Height: 180 cm, 88 kg, eyes: brown, hair: unknown.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Cyclists in Japan; a thin line between love and hate
I just don't get it - in fact, it's so annoying, all you can do is blog. You cycle to the shops, park up, lock up, come back 10 minutes later and your goddamn bike has disappeared. Only it hasn't; some busybody has moved it 5 yards away. I realise I may not be the best bike parker in the world but I do sometimes wish they'd just leave it the hell alone. It's not like I parked it in the middle of the street.
The local gym has a parking space for bikes - only you can't use it till 9 a.m., which is odd cause the gym opens at 6. So, between 6-9 there's a guy stood there not letting people park in a bit of free space that isn't hurting anyone. Pointless? I think so.
I sometimes park up opposite the train station midweek when I'm in a rush - there's lots of space and lots of bikes around - none of which are blocking the pavement, none of which are dirtying up the environment. Just a bunch of people who cycled part of the way to work to save time/money. All the bikes, when I returned, had these "You are evil - please remove this bike" label attached. They're not joking either. A day later, I noticed a truck being loaded up with unclaimed bikes. Honestly. why don't they just calm the fuck down, leave the bikes alone and go pick on some polluting trucks or speeding motorcyclists; Tokyo is full of them. But no, they pick on the cyclists, which for me smacks of misguided meanness of the silliest kind.
The local gym has a parking space for bikes - only you can't use it till 9 a.m., which is odd cause the gym opens at 6. So, between 6-9 there's a guy stood there not letting people park in a bit of free space that isn't hurting anyone. Pointless? I think so.
I sometimes park up opposite the train station midweek when I'm in a rush - there's lots of space and lots of bikes around - none of which are blocking the pavement, none of which are dirtying up the environment. Just a bunch of people who cycled part of the way to work to save time/money. All the bikes, when I returned, had these "You are evil - please remove this bike" label attached. They're not joking either. A day later, I noticed a truck being loaded up with unclaimed bikes. Honestly. why don't they just calm the fuck down, leave the bikes alone and go pick on some polluting trucks or speeding motorcyclists; Tokyo is full of them. But no, they pick on the cyclists, which for me smacks of misguided meanness of the silliest kind.
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