A Geo who Cycles

A 5150ti squared.

It’s beautiful.

Did count 13(!) species of butterfly at the Point of Ayre today, and had a hot chocolate in the shingle beach.

Even got my new ereader setup to go once I finish this physical book first.

Excited to see a Manx pro cyclist coming off the mountain road on a training ride - women’s team no less! 🤩

I’m currently on the Isle of Man meeting my new Nephew.

So I’m missing most of the action this weekend, but hoping at least some of the city is still standing when I return on Wednesday.

Tourists have seen it all this weekend in Edinburgh.

International Festival. Fringe. Red Arrows. Orange Order dweebs. Protests. Oasis.

And to add to it, a wildfire on an extinct volcano.

Let’s hope some of that extra £1bn brought to the city is used well - and not just for bucket hats.

Reddit was suggesting people on the hill saying it was a disposed cigarette butt.

In reality, it’s going to be that or a portable grill. 😕

New ScotRail poster showing what types of bike allowed on which trains

Scotrail cycling website intro page... Lock your bike at the station, take it on the train, or hire a bike at one of the growing number of cycle hire points across the network. We're developing a seamlessly integrated cycle and rail network. We've installed more cycle parking at our stations so it's easier to securely leave your bike before catching the train, or you can take your bike with you. There's no additional charge to take your bike on our trains and for some journeys you’ll need to reserve a space in advance. There are plenty of reasons to leave the car at home and take the bike instead – to keep fit, have fun, or do your bit for the environment. Combining a bike ride with train travel is a brilliant way to see the country or just to get about town.

Guide to travelling with bike by scotrail Guide to travelling with a bike on trains Share Tweet Pin Share The following is a guide to cycle space availability, including the number of spaces and if tandems or larger cycles such as cargo cycles can be carried, on our different types of trains across all our routes. Our helpful videos show how to safely board and stow your cycle during your journey. When travelling with your cycle please look for the dedicated wide aisle gate in stations with gateline barriers installed. The other gates will be too narrow for your cycle. You can find out what type of train you will be travelling on by using the dropdowns below. Simply select the area you are travelling in and then your line of route. The Central Belt The Highlands Ayrshire, Inverclyde and Stranraer Kilmarnock, Dumfries and Carlisle The East Coast and Fife Lothian and The Borders

page showing what bikes allowed Glasgow to Ed/ N Berwick/ Dunbar

🚲<->🚆

👍 #Scotrail much improved #BikeRail info

👍 Great poster + website
--> www.scotrail.co.uk/plan-your-jo...

🤔 Shame not yet on @bsky.app

@edi.bike @edfoc.bsky.social @networkrailscot.bsky.social @railmag.bsky.social @railfuture.bsky.social @adamblair.bsky.social @cyclingscot.bsky.social

Quite a big fire taking hold on Arthur's Seat, hope everyone is safe.

#Edinburgh #ArthursSeat #Fire #ArthursSeatFire

Pedestrianised area thronged with people. A public table tennis table, statue of Shakespeare. Seating buskers

In some UK towns, they get it…

… although could go much further, like Ljubljana

Stratford upon Avon

Two small, cobbled European cities, both hilly with a city centre castle and historic buildings, buzzing with both tourists and locals alike - particularly during the summer.

One showed civic leadership and pedestrianised its centre to the benefit of businesses & residents.

The other is #Edinburgh

…

”He also took aim at the Edinburgh festivals running across the month of August, describing them as a place for "people who swallow swords" and perform "poor magic tricks".”

What absolute shite.

That statement needs to be plastered everywhere - shows you how far his head is up his own arse.

Photo of the rest stand. John Robson says... John Robson 17:22 (1 hour ago) to Spokes Hi everyone, Back on the bike in Edinburgh and some update photos from Leith Connections / Foot of the Walk to Ocean Terminal works seem to be combing along nicely. It appears we have the first instance of a cycle rest stand at signals on Great Junction St with branding too. Given the lack of cycle parking here I wonder if it’ll get appropriated as a cycle stand. These are used in Glasgow and it would be good to see more across the city as a way of avoiding dismounting and making waiting at lights comfortable.

photo showing location of the stand

👍 First @edinburghcouncil.bsky.social handrest for 🚲 waiting at pushbutton crossing

#LeithConnections #GreatJunctionStreet

HT @johnrobson87.bsky.social
@edi.bike @edfoc.bsky.social @edinreporter.bsky.social @stephenjenkinson.bsky.social @chasbooth.bsky.social @tracygriffen.bsky.social @sw20.info

A productive session down at #Leith for our monthly clean, inc a new record of 180 cans litter picked in one session.

