Having tried out the Boris Bikes at the weekend, I ended up using them every day except Monday. The reason for trying a bike on Tuesday was because one of the girls at work had invited some of us to join her for a drink after work in celebration of her 'nothing in particular' birthday. The prospect of lugging my Brompton to the bar was not one that I relished, so Boris Bike came to the rescue; and it was so easy.
Much of the laughter of the week was provided by the barman. He was a very jolly Irish chap and came over to take our drinks order as we sat down, unfortunately he was so desperate to please that in his rush back to the bar he ran straight into a low cupboard, he assured us he was fine, but we all felt it. All was then fine for some time, until a few more of our colleagues joined the party and ordered some soft drinks and another bottle of wine, these were duly brought to the table on a tray. As he was about to serve the drinks down, the tray started to wobble, the contents of the tray wobbled more, he tried to stop the wobble, the more he tried to stop the wobble the worse it got until . . . . . everything, the full glasses, the empty glasses, the bottle of wine all hit the floor. Nothing survived, it was all gone, the poor chap, we couldn't help ourselves, we just had to laugh!!
So that clearly covers the laughter and an emotional up for me, if not for the barman, so what about the lows and the emotional down? We have had a lady in to cover for maternity leave, so has only been with us for a short while, but she has been an inspiration to us and has brought so much knowledge with her. I have learnt heaps from her and really hope that her next role is a success for her, she will be sorely missed.
And now for some irritation/a bit of a rant. You have been warned, you may not want to read any further. Why don't children know how to behave well in public and why, if they clearly don't, do their parents inflict them upon us during the rush hour when things are stressful enough as it is? On two afternoons this week a parent has boarded the the train I have been taking home, with more than one child in tow, all old enough to be able to understand basic instructions, such as 'NO' and 'STOP KICKING THAT LADY', but clearly thought it was amusing to ignore the instruction. I am not talking really young here, I am talking 9 or 10. On one occasion the subsequently chastised child then screamed, and I mean high pitched, glass shattering, fingernails down a blackboard, piercing screams. I know I am an old fogey that has no children, so clearly has no idea what I am talking about, but is this meant to be normal, acceptable behaviour? Had it only occurred on one evening I would have put it down to an over tired child with an over tired parent, but twice!?
But I have to end on a positive note. The Boris Bikes are great, I had a bit of a blip getting one out of the docking station on Thursday, but all in all a really great experience and a huge enhancement to London's public transport system, I just hope that it is well maintained so that it continues to be so.
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