London Tour de Danger attracts hundreds of riders

We were about to embark at Dover, when (Bertie Wooster)
came up to me and whispered:

This is a tired argument:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4767522.stm

The BBC - the bastion of neutrality and fact (sic)

--
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Wasting Bandwidth since 1981
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please sign this http://bit.ly/sKkzEx

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On Sat, 19 Nov 2011 14:02:55 +0000, JNugent
wrote:

On 19/11/2011 13:58, Bertie Wooster wrote:

lid (Paul Cummins) wrote:

We were about to embark at Dover, when (Bertie Wooster)
came up to me and whispered:

Summer is 22 June to 21 September

Then how is 21 June "Mid-Summers Day"?
Your dates have no basis in fact.

This is a tired argument:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4767522.stm

It isn't up to the Metorological Office (for all their scientific gravitas)
to re-define that which would have been self-evident to Chaucer or Shakespeare.

No, I am not sure it is up to the Met Office to redefine the seasons.

Using the autumnal equinox and vernal equinox to define the start of
autumn and the start of spring respecively makes good sense.

Yes, I can see good reasons for a six or seven week shift in the start
and end of each season, but, there is about a 6 week lag in the Earth
heating up and cooling down at the start of summer and the start of
winter: 22 November to 21 December is generally warmer than 22
December to 21 January; 22 May to 21 June is generally cooler than 22
June to 21 July.
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/...greenwich.html

The mistake lies in assuming that the four seasons are necessarily exactly
the same in length. The seasons are subjective concepts and they certainly do
not need all to be 13 weeks long.

The term "midsummer" did not come about for nothing.

Indeed. If only two seasons are counted, summer begins on 22 March and
ends on 21 September; winter begins on 22 September and ends on 21
March.

On 19/11/2011 16:19, Bertie Wooster wrote:
On Sat, 19 Nov 2011 14:02:55 +0000,
wrote:

On 19/11/2011 13:58, Bertie Wooster wrote:

lid (Paul Cummins) wrote:

We were about to embark at Dover, when (Bertie Wooster)
came up to me and whispered:

Summer is 22 June to 21 September

Then how is 21 June "Mid-Summers Day"?
Your dates have no basis in fact.

This is a tired argument:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4767522.stm

It isn't up to the Metorological Office (for all their scientific gravitas)
to re-define that which would have been self-evident to Chaucer or Shakespeare.

No, I am not sure it is up to the Met Office to redefine the seasons.
Using the autumnal equinox and vernal equinox to define the start of
autumn and the start of spring respecively makes good sense.

It would if those astronomical events made an immediate fifference to the
weather. But they don't.

Yes, I can see good reasons for a six or seven week shift in the start
and end of each season, but, there is about a 6 week lag in the Earth
heating up and cooling down at the start of summer and the start of
winter: 22 November to 21 December is generally warmer than 22
December to 21 January; 22 May to 21 June is generally cooler than 22
June to 21 July.
http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/...greenwich.html

I think you're right there. It's about the climate as experienced; you don't
look in an almanac to see what the weather's like.

The mistake lies in assuming that the four seasons are necessarily exactly
the same in length. The seasons are subjective concepts and they certainly do
not need all to be 13 weeks long.
The term "midsummer" did not come about for nothing.

Indeed. If only two seasons are counted, summer begins on 22 March and
ends on 21 September; winter begins on 22 September and ends on 21
March.

Er... quite.

Of course, the seasons do not start and finish at the same time every year
and neither are they all the same length as each other.

We simply give ourselves problems if we expect them to do so and be so.

On Nov 19, 4:19*pm, Bertie Wooster wrote:


Indeed. If only two seasons are counted, summer begins on 22 March and
ends on 21 September; winter begins on 22 September and ends on 21
March.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

It is still 14C here, one month from the shortest day and we enjoyed a
morning at the beach today :-)
What winter?

http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/beach.htm

--
Simon Mason

On Mon, 21 Nov 2011 07:50:36 -0800 (PST), Simon Mason
wrote:

On Nov 19, 4:19*pm, Bertie Wooster wrote:


Indeed. If only two seasons are counted, summer begins on 22 March and
ends on 21 September; winter begins on 22 September and ends on 21
March.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

It is still 14C here, one month from the shortest day and we enjoyed a
morning at the beach today :-)
What winter?

http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/beach.htm

Thick fog in London yesterday meant the Woolwich Ferry wasn't running.
With the highway under the Thames at Woolwich closed, and restricted
access to the highway under the Thames at Greenwich, that meant a 14
mile detour to Tower Bridge for any cyclist unable to carry their bike
down 96 narrow steps.

