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    Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
    They've infested Valencia?

    Yes, they're everywhere.

    I don't mind the vehicles per se; I understand that they are very useful for people who work in suits and in offices, and who don't have a designated parking place nor desire to arrive by bicycle sweating profusely (Valencia is a hot and humid city).

    That said, as a keen cyclist (keen in the sense of using my bike to get around the city and having short leisure rides at the weekend - none of your professional stuff - I do tend to turn my nose up at younger folk, students for example, who would really benefit from some even light exercise.

    Also, they are very quiet and share the bike lanes. They creep up behind you and overtake with, often, the minimum of room. Also,, they are often to be found on pavements, where they shouldn't be. So I suppose it's not the scooters themselves but some of the people who ride them. But to reiterate: I do get their usefulness and their ecological advantages.

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      Twat cyclists wind me up but as Bored has pointed out their life expectancy is probably limited. It's always the helmet-wearing rule-abiding mum of three who ends up minced under a truck though, not the scrote doing wheelies into traffic through a red light in the dark with no lights.

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        Originally posted by Bordeaux Education View Post
        I can still do it - for miles - and frequently do when alone.
        Seriously, Bored, that's quite a talent. I'm impressed. Were you in the circus or something?

        Originally posted by Sporting View Post
        So I suppose it's not the scooters themselves but some of the people who ride them.
        I think you might have hit on the nub of the issue here Sporting. Replace "scooters" and the associated verb "ride" with almost anything else in this thread and the same logic will probably hold.

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          I'm not sure that all of the prejudices admitted to in this thread are really prejudices in the true sense of the word at all, but simply well-founded gripes about things many of us find annoying to a greater or lesser extent and which could perhaps be said to have some objective basis in reality.

          Does anyone else here live in a touristic town or city? I'm not about to lay bare my prejudices about tourists, with their occupation of the pavements, their inane selfies, their stupid clothes or their tendency to drink themselves stupid, as I too have been and am a tourist, though of course I respect the local culture bla bla bla.

          No, my prejudice is against the amateur tour guides, the people who stand outside restauants trying to lure you in, the bicycle rental people, etc. I know they're only doing their job but it annoys me no end to be spoken to in English when this is a godamn Spanish city, for christ's sake. And I live here; I'm not a tourist! Can't they see that? I have my own bike, know which restaurants I want to eat at, and have visited practically all the museums here except the bullfighting one (on principle).

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            Originally posted by Various Artist View Post
            Seriously, Bored, that's quite a talent. I'm impressed. Were you in the circus or something?
            I know where he does it, though.

            Bored lives next to the Bristol-Bath cycle path, which goes in a straight line. There might be the odd cattle grid in the way, or he might have to swerve to avoid my old man and his mate if they're on their way home after having had a skinful at the Bird In Hand in Saltford, but apart from that, they're are no obstacles whatsoever, at least until you get to Bitton Station, which is about five miles from Bath.

            Piece of piss.
            Last edited by treibeis; 25-09-2018, 08:58.

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              Originally posted by San Bernardhinault View Post
              Pedestrians who use a shared bike/pedestrian path and walk three or four abreast across it, completely blocking it for cyclists, are twats. Even more so are those who're walking their dogs, stop for a chat on one side of the bike path while their dog wanders to the other side leaving a dog-leash sized trip-wire.
              This. Absolutely.

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                Originally posted by treibeis View Post
                I know where he does it, though.

                Bored lives next to the Bristol-Bath cycle path, which goes in a straight line. There might be the odd cattle grid in the way, or he might have to swerve to avoid my old man and his mate if they're on their way home after having had a skinful at the Bird In Hand in Saltford, but apart from that, they're are no obstacles whatsoever, at least until you get to Bitton Station, which is about five miles from Bath.

                Piece of piss.
                To a certain extent, this is all true. However, I did it last on the much bumpier stretch from Bath to Bradford on Avon. I can't remember why I was doing it but it was something to do with my back aching on an unfamiliar bike and it helped rather than me just being a twat. I think that, when I learnt, it was to be a twat though. Sorry about your old man, by the way, but it was dusk and a bat distracted me.

