The last issue of Contraflow was my first and the Editor tells me that I did go a bit off course. Of course one of the beauties of driving is the fact you can make totally pointless detours without a clue about where you're going.

Which in my view is the essence of Advanced Creative Writing. Advanced Creative Writing (ACW) is a bit like Advanced Driving - something I practice whenever I go out. For push-bike users this is something they should support because Advanced Drivers can read the road ahead and know which cyclist will pose a threat to their progress. I've already made my views clear on the 3 speed bike with basket. Neither the machine nor rider have any economic value or justification to get in the way of any motorised vehicle and I now believe the police should impound all bikes in this category as none meet modern road conditions. Likewise folding bikes. (I will return to them later as I believe the owners to be amongst the most dangerous 'faction' that exists in the covert world of two-wheeled politics).

Anyway, I digress. What I was going to say is as an 'advanced driver' I generally stop inside the little bit of 'advanced' road marked with a bike at traffic lights. This is actually legal and makes sure that no bikes get in front of you (unless they go across the final white line - which is most definitely breaking the law!). Of course there is another kind of 'advanced driver' that we're all seeing more of and that is the old doderers that insist on driving whilst under the influence of ageing. They are a risk to other motorists with little trips up the wrong carriageway of the M1 - always reported with much humour in the news (apparently a 140 mph head on collision is funny when one of the drivers can only just see to put their keys in the ignition - actually they never do hit anything at that speed so maybe it is funny).

However they do serve the purpose of giving cyclists regular frights which again helps to keep uncertain cyclists off the road. Now I know you think this sounds cruel, but we live in a tough world of rising petrol prices and cheap airfares. You have to understand that many of you CC readers either don¹t have a driving license or have maybe lost one. Even if you do have one, the push-bike is not like other vehicles as it is stationery in real performance terms.