Took a grand total of 2 calls over an 8 hour shift today. That's going to have cost the client a fair whack.

I lived in Soton until 2004. Don't recognise the skull though.

yup they have that livery.
The futuristic monument is the spinaker tower and the pirate ship is HMS Warrior the worlds first ironclad warship.

You are a computer salesman - I am James Bond

Not sure if this is authentic but still quite amusing.

It's a fake Snopes

Moron. I'm pro-helmet. IMO it should be mandatory whether you're riding a sporty motorbike, a scooter or even just a push bike. The number of lives it can save is immense.

Having lost my memory because of a head injury I would agree. The problem is that councils and police will just go out fining people for statistical reasons or to raise money.

Having worked in A&E, I've seen the what happens to the human body when a non-helmet-riding cyclist meets a vehicle. On more than one occasion, I've seen brain tissue emerge from the skull! You can hide it all you want but when the family want to know what that pink gooey stuff is, you kinda have to tell them.

Ideally, I'd love there to be a mandatory cycling proficiency test. To buy a bike, you must have a certificate and helmet. The certificate should demonstrate you know the highway code and have shown to be proficient at cycling and doing so in traffic. This would help raise awareness. I think adding license plates/road tax etc would be going too far and a mandatory scheme would be difficult to enforce if buying second hand or from an unscrupulous seller.

What winds me up is seeing cyclists vary between the pavement and the road - or insisting on sitting in the middle of the lane not allowing the faster traffic past. I give them space to get by when I stop at lights, and when overtaking - I want the same courtesy.
Although I did get irritated with the cyclist who pushed his way in front of my car at the lights, and then spent ages looking at the green light, twirling his pedal with his foot, before eventually pushing off. About 4 cars had got away in the other lane of traffic.

Live drivers, I've seen good cyclists and bad ones. One memorable one is when I was a T-junction and wanted to emerge from a one-way side road into a bi-directional "normal" 30mph road. As usual, pull up to the give way line, indicating right. There's a zebra crossing immediately to the right. Lots of traffic as it's rush hour. Car from the left stops to let me pass. Cars to the right stop before the zebra crossing (despite the fact that no one's on it). I see a cyclist but he's a good few car lengths away and at his speed, I should be out before he comes. Look around one more time and the cyclist doesn't stop like everyone else has and has a near-miss. Stops to give me some verbal abuse but he's at least three car lengths away on the other side so I don't bother with him.

Don't you just hate it when you've just eaten some Rice Krispies, cough, and get one up your nose from the inside.

Never had that happen but then again it's been over ten years since I last had Rice Krispies. In fact (mental count), it's been twenty years since I remember eating it regularly. May well have had odd bowl here and there when staying with friends/family/hotels etc.

I had an accident on my bike in Southampton. I was riding down the outside lane to a traffic lights, when the git on the inside lane decided he couldn't wait for the lights to go green and did a U-turn; without looking!

He drove right into my leg, I saw him start the manouvere, but I was already alongside his door, I managed to go part way with him, but he crushed my leg and knocked me off. That was a month and a half after passing my test.

I was on the way to the cinema and had wanted to wear jeans, but they were upstairs in the airing cupboard, so I'd just thrown on my leathers, which were downstairs. They save my leg. Apart from some swelling and not being able to drive for a couple of days, because of the pain, I didn't suffer any further infuries. I also smacked my head on the road.

Since then, I wouldn't ride a motorbike without full protective gear - and I wouldn't ride a pushbike in short trousers or without proper footwear. I keep thinking about getting a helmet for my pushbike, but I rarely use it and I keep forgetting to buy one.