Sitting high

It is fairly common for London cyclists to jump the red lights, and some activists are even advocating that as a safer way of getting across the junctions.

I don't think that's right and usually wait behind the vehicles instead of trying to make it to an ASL and beyond... however, when I'm sure that the road is clear, I don't bother waiting. I didn't stop on the fading amber lights today on my way to work and as it usually happens when you think no one is paying attention, I was stopped by police.

To my surprise instead of being given a fine (which is £30, by the way) I was asked if I had 15 minutes to spare for a training on cycling safety. Certainly I agreed (and got a revenge as the policewoman showing me the way crossed the same empty road on red lights as well).

I've heard before about that campaign started after the Bow roundabout collisions and protests organised by cycling community, but never seen it in North London. Basically, on this training you're asked to get into the driver's seat of an HGV to see how (in)visible are you for them (officers in hi viz and ordinary clothes walk around the cabin to provide an example).

The lorry used for demonstration had its usual blind spots (right in front of the vehicle and by its left front wheel) covered by two smaller square mirrors you can see on the photo below:

The problem is these mirrors are only mandatory since 2007, and owners of the lorries registered earlier are not required to fit them. The other problem is that they provide a very distorted image and dark clothes are really hard to see in them - that's something I can now confirm. That where the hated hi viz vests thanks to which you can instantly recognise a Londoner on a random cycling photo come useful as the yellow spot has way more chances to catch driver's eye.

I tried to make a point that still it only makes sense if driver actually bothers to look in many mirrors they've got, and the necessity to be equipped and dressed properly puts many people off cycling at all, but I was still hurrying to the office and other people were waiting as well, so I didn't start a long argument.

I work in Shoreditch now where cycling is very popular - the photo below shows what a typical crossing look like when people go to work or return home - so there is nothing wrong with Hackney council running campaigns like this. Also it definitely has something to do with the upcoming mayoral elections and Boris Johnson trying to reclaim his "cycling enthusiast" reputation, but whatever the reason is, it's a good thing.

So if anyone have never driven an HGV before and is curious, don't hesitate to stop if you see a group of policemen near a lorry and ask for a training. That's an interesting insight.

"London's Overthrow"

An outstanding essay by China Miéville (and a shorter version in NYT).

Another reason to live in north London - to have the best authors writing about something you know. I saw Miéville once on the literary festival at Stoke Newington (the area which appears, among others, in the piece), and he was the best part of it. I didn't finish his "Kraken" though (the last Miéville's book I read), but still there was an immediate reminiscence of it as the Natural History Museum has also been mentioned.

The emperor's new clothes

It was very disappointing to find almost no people in the embassy today comparing to the recent parliamentary elections. One who hasn't been to polling station previous time might have thought that there still was a fair amount of people voting, especially given that not every londoner is Russian yet. But I'm only going to say that we didn't have to queue this time at all, and it took us several hours to get into the embassy back in December.

It was raining in London today, but was it a disaster? I bet it was also hot today in Dubai and chilly in Alaska. But even the usual picket on the opposite site of the road featuring some Moscow celebrities dissolved rather quickly.

I do hope people in Russia can boast stronger morale.

Hi Silicon Roundabout

Starting with a new job tomorrow I can't help remembering my earlier experience of looking for a job after relocating. This time the process was much smoother, in two weeks after publishing my CV because of pure curiosity and not even applying myself I got two offers I had to choose from and probably more in progress. Can't be too proud of myself though as despite the continuous problems the economy is obviously in a better state now than it used to be two or three years ago. Also my improved language proficiency have made some difference, I suppose, but anyway that was a pleasant surprise.

These were nice two years though: I was lucky to work with good people and had a chance to get back on engineering track after my romance with managerial roles, which, as I now understand, were not really my cup of tea. Will see how it goes.

Sketching at The Wallace Collection

I didn't expect the attendance to be free as the interior of the place is unusually luxurious for a public gallery. Visitors are also different:

Paintings, furniture and decorated vases don't make the best sketching material, but the enormous collection of medieval armour provides quite a few opportunities:

Norman Cornish and greyhounds

I've been puzzled for a long time by greyhounds on Norman Cornish's paintings - those subtle creatures don't represent the breed you can easily imagine as a pet of a hard-working man whose life is trapped between a pit and a pub.

Visiting an exhibition today I remembered my question and I was kindly given an answer - those dogs were actually more than pets providing additional income and entertainment by racing. If you skip to 6:00 in this video you can see what that looked like in 80s.

While this tradition didn't completely vanish, there's a lot of buzz about illegal dog fighting and banned breeds owned by working class people today. Racing is still questionable in terms of animal humanity, but it definitely was a better alternative.

Life drawing at Candid Arts