Sunday, November 30, 2003

Hello world! Ah it feels like I've been relieved of a huge burden and can finally breathe easily again (like getting treated for pulmonary oedema..gotta love those diuretics). And you might wonder, what is the happy occasion? I would then answer: The holidays are here! Seriously, I don't think I've welcomed a break from studying, as much as I do now, ever since primary school or something. Phew.

All right, I shall not bore with miserable metaphors and unceasing sighs of relief. After all, it seems that CAs have been appearing in too many of my previous entries and are getting to be quite a nuisance.

First, I think maybe a reply to CG's well-worded comments to my last entry are in order, with much appreciation for the time taken to post them. I do agree with most of the points put forth, and perhaps agree that I have been guilty of more than a few unfair generalisations of cyclists. After all, my point of view could hardly be called objective, my ability to cycle being a few decimal points above zero (and I must thank hope for that few decimal points too), thus my intepretation of the cyclists' mentalities might be a little skewed.

I must say that yes, many of the local cyclists are indeed geriatric, but having seen them cycle serenely along the roads like they're in some idyllic countryside (and look like they might burst into song), one cannot help but fear for their safety. The greatest threat to their well-being, I believe, are the buses. After all, buses have to stop periodically and run quite close to the kerb, thus narrowing the room that the cyclist already has. At times the bus is forced to chug along slowly behind the coasting bicycle, the bus driver fearful of injuring the hapless cyclist. Many other times, though, one can observe that the great majority of bus drivers (especially the older and more experienced ones) have remarkably little tolerance of the senior citizens on two wheels. Being a bus passenger myself, I have seen many instances of bus drivers honking their horns or recklessly overtaking the cyclists without batting an eyelid. In fact, they often glare at the offending cyclist.

It is indeed commendable that motorists in Britain give way graciously to cyclists, but I fear that the local situation is hardly as heartening. Locals really need to learn some graciousness and courtesy, which is not something that can be done easily with simple posters and commercials or some absurd lion. As long as a minority continue to be self-centred they will most certainly push the courteous majority towards anger and retaliation. We are after all imperfect beings, not lions.

Back to the main subject. The thing is, if the geriatric cyclists want to risk their safety and pedal happily (though I don't see how one can be happy looking at the rudeness of local motorists) along the roads, that's fine with me. The same actually goes for the foreign cyclists i.e. the foreign workers that come from China, India and Bangladesh who cycle with rather indifferent attitudes towards the road hazards they're creating. After all, from where they come from traffic anarchy is as common as cyclists, and they might thus be inclined to believe that as long as they don't get hit by vehicles they are quite free to execute some rather dangerous maneuvres on the road. Have you ever seen throngs of Indians zipping across the road along Little India on weekends? Frightening.

No, let the motorists bother about these cyclists. What irks me as a pedestrian are those teenagers who think that the pedestrian walkway is a much better platform for stunt-performing than any of those parks out there that are designed for that same purpose. It really irritates me when these reckless teenagers speed past on their flashy bikes going ring-a-ding-a-ling and hooting like some evolutionarily upgraded chimpanzees (evolutionary upgrades in this case referring to most other changes in appearance but not any difference in basic intellect) one after another in an unending chain of personified idiocy, more often than not interspersed with the odd skateboarder or rollerblader. Rather predictably, most of these nutcases are of the malay population. Need I say more? Honestly, no one can do more than mutter angrily under one's breath for fear of incurring the wrath of these punks, who undoubtedly have strength in both numbers and weaponry (ever thought of a bicycle as a weapon? What will you use against bicycles and skateboards? Your umbrella?). And we have to put up with this because our noble government wants to cultivate "freedom of expression". Thank goodness that such incidents don't happen frequently. Still, one is enough to spoil your day quite thoroughly.

Enough on bicycles. I think I'm getting a bit worked up, and I hardly want to end up with Indians, Malays, PRCs and the PAP on my case. I think this shall be all for today. I actually wanted to comment on some aspects of public transport, but the inspiration just won't come. Oh, well.

Avaris / 11/30/2003 01:44:00 PM

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