Saturday 15 October 2011

The Police Came Calling...

Saturday was a busy day in Magnatom Towers. My in-laws are staying at the moment and due to the help with childcare and the extra labour, it's always a good time to get work done on the house. So 70% of the 23 year old lounge paper is stripped (I know it's 23 years as the decorators wrote the year down!) a back boiler has been stripped out (a Corgi engineer had disconnected it before anyone asks!), I slice my finger open taking said boiler out, and the police turned up at the door....

Police!? It's ok, I've not been rumbled. At least not yet. In fact they came with good news.


A few weeks back I had a nasty incident where a car overtook me so close I honestly can't understand how it didn't hit me, and I had to swerve out of the way. I felt it was bad enough to show the police.They were back to tell me they had spoken to the lady, and she has been charged with Careless Driving.

It's funny, upon hearing that I felt a little guilty. Human nature I suppose. I don't like taking action like that, which is part of the reason why I very rarely do. So that wasn't the good news. What was good news was her reaction. Upon the police arriving at her door, a few weeks after the incident, her initial words were:

You're here about the cyclist I nearly knocked down aren't you?

According to what she told the police, she has been concerned about the incident ever since and felt bad about it. She has apparently learnt from this and now gives cyclists a much wider berth.

That is good news!

So whilst this driver will, if she does plead guilty as expected, get 3 points and a small fine, this is not the good news. The good news is that one driver will be much more careful around cyclists in the future.

A result.

As for the video. It is private at the moment and will remain that way until I can find a way of blanking her number plates. She has been good enough to apologise and admit fault. I think it is only fair.

Anyway, I'm being totally anti-social to my in-laws at the moment. So no chance to check spelling and grammar..... :-)

Wednesday 12 October 2011

I'm a Millionaire !

It's official. My YouTube channel has now had 1 million views.

Blimey. I'd never have thought that when I started!

Yes I know, 900,000 of those are probably me looking at my own videos, and 98,000 are probably people who glance at my videos to see if I have been run down yet, but that means I've had 2000 views from people who like what I do.

Thank you! :-)

What is fascinating is the list of my most popular videos at the moment (i.e. what people are looking at over the last few weeks).

The most popular is this one.


Look at the comments and you'll see that the majority of comments are of the 'hate' variety. What is also interesting is to go to the YouTube channels of these haters. They do tend to fall into a couple of particular stereotypes!

I am proud though of my second most popular video at the moment. It is one of my favourites.



What I found very interesting though, is that if you Google 'Hate Cyclists' this video comes up on the second search page.

Mmmm. Wouldn't it be fun if this video were to come up as a top result on Google when searching for 'Hate Cyclists' or 'I Hate Cyclists'

So if you are looking for a well done gift for me for reaching 1 million views, link to my filtering video above from your web page so that it rises the google rankings! :-)

Wednesday 5 October 2011

Dedicated Cycle Video Day Blog

A quick entry before bed....there is a sickness bug going through my family at the moment, so I need an early night!!

I've set up a new blog focusing on the Cycle Video Day. You can find it here.

Happy videoing! :-)

Sunday 2 October 2011

Cycle Video Day - Detail

If you haven't already read this page and then come back here.

Ok, detail is too strong a word. I'm intentionally trying to keep the detail to a minimum. I think it is better that the output from this day is not too directed. It should be a bringing together of many peoples views and experiences of commuter cycling.

However, I'll clarify a few things.

Videos should be no more than 10 minutes long. Any amount under this is acceptable. I know some people have suggested that 10 minutes is too long. However, leaving the option of a 10 minute video would allow someone to post a video filtering past queues of traffic, or to be able to show off a particularly scenic route. It is up to YOU. You decide how long, and what is in your video.

You will need to load your video up to YouTube or a similar video hosting web site for it to be linked to.

It certainly doesn't need to be uploaded, edited etc on the day of filming the footage, but ideally if you could edit it before the 17th October that would be great. If you think it would be late, you could e-mail me to let me know. Not everyone is a dab hand at editing video!

You don't need to be a regular YouTube'er to do this. In fact this could be your first uploaded video. All videos are welcome. All posters are equal!!

I will set up (probably with some help) a blog or website dedicated to this, and post details as soon as I have it. There will also be an e-mail address set up for everyone to send details of the videos to.

There may be the opportunity to edit bits of everyones videos together to produced an overall video for the day. If you don't want your video edited in this way, let me know!

If your video is offensive etc then it may not be included. I don't expect that I would need to reject any, but please note, it is possible!

Anywhere in this blog and elsewhere where I say 'I' or 'me' I actually mean WE! I do not claim ownership to this. I was daft enough to come up with this crazy idea, but I will need some help. Help with the website, help with graphics, help with editing, help with publicity etc. So if you think you can help leave a comment below (or twitter message me, or send me a message on YouTube, until I get the e-mail set up).

Most importantly, DON'T cycle any different to how you do normally. DO NOT go looking for trouble (not that you would anyway). It should be a true reflection of your experience on that day, not manufactured to look good/bad.

Happy Video Camming!


Oh and if you can think up a catchy name for this event/website etc. Let me know!