In addition, we brushed off the first of the fallen leaves from the walkway, cleaned off tagging and weeded the setts.

Coalie park looking much improved

But how is the owner going to carry their ego if the bed isn’t big enough?

On an aside - If it’s more than a cargo bike can handle / needs auto power: Suzuki Carry.

Japan was built on the back of these things I feel. The West needs to embrace the Kei car.

None from myself - had to dash to our next festival show at 19:30 😅

This somewhat ironic pedestrianization of Princes Street is somewhat glorious.

Shows you how good it could be with that much more space.

Online Safety Act: "a little inconvenience is a small price to protect our children"

Asking people to drive responsibly where there are children: *tumbleweeds*

Edinburgh safety experts called in as 'globular substance' found in Water of Leith After multiple dogs were allegedly made ill, SEPA has confirmed the substance was fat. Scottish Water has arranged for the deposits to be removed.

SEPA have confirmed the substance found in the Water of Leith yesterday is fat. Concerning that has made its way into the river. Scottish Water will now attend to remove. Children play in the river in this section so disappointing to see it polluted with fat.

Screenshot showing a WiFi network that I’m in before tonight’s show. It reads: GUEST - Festival Theatre Unsecured Network

Another reason why VPN’s are so handy.

PiVPN with WireGuard means I can connect to a public WiFi, and still have my ad blocking / secure connections that I employ on my home network.

Keep your connections safe people.

Festival Season so far:

Friday: In Conversation with Pàdraig MacAoidh (Peter Mackay)

Saturday: Colin Currie & The King’s Singers / The Veil of the Temple EIF opening concert.

Sunday: Coburg House open house.

Monday (tonight): Make it Happen.

Starting off strong this year. 😁

People will be like "I would do anything for my kids!!!" right up until you suggest dropping the speed limit to 20mph.

I’d argue that it’s easier to borrow your parents ID to scan without them knowing, than a credit card.

Credit Cards at least ping back to your phone with mobile banking services - instant alert.

How many IDs are about to get stolen because a kid uploaded their folks’ ID to “totallyrealDChecker” 🫥

Britain’s MPs charge VPNs to expenses as minister urges caution Technology Secretary Peter Kyle appeared to suggest that VPN use could put children at risk.

While I know I’m not perfect with online safety, and it’s always a battle of convenience vs. security - it seems like even a large portion of your contemporaries know the value of internet security vs. trusting any service with your information online.

www.politico.eu/article/brit...

I’m up for barriers that work.
Why not just strengthen parental controls that exist already?

Randomly uploading my ID to a dozen different services to access base features (DMs in BSKY) isn’t the way.
The OSA as it is isn’t fit for purpose & has huge overreach, as you’ve pointed out in the article.

Screenshot taken earlier last week …

It’s baffling, as unless you have given permission as a parent to your kids to download stuff, you need to be an adult / near adult to be able to do this in the first place.

This is near enough to a single issue voting stance for me going forward.

Just sitting back and wondering where else this could work in Edinburgh - beyond some of the already brilliant improvements down in Leith.

Newgrounds' approach to verifying age is interesting and transparent.

As a non parent, but someone who has parents and grew up as the internet was taking off - 100% this.

I’m tired of the excuses being made here for poor parenting and not talking with your kids about what’s going on on the internet.

There’s not even consistency across services for enforcement.

Not enough talk here about how utterly stupid the UK’s Online Safety Act is.

Bluesky, I am not going to send in my ID to get access to my DMs. You blooming have my face in my avatar already.

I’m just going to use a script on a browser to bypass it, vpn, or forgo that service entirely.

Time to start spreading bird seed all over that part of the pavement.

Easy tickets.

Where are the traffic wardens?