Ha! I told you so

Lengthy and largely inexplicable absence, due in the main to going on holiday and then not really getting my shit together on my return to these pallid shores. Anyway, back now and raring to go (on holiday again). However, what has prompted this posting is something I read in a paper/on a website/scrawled on the wall of a toilet cubicle...whatever, I'm sure it's true. What I read was that there has been an increase in accidents involving pedestrians which is being attributed to the growing number of them who wear earphones as they walk. In other words they are making themselves deaf and do not realise they are about to be run down by a juggernaut, incontinent granny on an invalid scooter,cyclist or whatever.

The regular reader of this blog (me, me, me) will know that I've sounded off before about the risks pedestrians subject themselves to by wearing MP3 iPod type things. Well here is incontrovertible proof. I've had personal experience of the way these twats cut themselves off from the rest of the world. As I cycle along the Tarka Trail I ding my bike bell to warn other trail users of my approach. Most step in to the side and smile politely as I pass, and I ALWAYS say thank you. But some carry on as if they are the only people on the planet and it is an odds-on bet that these are the people who will have their ears filled up with earphones and cannot hear a dicky bird. What is worse is the glare they often give me as I pass, presumably because they are surprised at finding me on their shoulder. Ah well, you can't legislate for idiocy.

iPod, uPod, podOff

Almost everyone in the world - well, North Devon - has an iPod and frankly it gets on my nerves. I don't have an iPod, but, confession time, I do have an MP3 player (why are they called MP3s?) Anyway, the reason for my irritation with iPods and MP3s, and, more specifically, their owners is the way they cut the users off from the rest of the world. Fans of iPods may well say that's one of the main benefits and I do understand that sometimes, when everyone and everything outside your own personal bubble is just too much, a bit of thrash metal, hard house, Glenn Miller or even Stravinsky can be just the thing. But what a sodding nuisance it is when you need to communicate with these people or when you want to reverse your car without getting all their nasty blood over your rear bumper. With the tiny little earphones shoved firmly in their ears, they seem to be completely oblivious to what's going on around them and then look all affronted when you either have to bellow at them to get their attention or get out of the car to gently wave them out of the way. I'm not sure if that bit is in the Highway Code, if not, maybe it could include a bit where you're allowed to use a cattle prod on recalcitrant pedestrians. Yes, I know, pedestrians were here first, but sometimes they just don't help themselves. Oh God, I'm getting more like Victor Meldrew by the minute. Sadly, I do believe it.