Deloitte RIDE ACROSS BRITAIN

Deloitte RIDE ACROSS BRITAIN
A Blog About Brian Albritton's September 2012 Cycling Ride Across Britain

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Here in England

I have arrived in England.   From what I had read about cycling in England, I was expecting to see a land of bike lanes.  That is not what I've observed thus far.  The roads here in the London area appear to be quite narrow, and even where there are bike lanes, they're narrow too.

You do see lots of cyclists, however.  It is by no means all road bikes either.  Instead, I see bikes of every variety and most  people using them for transportation.  Tonight, I was walking in the Hyde Park area in rush hour.  And, there was this business man (though without a jacket) riding a small fold up in traffic totally unflustered with the whooshing cars going by around him.   I see lots of others riding hybrid and mountain bikes.  Oddly enough, a number of people were riding without helmets and with ear plugs in heavy traffic.  Daredevils?  Another term comes to mind . . .

Tomorrow, I'm off for a bit of sightseeing.  

Brian Albritton
September 6, 2012

3 comments:

  1. Go, Brian! And enjoy the sightseeing ....xxo Ann

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  3. Brian,
    What you call “ear plugs” are probably ear buds. Let me explain these magical devices to you. Unlike “ear plugs,” which, as the name suggests, block out noise by plugging or obstructing the ear canal, ear buds are tiny speakers connected to a tiny device (some as small as a wrist watch) which store and play digital music (these are generally referred to as iPods although iPod is actually a brand name; the more technically correct name is MP3 player). Now get ready to be amazed – an MP3 player has no needle grooving its way through a record! I know, you’re probably thinking I’m pulling your leg with my crazy talk of “digital music” but it is true. MP3 is an audio-specific format that was designed by the Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG). MP3 uses a lossy compression algorithm designed to greatly reduce the amount of data required to represent the audio recording in a faithful reproduction of the original. (Since your head is probably about to explode – much like mine was while reading your tantalizing blog entry about those crazy, daredevil Brits riding their bikes with no jacket or helmets, through their shockingly narrow roads; I mean who knew? Europe has narrow roads – shocking! – I want you to forget all of the talk of compression algorithms and simply think of it this way; tiny magical devices store and play music through another magical device, which looks like an “ear plug” but it actually a tiny magical speaker).
    If you are up to it, tomorrow I will explain how some of these tiny speakers are more magical than others (think of it like Hermione Grager compared to Ron Weasley) and receive the music without any wires using a magical incantation called bluetooth.
    Hope I made you smile – Have as great ride.

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