Compliments

In contrast to my previous post, I thought I’d post about some of my more pleasant recent experiences whilst out and about on the DL-1. After my appointment with the Rozzers this morning, I went into town to continue my search for a pair of nice wool gloves. When I returned to my bike I bumped into a lady I had met at Critical Mass some months back. I recognised her bike and asked if I had seen her at CM and she complimented my bike and asked if I was the person who wrote this blog.

Later on I overtook a man on a mountain bike. He caught me at the next set of lights and proceeded to ask about and pay compliments to the DL-1. He said he used to work in The Netherlands and remembers seeing similar bikes there.

Over Xmas whilst I was travelling to Rochdale on the canal, an man walking his dog seemed very pleased to see an old-looking asked me if the bike had previously belonged to my grandfather. He seemed surprised when I told him the bike was less than 2 years old (it was pretty filthy at the time).

When I got off the bike and pushed it along the pavement once outside a church on Oxford Road, I was approached by one of the punters who remembered the days when bicycles like the DL-1 were a common sight in this country. He told me about the very similar bike he once owned.

On several occasions I have been engaged in conversation about the DL-1 by train guards whilst transporting the bike on the train, many of whom remember similar bikes from their youths.

This is one of the best parts of cycling, you don’t interact with people and your surroundings in the same way in a car. These are the kind of experiences which give me hope for the cause of taking back and re-humanising our streets.