processing - you need to have some different chemisty on hand to do this to a ‘pro’ standard.

The solution I propose to all the students this so called ‘pro lab’ is targeting is this – spend a couple of bucks getting developing equipment – it will pay for itself soon enough, you can have specialized chemistry, and you don’t have to deal with people who clearly hate their job and know squat about it.

Rogue Cylcists

Right im going to dedicate this one to Brisbane’s Courier Mail. It seems the Courier has been on a bit of a cycling smear campaign of late with a series of articles, highlighting the latest string of the ever-present war of cars vs. cyclists in this city. This inflammatory journalism takes aim at ‘rogue cyclists’ who are ‘out of control’. Apparently, according to the article’s author, the articles came as a response to police pressure to raise road awareness, but end up toting one key line – cyclists should get registered.

A bit of background; Brisbane is already a fairly intolerant place as far as cycling is concerned (and many other things too!), where as a cyclist I have already experienced being run off the road “because you don’t pay registration!”. Articles such as these do everything to reinforce this and fuel motorists’ rage. But lets take 2 steps back here. Why is there even a discussion on bike registration and cyclists apparently flouting the law?

The arguments presented in these articles are those that cyclists are flouting laws by running red lights, and riding 2 abrest (for which the latter is legal!), and not wearing helmets. Result? Registration must be introduced to curb these problems, not to mention fund road building!

Its pretty obvious that the facts used in these sorties are rather dubious, so I wont spend too long chewing on that. the first article states that “85% of RACQ’s 1.2 million members thinking that cyclists are a danger”. If that was the case, myself and quite a few of my cycling buddies would love to see the survey that we would have had to complete as part of that 1.2 million! But if that isn’t enough they quote similar figures from insurer AAMI in their on Monday – again no actual reference to the survey. Further to not providing a skerrick of evidence there, they attempted to outline road rules for cyclists in their Sunday article – well one could call it that had it come from Queensland transport, but clearly if you were to actually read the rules, the rule that you must ‘ride in single file’ is about as worthwhile as the rest of the article – yet it is left as fact in the angry motorists mind. Well while they did get the facts wrong their, it is interesting at least to see that their online poll goes massively against their own ‘facts’

Next in the line of misguided information the article attempts to describe the ‘nuissance’ that cyclists are; a staggering 168 cyclists were caught running red lights in 2009. Ok but lets put that in perspective. Department of transport figures show 35,5000 motorists caught doing the same. Put facts in perspective people!
So essentially the Courier Mail’s wants to push for cyclist registration to make riders more accountable for offences, and also suggest that riders ‘pay for what they use’ . Lets see if this is a valid claim. Where does the money come from that funds our roads the misinformed public crys? Well vehicle registration! - lets do the numbers shall we?

Firstly lets look at the impact a cyclist has on the road. 80 kg or so of bike +rider on 2.3 cm tyres hardly packs a dent in bitumen compared with a 1.5 tonne + car – which is significantly more if they are used for the same number of distance. But wait, in a city such as this the daily number of Km ridden on bikes would pail into insignificance where the public is focused madly on driving all across town. So clearly bicycle traffic does not place significant wear on our roadways, and even if it did, how many cyclists own cars, pay registration and use their bicycles in lieu of their cars? Interestingly though - both these arguments are completely useless given that roads are taxpayer funded – registration is merely collected and polled with other taxes – of which income tax pays the largest portion in road funding.

So if cyclists were to pay rego, lets look at how rego should charged then – just for the hell of it. In Queensland and most Australian states Rego is charged by GVM, - so a 10kg bike should be registered for roughly .05-1% of the rego price for the average car. Perhaps if your feeling more zealous we could consider the case where in more advanced places than Queensland vehicle registration s charged based on tailpipe emissions – a clear win for the bike there with zero CO2.

