Left the bicycle outside the University of London Union at the weekend for a long meeting – came back to find someone had attached, with an annoying great tangle of elastic bands (particularly for cold fingers in near-freezing weather), several leaflets. Not politics – but from “Camden street wardens” telling me that did not approve of the manner in which I had parked my bike.
No – it wasn’t attached to any railings, it wasn’t blocking pedestrians, it wasn’t in the wrong place at all. But it was NOT – shock horror – locked up in the approved manner, with the D-lock through both frame and wheel.
Now:
1. With the shape of bike stand provided it is exceedingly difficult to achieve this with a D-lock.
2. This is a very old, very rusty bicycle, with stickers indicating it is security tagged. (Which it is.)
3. It has a very expensive and good lock on it.
All of which mean that I consider the manner in which my bicycle was locked up was perfectly reasonable, and if it wasn’t, and the bike was stolen, that was my problem – I didn’t need three separate leaflets, with detailed diagrams, to tell me how I should do it.
Now I wonder, does it make sense to employ people to do this, or, to spend the same money to employ people to teach kids who are struggling to keep up in school, or social workers to help families with problems?
Well, no, I don’t wonder at all.
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