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                  Sporting, I'm intrigued by your ideas and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

                  My office is across the street from "Ground Zero". The transformation of the area into an absolute tourist trap post 9/11 has been something to see.

                  Thankfully, the neighbourhood in which we live is largely immune to such nonsense.

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                    Originally posted by Sporting View Post
                    Does anyone else here live in a touristic town or city? I'm not about to lay bare my prejudices about tourists, with their occupation of the pavements, their inane selfies, their stupid clothes or their tendency to drink themselves stupid, as I too have been and am a tourist, though of course I respect the local culture bla bla bla.

                    No, my prejudice is against the amateur tour guides, the people who stand outside restauants trying to lure you in, the bicycle rental people, etc. I know they're only doing their job but it annoys me no end to be spoken to in English when this is a godamn Spanish city, for christ's sake. And I live here; I'm not a tourist! Can't they see that? I have my own bike, know which restaurants I want to eat at, and have visited practically all the museums here except the bullfighting one (on principle).
                    I live in one of the ultimate tourist cities and used to live in a provincial Welsh seaside town and the differences are marked. People in Porthcawl have the "bloody trippers" attitude which is ridiculous considering that tourism is their main revenue and, since the mines closed down, that is a dwindling one (Porthcawl Elvis Festival notwithstanding). This is a town that actually doesn't let any tourists in when they regard the town as "too full". They also tarmacked over the sand in the main beach but even I don't think that that was a tourist prevention initiative. However, Bath, where I now live, has a very different view with even the most curmudgeonly of people - realising that tourism keeps the city alive - being helpful to lost, giving the stationary groups of anorak-clad furriners reading their maps a wide berth and, in the case of last night, explaining bingo to them. The issue here (apart students - who also provide a fair amount of revenue - but that is another post) is the Christmas sheds. Basically, from about November onwards, an annual increasing part of the centre of town is full of these stalls/sheds that are basically selling the same tat as they do all year around - and continue to in their actual shops - to coach-loads of day-trippers from the Midlands, South-West and, especially, Wales. Indeed, most days, I could be in the aforementioned Porthcawl. Indeed, my Mum and her mates often come over for it. While it does bring people to the city, they are only there for the day, go to fairly few other places in Bath and certainly don't stay over. Indeed, I do wonder whether it puts people off who are likely to stay longer and spend more money. It certainly puts off every resident from entering the centre. I know that people aren't stupid and there must be fair amount more income coming in at this time but the money for the sheds goes to the tourism centre, the council and GWR.

                    When I was in Orlando first time, it was during a spate of carjackings. We were on our way from the airport in a rental car (which unbeknownst to us had a licence plate that virtually read R0B - ME) and realised that we were going to our friends without booze: a mortal sin. Not realising that we would be passing about 15 malls on our way, we went into the first petrol station which also sold booze. Aside from ID-ing us (which pleased us no end), they were also very concerned about our lack of direction, our familiarity with the area and our general well-being. I realised, after a couple of days, that everyone in Orlando was like this - they all knew the worth of tourism to the place.

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                      In response to Sporting's challenge, my BMW thing is prejudice. I assume anyone driving, owning or admiring one is a colossal braying turd of a human and a walking argument for a 99% income tax for certain occupations. Oh, and they're going to drive like a horny virgin frat boy desperate to show off to his twat mates.

                      I've rarely been proven wrong. BMWs are wanker-magnets.

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                        Seconded. Not the motorbikes, though. I'd ride one in a second.

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                          I have a prejudice against people who insist they only like “warm weather.”

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                            Originally posted by Patrick Thistle View Post
                            In response to Sporting's challenge, my BMW thing is prejudice. I assume anyone driving, owning or admiring one is a colossal braying turd of a human and a walking argument for a 99% income tax for certain occupations. Oh, and they're going to drive like a horny virgin frat boy desperate to show off to his twat mates.

                            I've rarely been proven wrong. BMWs are wanker-magnets.
                            It's not just the people who buy and drive them, though. The people who work for BMW are a bunch of wankers as well.

