Manners are a completely non-cycling related thing that's really getting under my skin at the moment. Simple consideration for your fellow human beings is not a difficult or complex concept. The worst thing about being at Uni here is that people seem to forget their manners. I'll be walking down the hill or something, on the pavement, and be faced with a group of say 3 lads coming the other way. Now, back where I come from (and where most people come from as well I'd wager) the polite thing to do when in the bigger group is to move out of the way slightly (yield for the smaller group if you will) and allow them to walk past on their part of the pavement. But no. Here everyone seems intent on making me sidestep into the road while they walk however-many-abrest in their groups. Sometimes knocking into me if I dare to try and stay out of the stream of traffic. It really pisses me off. And I mean really. I *detest* bad manners. They cost nothing, and can create lasting impressions for the right or wrong reasons.
I also get the impression that the locals think we're all similar manner-less cabbage heads and treat us as such. Just this afternoon, I was in the queue to pay in the Co-Op heard a terse 'scuse me' and barely had time to move my feet before they were nearly run over by a woman furiously pushing some poor old lady in a wheelchair through the queue. What was wrong with a pleasant 'Hello, sorry do you mind if I squeeze through?' or a 'Sorry to bother you, can I just get through?' oh sure, she might have been having a bad day, might just have lost her cat or something but since when where manners the first casualties? I should stress that I am generalising massively, and I am talking about the minority in both cases (although it is happening more and more). But then again, whenever my Mum and Dad have spent time in town whilst visiting they have remarked on more than one occasion how everyone seems to push past on the pavements and not really take others into consideration.
So next time you see me, please don't let the door slam in my face or not say thank you when I hold it open for you-or don't say thank you when I let you (in your car) go through some traffic lights before me (on my bike). Because otherwise you might find yourself the unwitting star of a subsequent blog post :D
So I've rambled on about manners and bullsh*t. Now time for something else everyone can relate to: internet speeds and heating. Quite contentious here at Aberystwyth Uni.
When we started in September the heating was regular as clockwork, getting a warm shower or enough hot water to wash up was never a problem. Since it's got colder however that's not the case. Why? Search me. Maybe everyone does their washing up more now. Logical conclusion to be drawn am I right? ;) I mean, c'mon...what do you want when you come in from a few hours in the cold and wet on the bike? A warm shower. What do I seem to get most of the time? A lukewarm one at best.
And onto internet speeds. Again, I was pleasantly surprised at the start of term at how reliably quick the connection was here, perfectly acceptable for watching videos/Skyping/TROLOLOLing at lolcats.com and all that-but again something has changed. Over the last few weeks it's got baaaaad. Yesterday it took me about half an hour to watch a 15 minute video. Rage much? It got so bad last week I tried to do a speed test on speedtest.net (imaginative) and would you believe it it couldn't even load the page! Such wonderful, painful irony.
Now just to end on a more reader-engaging note:
And to sum up the past two waffle-ridden posts:
Moaning can be quite therapeutic no?
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