BICYCLE RACE

BICYCLE RACE

The path through Kensington Gardens on which you are allowed to cycle from west to east (from the Broad Walk to the Serpentine Gallery) was closed for months. I kept on forgetting, and having to go down to Kensington Road and brave the traffic. Now it has re-opened, and I used it last week. I had supposed that major works had taken place, perhaps connected to the Mayor’s East-West Cycle Superhighway, which the Royal Parks resisted so strongly; but no. The changes were minor but annoying. Strips of cobbles had been inserted into the tarmac at intervals to make it uncomfortable for cyclists (not to mention people with buggies or wheelchairs). There are very few paths through the Park that cyclists are allowed to use, and it seems simply malicious to make that one actively uncongenial. I suppose someone perceives a conflict between cyclists and pedestrians and thinks therefore cyclists should be slowed down, but that is simply unjust, because the pedestrians can walk anywhere (including on the grass) whereas we cyclists are confined to one path. And frankly it’s likely not to work, because if there are people who cycle dangerously (which I have never seen there) then they are quite likely to use other paths with no cobbles, which will actually be worse for pedestrians.

BLAME BORIS

It’s amusing that everyone calls the “Santander Cycles” “Boris bikes”, because although they weren’t his idea (but Ken’s) his name has stuck, and now they are gradually moving from being regarded as a helpful asset to being a bloody nuisance. Not necessarily what the great self-promoter wants to be associated with. The trouble is that there are now so many that they are causing congestion, and in west London at any rate they are mostly ridden by tourists, who are a menace. Last week in the Park I encountered a group of 12 visitors trying to ride all together, some barely able to ride at all. Almost all tourists are used to being on the wrong side of the road, and so are inherently at risk on UK streets, and many of the ones I see seem not to have ridden in years. They almost never go singly, and rarely with any sense of purpose, so if you do actually have to get somewhere (or just want to go at your own speed) they are a major frustration. Of course they’re a Good Thing, but don’t pretend they’re anything to do with lessening congestion, because they are now causing it.

LOCAL CELEBRITY

 

It was an unpleasant shock to see one of our primary schools on the television news last year, because Mohammed Emwazi, “Jehadi John”, was a former pupil of St.Mary Magdalene’s. Now each time there is a follow-up article they use his school photo. The Sunday Times Magazine recently did a big feature, with a second school photo as well as a picture of the school gates, and a general theme of trying to say how this pleasant little boy turned into a monster. For locals (most of whom don’t read the Sunday Times, to be fair) it’s not quite so bad, because of course the family never actually lived here, on the Estate, so it wasn’t actually us. This is one of the things you learn gradually about London, that there are very local loyalties, and the sense of belonging is often restricted to a very narrow area. So, given that the Emwazi family lived on the Mozart Estate (oh, two parishes away) it’s all rather foreign to us. As an illustration, one of my churchwardens has just moved back to her childhood home in what she calls Ladbroke Grove, and been welcomed back like the returning prodigal by people to whom she has clearly been effectively dead through years of living in Harrow Road. Perhaps they’re a mile apart. So, although it’s a source of discomfort for the school, the connection doesn’t seem to ring many bells locally. It was, after all, a long time ago, and there’s practically no-one left at the school who was connected with it at the time (maybe one of my fellow-governors), and in any case the population of the area has changed enormously. That’s the other thing we have to learn, that the “churn” of population in central London is vast and very rapid.