                            Needless to say, I worked for BMW for 15 years.

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                              Although, as WOM said, the motorbikes are very nice to look at. The policeman who has his tea at the hut rides one. I'd like to sit it on a park bench and brush its hair.

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                                One of my brothers works in advertising and years ago his then agency did a project with one of the German high performance care manufacturers which was intended to challenge the perception that only vainglorious idiots drove them. Unfortunately the research carried out with their customers pretty much confirmed all the negative preconceptions.

                                I have a prejudice against facial hair and not just silly hipster variants of it. I have relatives and friends, and know of countless others, who sport it and are fine people, but my instinctive reaction is quite negative.

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                                  Dutch kids can all ride their bikes no handed. How would they use their phones otherwise?

                                  Then again, anyone who uses a car in a Dutch town is either a fool or wishes they didn't have to.

                                  I think using their phone is actually one of the very few exceptions where a fietser is not automatically given the benefit of doubt in accidents in Holland. Otherwise, they are untouchable.

                                  This reminds me now of a time about 15 years ago when I went over the top of a car that turned left in front of me. 9 stitches in the back of my head, 2 broken fingers, a sprained ankle and horrible grazes. I missed 2 weeks of work.

                                  The next day I got a phone call from the father of the 18 year old girl who had hit me, asking if they could meet me in town. How nice I thought, their going to check if I'm OK, maybe buy me a drink.

                                  The first thing they asked me was whether I could tell the police that I was really going too fast, and could I not mention the fact that she was on the phone (I didn't actually have time to even notice this).

                                  "It's her insurance you see, we don't want her to lose her no claims." Even though they could afford a brand new car for their daughter.

                                  I just walked out of course. My despair at human selfishness balanced by the fact that they would be sweating on my actions for weeks, and the fact that at least I'd put a massive, expensive dent in her passenger door.

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                                    In terms of vehicles, my prejudices seem to be strongest against people who either own and drive a Range Rover Evoque, or who ride a Honda Goldwing. These are even stronger than my prejudices against Porsche 4x4s and souped up Honda Civics.

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                                      Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                                      Teslas must not yet be common on the roads of the UK
                                      Before EEG and TG's replies I didn't even know they were available for sale in the UK. Pretty sure I've never seen one.

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                                        I've seen precisely one tesla in the wild, parked in Vienna. Though I did notice there was an oddly located showroom in the middle of a shopping centre in Cambridge when I was there in August

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                                          Actually, I'd add anyone who buys a WHITE range rover as someone with enough money to justify burglarising their house. No one who actually needs a range rover would buy it in white. Invariably it's a woman who uses it to park on the yellow hatchings outside the primary school while she waits for Constance and Oliver to come out the gates.

                                          Subaru Imprezas are also twunt-magnets. Especially done up in rally livery. You're not Colin MacRae, you twunts.

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                                            Various opinions I've seen on Twitter about the IMF's deal with Argentina today have lead me to the conclusion that if you complain about people telling you how to behave in English because it's the language of colonialism, when you yourself are talking Spanish whilst living in Latin America, then you need to read a fucking history book or two.

                                            If I'd said this on Twitter I'd be getting all sorts of abuse, probably, so I thought I'd leave it here.

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                                              I think I understand what you're getting at.

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                                                Originally posted by Fussbudget View Post
                                                Before EEG and TG's replies I didn't even know they were available for sale in the UK. Pretty sure I've never seen one.
                                                I've seen quite a few but, there again, I do spend a reasonable amount of time on the motorway. I have even seen my first Tesla recharging station.

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                                                  Originally posted by ad hoc View Post
                                                  I've seen precisely one tesla in the wild, parked in Vienna. Though I did notice there was an oddly located showroom in the middle of a shopping centre in Cambridge when I was there in August
                                                  Funnily enough I saw a showroom in The Mall at Cribbs Causeway in Bristol in August as well. I remember thinking it was an odd place for a showroom.

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                                                    People who say burglarising instead of burgling...

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