Thursday, April 21, 2005

The end of oil is closer than you think

More oil Depletion news in the Guardian
Is it me or do you think there has been an increase in this type of article in the press over the last year. Me thinks they've realised we have a problem.

Thursday, April 14, 2005


The Long Emergency
Posted by Dave

The Long Emergency

I found a link to this article The Long Emergency on another web site (sorry cant remember where now). I've read a few articles on the depletion of oil reserves, most of them fairly long winded, but I liked this one - it was short and to the point i.e. Oil is running out and there isnt really an alternative.
I did the juggling show at a vintage car rally at the folk and transport museum last weekend. Since when is a Ford Escort Mark 3 a vintage car? And why do the enthusiasts spend so much time polishing their engines - sounds like a double entendre.
They take it all so seriously aswell, you can imagine todays boy racers (if they survive long enough) looking at their Corsas with a nostalgic glint in their eye in 20 years time - only then it will be more poignant for them as there wont be any cars on the roads (with a bit of luck) they'll all be in museums or being melted down for bike parts:)

Thursday, April 07, 2005

Ouch!

I fell off my bike yesterday. The wheel rim split, jammed in to the break and threw me over the handlebars. Luckily all I suffered was a couple of scrapes but I’m going to have to wait till the weekend to sort the bike out.
I’m not the best at cycle maintenance, but I can’t see how I could of prevented this from happening? You can feel when your breaks are wareing down, you can see when your tyres are going bald, but I wouldn’t know where to start checking my rims. The back wheel was replaced last year but the front one was as old as the bike – about 7 years. Maybe you should get new wheels every five years or something.
Anyway, I think I need a spare bike for times like this. I’m tempted by the Edinburgh Bicycle coop’s Revolution Courier ( http://www.edinburgh-bicycle.co.uk/catalogue/detail.cfm?ID=20817) – widely regarded to be the best value for the mid £200-£300 area. Then I could do up the racer and use it more for fun and less for commuting. Lidl’s have got cheap cycling gear in at the moment so I got some mits, shorts, jersey and jacket – not the height of fashion, but on my budget at the moment beggars cant be choosers so it’ll do nicely.

Tuesday, April 05, 2005


Check out some nice bike movies at http://WWW.zed.cbc.ca/go?CONTENT_ID=228341&c=contentPage
Posted by Dave

Sunday, April 03, 2005


Chavs, dont you love em
Posted by Dave

Boy Racers

I don't know what they call them where you live, it's boy racers over here. Now I consider myself to be quite a calm, laid back, don't want any trouble, anything for an easy life type of person but boy racers really piss me off.
Halfords were opening a new store in Lisburn today, and my friend Mr Wizzy was stilt walking for the opening so I popped over with the kids to have a word. Halfords have their own brand of Chav car accessories called ripspeed and the ripspeed girls were there for the assembled boy racers to oggle at.
I don't know what it is that annoys me the most about boy racers - the speeding, the loud exhausts, the parking in the disabled spot at the local vivo, or the dropping of McDonalds wrappers out of the window.
To be honest I think its just the act of "cruisin" that annoys me the most. While I'm taking care to reduce my family's car use to a minimum, they're driving around just for the hell of it. I'd hardly call 20 nightly trips around the town centre an essential journey.
Then everyone acts all surprised when one of them wraps a car round a tree. Three lads from the local college were killed last year when they took their corsa out for a spin at lunchtime. Our local councilor (who's a bit of a car lover himself) said we shouldn't jump to conclusions about the accident, but I'm sorry if you managed to kill all of your passengers on a straight country road with no other cars involved, It doesn't take a genius to work out that you were probably speeding.
I went in to Halfords anyway to look at the bikes, but didn't buy anything because I didn't want to indirectly support the "cruisin" scene, plus their bikes are crap. I think its better to support your local bike shop anyway. I use LifeCycles in Belfast http://www.lifecycles.co.uk/