On Mon, 21 Nov 2011 07:50:36 -0800 (PST), Simon Mason
wrote:

On Nov 19, 4:19*pm, Bertie Wooster wrote:


Indeed. If only two seasons are counted, summer begins on 22 March and
ends on 21 September; winter begins on 22 September and ends on 21
March.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

It is still 14C here, one month from the shortest day and we enjoyed a
morning at the beach today :-)
What winter?

http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/beach.htm


twice

On 21/11/2011 17:47, Bertie Wooster wrote:
On Mon, 21 Nov 2011 07:50:36 -0800 (PST), Simon Mason
wrote:

On Nov 19, 4:19 pm, Bertie wrote:


Indeed. If only two seasons are counted, summer begins on 22 March and
ends on 21 September; winter begins on 22 September and ends on 21
March.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

It is still 14C here, one month from the shortest day and we enjoyed a
morning at the beach today :-)
What winter?

http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/beach.htm

Thick fog in London yesterday meant the Woolwich Ferry wasn't running.
With the highway under the Thames at Woolwich closed, and restricted
access to the highway under the Thames at Greenwich, that meant a 14
mile detour to Tower Bridge for any cyclist unable to carry their bike
down 96 narrow steps.

ROFLMAO!


--
Dave - Cyclists VOR. "Many people barely recognise the bicycle as a
legitimate mode of transport; it is either a toy for children or a
vehicle fit only for the poor and/or strange," Dave Horton - Lancaster
University

On 21/11/2011 18:50, Dave - Cyclists VOR wrote:
On 21/11/2011 17:47, Bertie Wooster wrote:
On Mon, 21 Nov 2011 07:50:36 -0800 (PST), Simon Mason
wrote:

On Nov 19, 4:19 pm, Bertie wrote:


Indeed. If only two seasons are counted, summer begins on 22 March and
ends on 21 September; winter begins on 22 September and ends on 21
March.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

It is still 14C here, one month from the shortest day and we enjoyed a
morning at the beach today :-)
What winter?

http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/beach.htm

Thick fog in London yesterday meant the Woolwich Ferry wasn't running.
With the highway under the Thames at Woolwich closed, and restricted
access to the highway under the Thames at Greenwich, that meant a 14
mile detour to Tower Bridge for any cyclist unable to carry their bike
down 96 narrow steps.

ROFLMAO!

I have an idea that this has come up before, but is it *really* seven miles
from the Cutty Sark to Tower Bridge?

It's only five miles from Charing Cross to Deptford (and that, intuitively,
feels further).

Let's check...

Google Maps

No... as I thought... 3.6m from the Cutty Sark (the southerly access to the
Greenwich Foot Tunnel) to the southerly end of Tower Bridge.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?saddr=Tower+Bridge+Rd%2FA100&daddr=Greenwich+ Church+St&hl=en&sll=51.479646,-0.004377&sspn=0.009154,0.022724&geocode=FUrdEQMdit H-_w%3BFeqNEQMdvtj__w&vpsrc=0&mra=dme&mrsp=1&sz=16&t =m&z=16

Let's just adjust the start and end to halfway across the river at either end...

No... that only makes it 3.9m each way (7.8m as a total "detour") - and even
that is via A200, which can be improved upon (for shortness and directness)
by a man on a bicycle. So fourteen miles has already been reduced to 7.8m,
with scope for even more reduction. Yes, we know that you originally referred
to Woolwich, but the 96 Steps (good title for a novel) are at the Cutty Sark
(Greenwich).

Bertie Wooster wrote:
On Mon, 21 Nov 2011 07:50:36 -0800 (PST), Simon Mason
wrote:

On Nov 19, 4:19 pm, Bertie Wooster wrote:


Indeed. If only two seasons are counted, summer begins on 22 March
and ends on 21 September; winter begins on 22 September and ends on
21 March.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

It is still 14C here, one month from the shortest day and we enjoyed
a morning at the beach today :-)
What winter?

http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/beach.htm

Thick fog in London yesterday meant the Woolwich Ferry wasn't running.
With the highway under the Thames at Woolwich closed, and restricted
access to the highway under the Thames at Greenwich, that meant a 14
mile detour to Tower Bridge for any cyclist unable to carry their bike
down 96 narrow steps.

So not such a wonderful method of transport then? I shot through the
Blackwall with no delay at all (first time going south without a delay for
quite a while.) But what the hell are they doing to the north bound
entrance? they have created an accident causing spot: the road is three
lanes on approach, the left one goes around an island and swings straight
into lane 2 with no give way markings.

On 21/11/2011 19:29, Mrcheerful wrote:
Bertie Wooster wrote:
On Mon, 21 Nov 2011 07:50:36 -0800 (PST), Simon Mason
wrote:

On Nov 19, 4:19 pm, Bertie wrote:


Indeed. If only two seasons are counted, summer begins on 22 March
and ends on 21 September; winter begins on 22 September and ends on
21 March.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

It is still 14C here, one month from the shortest day and we enjoyed
a morning at the beach today :-)
What winter?

http://www.simonmason.karoo.net/beach.htm

Thick fog in London yesterday meant the Woolwich Ferry wasn't running.
With the highway under the Thames at Woolwich closed, and restricted
access to the highway under the Thames at Greenwich, that meant a 14
mile detour to Tower Bridge for any cyclist unable to carry their bike
down 96 narrow steps.

So not such a wonderful method of transport then? I shot through the
Blackwall with no delay at all (first time going south without a delay for
quite a while.) But what the hell are they doing to the north bound
entrance? they have created an accident causing spot: the road is three
lanes on approach, the left one goes around an island and swings straight
into lane 2 with no give way markings.

Saw that a week on a return journey or so ago. The signage says "merge in
turn", doesn't it?