The gradual escalation of hostilities between the Christmas shopping lemmings and cyclists. Actually, it's not just cyclists, it's anybody who gets in the way of a motorist and his stress-inducing entourage of shopping-mad wife and demanding kids on their way to the "winter wonderland" that any town or city must have these days.
It makes returning into the city from a Saturday morning ride, or even around lunchtime on a Sunday feel like a dangerous escapade. It's barely there when it starts off (Christmas lights were switched on this week) but the tension just ramps up week by week. The last couple of weeks before Christmas are a nightmare, then bang - first week in January, it's gone!