So I think that takes care of the ‘user pays’ side of the registering bikes argument - but what about cyclist identification. Sure rego can be handy in tracking down traffic offenders, such as those god awful red light louts. But really Who cares Australia!! Do you care if a tree falls in a distant forest? No. If a cyclists wants to run a red light - let them –does it affect you directly as a motorist – aside from pissing you off that a cyclist can do it? No. Yes there are laws against it – but here is a novel idea - don’t waste your precious time worrying – let the police deal with it (they sure do manage ok without rego, even overzealously from personal experience). And why not let the cyclist suffer the consequences if they crash? It never ceases to amaze me why we as Australians worry so much about things that have no direct influence and make it our own problem. How about we look after our own backyards hey?

So another one for those who think cyclists need to be held accountable for offences – I propose this question - what possible damage a cyclist can inflict on a motor vehicle that is significantly greater than that of a pedestrian? Do skateboarders require licences too? Is it a legal requirement then that pedestrians carry ID so they can be identified if they are involved in a traffic incident? Well Australia has already answered the question on ID, and the answer was overwhelming – we don’t want national ID. And who is honestly going to give licenses and registration to children to ride to the park?

Then comes the argument – if cyclists aren’t registered they will continue to ride recklessly and are more likely to crash – and when they crash they will be asking for government dollars for rehab. But lets be a bit positive here - how much is a cyclist already saving the public – one less person who will be suffering the ailments of obesity, alcoholism and other manner of lifestyle diseases that are plaguing our health system

So registration is clearly of little use, and would be a nightmare to introduce without national identity, but how do we deal with all the ‘congestion’ that Courier Mail readers clearly believe cyclists cause? The argument presented is that cyclists hold up commuters on their way to work. Excuse me – you still drive to work in the city? And complain that cyclists hold you up for 20 something seconds on your entire journey, not the masses of other idiots living the suburban dream, doing the same (usually with only one person in the car), and who are also stupid enough to drive at the same time and clog the roads?

Then what about those same people who are against cyclists not queuing in traffic? Why would any cyclist in their right mind ever want to sit behind a queue of cars in the city, when they can roll past with no problems, just like a motorbike does? Oh but the poor car driver has to pass them again, moving just a little, this little inconvenience causes all the trouble it would seem. But that’s not all – cyclists also clog transit lanes ‘unlawfully’. Hang on a tick – a cyclist is actually allowed to do this, and what do you propose they do otherwise – ride suicidally in the middle lane then? And even if they are in the left transit lane – how much of a pain are they when you compare them to cars that are legally parked in similar lanes on a 4 lane arterial road? Surely a non-moving car is a bigger problem than a slow small cyclist, but no way would they ever cop so much flack!

I guess that brings me nicely to the one thing that never ceases to amaze me about Brisbane’s motoring public -it’s stunning ability to switch from being a pack of super spatially challenged Neanderthals behind the wheel when parking, to someone who is capable of passing within millimetres of a cyclists handlebars, generally when a whole extra lane is available! You know what I mean, when you see someone trying to parallel park by driving front in, takes 5 attempts and thinks they are legally parked with a meter between the car and curb? And they have the hide to criticise cyclists and suggest driver education – take a look in your own backyard folks!

Another point the paper managed to cover a few weeks before the all out assault was the issue of cyclists flouting the other laws of helmets, and lights, as well as general road worthiness of bikes. I think at this point it is important to differentiate between the demographics of users. I think it is highly improbable that you will ever see a serious cyclist riding an unsafe bike without a helmet, or lights when necessary - the most likely demographic to be flouting these laws is the factory worker who has lost his licence DUI. And while we are at it, back to the argument of keeping it in your own backyard – who cares if a cyclist is wearing a helmet or not? No other country imposes such a ridiculous law on its citizens apart from America for Under 15’s. However, I personally will always wear one in Australia, as Aussies are such disrespectful neanderthals behind the wheel. Now to the roadworthy thing. If bikes were to be roadworthied – how about stepping things up a little with cars too hey? Queensland has perhaps one of the slackest roadworthy schedule in the developed world – necessary only when the vehicle changes hands

So at the end of the day, what does the Courier Mail reading motorist propose to get the cyclist off ‘their roads’? Cycleways. Why not, their tax payer dollars have gone into them, all 500 km (apparently) of them in Brisbane, that’s plenty right? (funny how its their money for cycleways and it needs to be a cyclists for roads).Lets have a look at how these are used. Firstly they receive very little use from the fast guys – the genuine ‘lycra set’ – why? Because 35 km hr+ necessary for effective training just isn’t safe there for all other users such as pedestrians and commuters. Next, of the “network” that exists in Brisbane how much of it is merely a 100m green lane just painted either side of a set of lights? Not exactly bankrupting to lay a few more lines when the road is being painted is it? but it does add a lot to the “number of km’s of bikeway count”. Lastly, how expensive is a bikeway network in comparison to the billions on all the vehicular projects underway? Not significant I bet.

