@ericeatspickles.bsky.social
Cycling, active transport, sustainability
Editor/writer/law publisher, corporate communications
Ex-molecular biologist
Ex-genetic virologist
Editor/writer/law publisher, corporate communications
Ex-molecular biologist
Ex-genetic virologist
Thousands of winged ants have just swarmed out of my compost bin...
June 29, 2025 at 5:51 PM
Thousands of winged ants have just swarmed out of my compost bin...
#Wimbledon, will free water be available at this year’s Championships, which is likely to be held during a possible record heatwave, or will visitors have to face getting fleeced for Evian…?
June 28, 2025 at 3:12 PM
#Wimbledon, will free water be available at this year’s Championships, which is likely to be held during a possible record heatwave, or will visitors have to face getting fleeced for Evian…?
Escape-pea...
June 28, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Escape-pea...
What’s the future looking like for overweight kids - never-ending jabs?
It seems we’ll do anything to them apart from letting them live natural active lives...
It seems we’ll do anything to them apart from letting them live natural active lives...
June 23, 2025 at 11:16 AM
What’s the future looking like for overweight kids - never-ending jabs?
It seems we’ll do anything to them apart from letting them live natural active lives...
It seems we’ll do anything to them apart from letting them live natural active lives...
Another landmark of sorts...
June 14, 2025 at 11:30 AM
Another landmark of sorts...
Turned out it was Mick Jones (I had Sandinista! on cassette tape, been to some early punk gigs in mid 1970s London, but knew little of The Clash). There was a buzz at the party about the guitarist from Kajagoogoo possibly showing up.
He didn't.
He didn't.
June 11, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Turned out it was Mick Jones (I had Sandinista! on cassette tape, been to some early punk gigs in mid 1970s London, but knew little of The Clash). There was a buzz at the party about the guitarist from Kajagoogoo possibly showing up.
He didn't.
He didn't.
New in London in 1985 at a party in the garden of the apartment below mine, I chatted to another guest who, when he heard my accent, said he'd played Belfast.
Me "Really? What band?"
Him "You heard of The Clash...?"
One of those wishing the Earth would open & swallow me moments.
Me "Really? What band?"
Him "You heard of The Clash...?"
One of those wishing the Earth would open & swallow me moments.
June 11, 2025 at 12:23 PM
New in London in 1985 at a party in the garden of the apartment below mine, I chatted to another guest who, when he heard my accent, said he'd played Belfast.
Me "Really? What band?"
Him "You heard of The Clash...?"
One of those wishing the Earth would open & swallow me moments.
Me "Really? What band?"
Him "You heard of The Clash...?"
One of those wishing the Earth would open & swallow me moments.
Don’t say I didn’t warn y’all...
June 6, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Don’t say I didn’t warn y’all...
Get me to the match on time...
www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2...
www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2...
June 3, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Get me to the match on time...
www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2...
www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2...
The devastating impact of the congestion zone, hire bike scheme & protected bike lanes on average motor traffic speeds in London.
Won’t somebody think of the drivers...
Won’t somebody think of the drivers...
May 31, 2025 at 11:48 AM
The devastating impact of the congestion zone, hire bike scheme & protected bike lanes on average motor traffic speeds in London.
Won’t somebody think of the drivers...
Won’t somebody think of the drivers...
Greek salad for dinner yesterday evening. Looks like a lot of onions but they were the last thing I added before the herbs & olive oil (& I love onions!).
May 29, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Greek salad for dinner yesterday evening. Looks like a lot of onions but they were the last thing I added before the herbs & olive oil (& I love onions!).
“Road safety” messaging is insidious, low-level terrorism drip fed to kids in a constant process from an early age, robbing them of their freedom & independence.
If we'd make our roads safer instead everyone benefits, not just car companies.
If we'd make our roads safer instead everyone benefits, not just car companies.
May 19, 2025 at 9:47 PM
“Road safety” messaging is insidious, low-level terrorism drip fed to kids in a constant process from an early age, robbing them of their freedom & independence.
If we'd make our roads safer instead everyone benefits, not just car companies.
If we'd make our roads safer instead everyone benefits, not just car companies.
Many urban retail centres have been reduced to clusters of anonymous sheds marooned in isolated, soulless, windswept parking craters that you scurry across hoping to avoid distracted drivers looking for the exit. Public transport, if it exists, is very much an afterthought.
May 18, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Many urban retail centres have been reduced to clusters of anonymous sheds marooned in isolated, soulless, windswept parking craters that you scurry across hoping to avoid distracted drivers looking for the exit. Public transport, if it exists, is very much an afterthought.
Takeaways from a trip to Dunstable.
When towns prioritise cars, they not only make it difficult for drivers, forcing them to navigate impenetrable, meandering mazes with misleading, confusing or missing signage, but they make it virtually impossible for everyone *not* in a car.
