Well, here in the badlands of south-east London, cycling is a bit left field. Most people around here tend to fall into the aspirational category, where the aim is to demonstrate your status and stunning life success with the biggest, baddest, most bling car you can borrow the cash for. My neighbours would eat their own children rather than trade their gleaming X5s for a bike.
Cyclists here fall into two broad categories - choosers, like myself, who cycle out of a choice rather than necessity, and those that don't have the choice, which tends to be the behooded yoof, the immigrants etc., who have bought a £5 BSO down the pub / market etc. and have little option other than to painfully squeak along the pavements. Not for them the tight caress of Madam Lycra, and the nocturnal pleasures of a couple of functioning lights. Choosers, needless to say, tend to be the nicely middle class folks, who pay their taxes, religiously recycle, and occasionally tut loudly. It's one of the oddities of the capital, that the posher an area is, the more 'proper' cyclists you get. It's a strong confounding factor when contemplating the improvements of getting more people cycling.
That said, when I stand by a nearby road junction waiting to cross, having to twist my head 320 degrees to try and take in the entire gamut of speeding and non-indicating traffic before I have to temerity to risk life and limb and step out into the road, I can't help but think how grim our obsession with the car has become. By way of contrast, I was crossing Tottenham Court Rd yesterday evening and a lady cycled by me with her two children in the front. It was dark and wet, but all three where grinning and evidently enjoying their progress. Such a contrast with the surrounding traffic. It made me smile too.
