Conversations at the Traffic Lights

 That's me & Pegasus on the right ;)

This would never happen in a car. But when two cyclists meet at a stop light it's perhaps inevitable that they will strike up a conversation. I've had two such encounters in as many days here in Glasgow. Yesterday, at the junction of Alison Street and Polloshaws Road where I commented on the ancient nature of my fellow cyclist's bike and we had a momentary chuckle at how 'it gets you there', and 'no need for any of this fancy stuff'.  And today, at the crossroads of Byres Road and Hyndland Road it was a guy in some of that fancy stuff who looked across and commented on the weather (as it had been raining for a while). I asked him how much his helmet camera was. A hundred and fifty quid he told me. Been knocked off his bike last year and the driver drove on.

Encounters like these are little reminders that cycling is complete openness, whether to other cyclists at traffic lights, or the rain and the elements, or boy-racers testing their delusions of invincibility. Indeed, one could argue that, more than walking, cycling has the added kudos of being a praiseworthy way of travelling which rivals the car and public transport for inner city commuting. You never know with a walker in the city whether their car is parked just around the corner. To be sure, cyclists have cars too, but not when they're out on the bike. Furthermore, there is, especially in a city like Glasgow which due to its precipitous (and precipitational) nature, cycling is not like it is in London or Amsterdam, Berlin or Stockholm. As such, there is an affinity between cyclists that you meet along the way. As I write this, I am in fact surprised at how few encounters I have with cyclists at traffic lights compared to say London where every set of lights appears to have a few cyclists hanging around. If I had to cycle in cities like London or Amsterdam I might not be so keen to share a few words with fellow cyclists at traffic lights, for then the experience would not be, as it is in Glasgow, so unique or quirky. Or responsive.

Whatever the case, I can see from the body language of onlookers that a pair of cyclists having an impromptu chinwag at the traffic lights is something quite special and extra-ordinary. The sort of thing that you would never see with two car drivers (unless it was howling abuse).