When towns prioritise cars, they not only make it difficult for drivers, forcing them to navigate impenetrable, meandering mazes with misleading, confusing or missing signage, but they make it virtually impossible for everyone *not* in a car.
May 18, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Takeaways from a trip to Dunstable.
When towns prioritise cars, they not only make it difficult for drivers, forcing them to navigate impenetrable, meandering mazes with misleading, confusing or missing signage, but they make it virtually impossible for everyone *not* in a car.
When towns prioritise cars, they not only make it difficult for drivers, forcing them to navigate impenetrable, meandering mazes with misleading, confusing or missing signage, but they make it virtually impossible for everyone *not* in a car.
Just what is it with billionaires? All that money & they still can’t buy themselves good PR...
May 18, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Just what is it with billionaires? All that money & they still can’t buy themselves good PR...
This is how you create an "island of strangers", #UKLabour/#Keir_Starmer. Claim to be "on the side of drivers", enforce a culture of car dependency, ignore active travel & the benefits it brings the NHS, & sit back as community severance does the rest...
May 18, 2025 at 9:11 AM
This is how you create an "island of strangers", #UKLabour/#Keir_Starmer. Claim to be "on the side of drivers", enforce a culture of car dependency, ignore active travel & the benefits it brings the NHS, & sit back as community severance does the rest...
Unstable in Dunstable...
May 16, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Unstable in Dunstable...
After Sleepy Joe comes Dozy Donald...
May 7, 2025 at 4:52 PM
After Sleepy Joe comes Dozy Donald...
In direct contrast, however, over the past 10 or so years, London has become remarkably flatter, probably due in large part to soil erosion combined with more tectonic change, as well as major heavy mining activity, thus making cycling a much more feasible mode of transport around the city...
May 7, 2025 at 4:29 PM
In direct contrast, however, over the past 10 or so years, London has become remarkably flatter, probably due in large part to soil erosion combined with more tectonic change, as well as major heavy mining activity, thus making cycling a much more feasible mode of transport around the city...
The UK famously underwent a period of tectonic plate collision from the mid-1950s onward, leading to large scale movement of the Earth's crust, folding, faulting, igneous intrusion & the formation of mountains - all of which rendered cycling almost impossible in modern times...
May 7, 2025 at 4:06 PM
The UK famously underwent a period of tectonic plate collision from the mid-1950s onward, leading to large scale movement of the Earth's crust, folding, faulting, igneous intrusion & the formation of mountains - all of which rendered cycling almost impossible in modern times...
How 15-minute-city conspiracy theorists love spending their time...
May 7, 2025 at 12:40 PM
How 15-minute-city conspiracy theorists love spending their time...
This has huge repercussions for the UK's health, which @UKLabour accused the last government of ignoring. Cosying up to drivers feeds driver entitlement & resentment & exacerbates a range of health crises caused by car-dependent lifestyles, as well as road danger & air & noise pollution.
May 6, 2025 at 9:44 AM
This has huge repercussions for the UK's health, which @UKLabour accused the last government of ignoring. Cosying up to drivers feeds driver entitlement & resentment & exacerbates a range of health crises caused by car-dependent lifestyles, as well as road danger & air & noise pollution.
- the UK's child pedestrian safety record is worse than the European average
- children's independent mobility is increasingly curtailed, "fear of traffic" is the main cause & it's the same for the elderly
- distances walked have declined more than in other EU countries.
- children's independent mobility is increasingly curtailed, "fear of traffic" is the main cause & it's the same for the elderly
- distances walked have declined more than in other EU countries.
May 6, 2025 at 9:44 AM
- the UK's child pedestrian safety record is worse than the European average
- children's independent mobility is increasingly curtailed, "fear of traffic" is the main cause & it's the same for the elderly
- distances walked have declined more than in other EU countries.
- children's independent mobility is increasingly curtailed, "fear of traffic" is the main cause & it's the same for the elderly
- distances walked have declined more than in other EU countries.
In London, cycling is no longer a niche mode of transport. In just over 10 years it’s up there with tube & bus journeys, despite the fact it gets a tiny fraction of the funding lavished on public transport, & that funding began only recently.
May 6, 2025 at 9:44 AM
In London, cycling is no longer a niche mode of transport. In just over 10 years it’s up there with tube & bus journeys, despite the fact it gets a tiny fraction of the funding lavished on public transport, & that funding began only recently.
"Nobody wants to cycle."
They do when cycling gets sustained investment & safe space that protects people on bikes from drivers.
They do when cycling gets sustained investment & safe space that protects people on bikes from drivers.
May 6, 2025 at 9:44 AM
"Nobody wants to cycle."
They do when cycling gets sustained investment & safe space that protects people on bikes from drivers.
They do when cycling gets sustained investment & safe space that protects people on bikes from drivers.