I was woken by Gill who took a phone call from an aggressive woman saying she was from BT, British Telecom, suppliers of telephone services. I have an advert with The Phone Book and Gill thought it was someone about this, so she brought me the phone and I spoke to the woman. She asked me if I'd been approached by anyone about moving my BT account to another provider. I told her that I had an advert with The Phone Book and Yellow Pages, but didn't think anyone had contacted me about these accounts. She sounded annoyed and asked me who I paid my bill to, my phone bill, and I told her The Phone Co-op. She said something like 'Oh God' and slammed the phone down.
Not a good way to wake up. Later, I rang BT, who said yes, there were companies out there purporting to be BT, but they weren't. BT suggested I complain to my phone provider.
I had four other 'confrontations' today. Three were whilst on my bike. I got a phone call from Ash at Cycle Heaven saying he'd fixed the problem.... it was a simple case of the alloy axle getting 'threaded' and the nut coming off. He'd replaced the alloy axle with a steel one which should be a lot stronger. And he only charged me a fiver, which was great! But on the way there, at the bottom of Heslington Road where it crosses Cemetery Road and goes into Kent Street, the lights had gone green and I'd started crossing the junction, as had a bus coming in the opposite direction. Suddenly a black car with a single male occupant zoomed through, missing me and the bus by a metre or so each. The driver had just ignored the light which had turned red seconds before. The bus driver and I looked at each other, incredulous.
After picking up my bike from Cycle Heaven, I cycled away towards town and waited at the junction of the cycle track from Bishopthorpe Road where it meets Bishopgate Street, waited for the lights to go red and stop the traffic so I could cross onto the road. As I did this, an idiot cyclist jumped the lights and nearly smashed into me. I accelerated after him and came alongside, yelling at him so he heard over his personal stereo, 'So do traffic lights not apply to you then?' He almost fell off with surprise but answered back that no they didn't. I swore at him and accelerated away. Then, after I'd been to the Building Society and put in my cheque from David, and picked up two small boxes of squashed halved lemons from the lemonade stall, I was cycling down Walmgate and a smallish sporty car overtook me at great speed, perhaps 50mph. I caught up with the speeder at the Walmgate Bar lights and spoke to him through his open window, asking him why he was going so fast down a narrow urban road. He came out with some crap about paying his taxes and I parted with a polite 'You were driving far too fast'. As I cycled up Lawrence St, he appeared in the oncoming traffic, and he leant out of his window and shouted 'I owe you an apology, I've had a bad day'. I was amazed. He performed another U-turn and when he overtook me this time he waved, so I waved back. I wasn't expecting that.
My final bit of aggro was online.... I've a close friend who's just started going out with another of my friends, and I'm really supportive of this liaison, I think it's great for them both; in fact, I introduced them to each other! However, I had an online chat with another one of my friends who is quite close to one of the two new lovers. This person was seemingly quite upset about the new relationship... I couldn't work out if it was a bit of jealousy, or wanting to protect their friend from getting hurt, or just not really understanding the situation the two new lovers are in. Well I did my best to explain and to try to calm things down, but to no avail, I think. I was saddened to think that someone was unhappy about two long-term single people finding a bit of company and romance.
I chatted with one of the organisers of the POP Club in Pocklington about the timings of the gig I'm doing at the end of the week for them. I think I'll be cycling out.
I made up my muesli and did a bit more dried fruit stuff in the evening.
Not a good way to wake up. Later, I rang BT, who said yes, there were companies out there purporting to be BT, but they weren't. BT suggested I complain to my phone provider.
I had four other 'confrontations' today. Three were whilst on my bike. I got a phone call from Ash at Cycle Heaven saying he'd fixed the problem.... it was a simple case of the alloy axle getting 'threaded' and the nut coming off. He'd replaced the alloy axle with a steel one which should be a lot stronger. And he only charged me a fiver, which was great! But on the way there, at the bottom of Heslington Road where it crosses Cemetery Road and goes into Kent Street, the lights had gone green and I'd started crossing the junction, as had a bus coming in the opposite direction. Suddenly a black car with a single male occupant zoomed through, missing me and the bus by a metre or so each. The driver had just ignored the light which had turned red seconds before. The bus driver and I looked at each other, incredulous.
After picking up my bike from Cycle Heaven, I cycled away towards town and waited at the junction of the cycle track from Bishopthorpe Road where it meets Bishopgate Street, waited for the lights to go red and stop the traffic so I could cross onto the road. As I did this, an idiot cyclist jumped the lights and nearly smashed into me. I accelerated after him and came alongside, yelling at him so he heard over his personal stereo, 'So do traffic lights not apply to you then?' He almost fell off with surprise but answered back that no they didn't. I swore at him and accelerated away. Then, after I'd been to the Building Society and put in my cheque from David, and picked up two small boxes of squashed halved lemons from the lemonade stall, I was cycling down Walmgate and a smallish sporty car overtook me at great speed, perhaps 50mph. I caught up with the speeder at the Walmgate Bar lights and spoke to him through his open window, asking him why he was going so fast down a narrow urban road. He came out with some crap about paying his taxes and I parted with a polite 'You were driving far too fast'. As I cycled up Lawrence St, he appeared in the oncoming traffic, and he leant out of his window and shouted 'I owe you an apology, I've had a bad day'. I was amazed. He performed another U-turn and when he overtook me this time he waved, so I waved back. I wasn't expecting that.
My final bit of aggro was online.... I've a close friend who's just started going out with another of my friends, and I'm really supportive of this liaison, I think it's great for them both; in fact, I introduced them to each other! However, I had an online chat with another one of my friends who is quite close to one of the two new lovers. This person was seemingly quite upset about the new relationship... I couldn't work out if it was a bit of jealousy, or wanting to protect their friend from getting hurt, or just not really understanding the situation the two new lovers are in. Well I did my best to explain and to try to calm things down, but to no avail, I think. I was saddened to think that someone was unhappy about two long-term single people finding a bit of company and romance.
I chatted with one of the organisers of the POP Club in Pocklington about the timings of the gig I'm doing at the end of the week for them. I think I'll be cycling out.
I made up my muesli and did a bit more dried fruit stuff in the evening.
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