Well that’s a long winded argument – and hopefully a little more insightful than the courier mail.

French Uni, what the hell is that ?

Well first of all one should know that it is divided in different sectors, the public, the private and the more or less public/private ones. As expected, the more money is invested in your education, the better its going to be. I’m not going to talk about the private universities , as they function pretty well ( But let’s not forget that that means a good education only for the wealthy or the “lucky in misfortune” who can get scholarships).
For the rest, which is the most of us, university rhymes with disorder. Everything starts around June when one should choose his degree and register. Usually first years have to pay in July straight after their high school studies have wraped up; The university gives them an appointment on a large timetable during the summer break; you had better be there – don’t even dream of a holiday in the south to celebrate the end of school! For those who miss the boat they can sign-on in September, but it is guaranteed to be a mess. You will have to queue with second and third year students, and your mere presence will annoy everyone. If you come armed with a credit card, you will be refused in most universities - Cheques only! Sorry. Two years ago my university introduced payment by credit card, guess what? Half of the payments did not work and students had to come back, queue for 2 hours, then pay by cheque!

But how much should you pay for your education in such a public system? For a degree you can expect from 150 to 200 euros per year, which is a rip off and anyway, since you will most likely never be in class due to a strike. To any degree, you must also add the cost of compulsory health: 300 euros. So Uni for free ? That’s a bit of a myth - it would be only for the “boursiers”, the ones that get scholarships according to severe criteria.

Now let’s get back to the university’s system and more especially to bureaucracy; a Scary word in every language; especially French. The “Administration” with a capital A, is part of the French world, present in every public service, you always have to deal with the same dumb woman that will send you to another department because her coffee/smoke break isn’t finished yet or because she is busy as hell….drinking coffee/smoking. Well not surprising really; all those people are recruited having passed an entrance exam or “concours” that gives you a job for life – a sacred cow! Very reassuring for all those people to know they can’t be dismissed. Laziness settles as a slogan in those offices where documents wait for someone’s attention. As a consequence do not expect your degree for at least a year after you finished your course, wait and queue to change timetables, exam marks, and be ready to have the door shut in your face if by mistake you knock on the door at 11.50am when it is said to close at 12. Oh, and do not forget it is only open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 10 am to 12am and 2pm to 4pm, it will avoid you some useless trips to uni…

Next, not only does your university bureaucracy want to put you to death but your teachers too…Good times!

As a post script, I don’t mean to promote anything to do with a well renowned social networking website, but it just so happens that it has a very accurat group about this said topic : “L'administration de ma fac n'est qu'un vaste complot visant à m'éliminer” which could be translated by “my university bureaucracy is only a large plot in order to eliminate me”.

The small things in life - At last!

Well since this blog is apparently about the small things in life, I think its probably about time I started writing about them. One of my personal small joys is that of number plate spotting – pretty useless in a place like Australia or America , where each state has a different colour and slogan proudly declaring the vehicles origin. Euros do things a little differently with the use of coded number plates – where some of the letters and numbers refer to the vehicles age and region where it was registered – fortunately this also means a big no no to silly custom personalized number plates – which often proudly declare the drivers initials and birth date in Australia. To get back to the topic, I have always taken joy whilst travelling in Europe and recognising a foreign cars location when it is some 500 km from home, and today it happened again. Strangely though im back in Australia and it was a British number plate on the riverside expressway in Brisbane, but it wasn’t any UK number plate, but one registered in Nottinghamshire – my home for a year not so long ago. Oh and the fact it was on a Ferrari was completely irrelevant!