I received a parcel from Cycling Edge today, some lovely red Parts of Passion skewers. These were a prize from my entry in Cycling Tips‘ ‘What You Missed This Morning’ competition. I just lost 115 grams!
Thanks guys!
On my commute home on Tuesday I was hit by a car and came off my bike pretty hard. Having a few days to think about it makes me even angrier at what happened.
It was at about 18:00 on Winnie St, in Cremorne (click on the image below to go to the Google maps markup).
Here are the events as I see it:
- I’m waiting at the traffic lights at the intersection of Winnie St and Gerard St, heading north, at the front of the queue on the left. There was a big queue of cars on the other side heading in the other direction.
- The lights turn green, I take off slowly so as to merge into the traffic lane from the parked cars lane. I merge about half way down the picture above. Just before I merged a van overtook me on my right side (traffic lane) and I see a car waiting to turn right into the queue heading the other way.
- The van passes this intersection and suddenly the car turning right is in front of me with no time to brake. I go over the bonnet and hit the road on the other side.
- I get up, pick up my bike, the car behind me honks their horn (!!!), a woman helps retrieve my water bottle, and the driver gets out of his car.
- He apologises, gives me his business card, takes my number, offers me a lift home (which I refused) and says he’ll call tomorrow. At this point I was in shock and his actions gave me no reason to suggest that he was unfriendly. Because of this I didn’t take down any further details.
- I went to the medical centre after getting home to assess any damage. No broken bones or concussion despite the heavy fall and my helmet being cracked.
- I then went to the local police station to raise a report. They took down the details and the business card and said that they would attempt to contact him and for me to notify them if he calls tomorrow.
- No call the next day. Called the police in the evening and they explained that the person on the card was not in the country and knew nothing of the accident. They mentioned that they were in Sydney in January for a conference and handed out lots of cards to prospective clients.
This doesn’t leave me with much to go on. Luckily there seems to be no serious damage to myself and my bike is insured for any damages, but the whole incident leaves me angry.
How can someone front a person they’ve just injured, apologise, appear sorry, and then give them false information? What would possess a person to do such things? Are we conditioned in this modern world to not take accountability for our actions?
Yes, I made the mistake of not taking down the registration number and the person’s license information, but I was in shock and his actions made it seem like he was legitimate. The funny thing is that earlier that day I remarked to my friend Michael that I’m trying to curb my anger towards motorists as we need to take the moral high ground as a cyclist even though there’s so much animosity towards us in Sydney.
Well sir, if you’re reading this, you are a disgrace.
I’ve attached some pictures below.
Listening to Brigid Keenan on Radio National had me yearning to go back to Damascus, if only to explore the city on a day other than Friday, or in a state of good health. It was bitterly cold camping there and the gastro had turned into something completely different. Perhaps you might call it man-flu although a few days later in Petra we had to call out the doctor.
The old city was virtually empty on the “Sabbath”, save for the Hamas demonstration in the Omayyad mosque that we completely missed (so much for being an axis of evil state). A handful of shops were open and we were able to buy a few keffiyehs. We even ate at a restaurant with free wifi.
Click on the photo below to see the entire set.
New Year’s Eve ended with Palmyra. We arrived late because of a case of “frozen gas” in Resafa (read: no gas), but seeing the lights on the ruins in Palmyra was excellent. I must say that although the ruins in Palmyra were vastly more impressive than Resafa, Palmyra didn’t have that magic for me. It must’ve been the snow, or lack thereof! We ended the year drinking dodgy Lebanese champagne in a Bedouin tent and had camel steaks for dinner. Brilliant, up until the gastro everyone had the next day!
Click on the photo below to see the entire set.
Resafa was a special place for us. It was New Years Eve and a miserable day on the way to Palmyra from Aleppo. Rain, sleet, snow and a cold truck. We stopped here for lunch and visited the ruins of this Roman outpost. The snow and the isolation made the place magical.
Click on the photo below to see the entire set.
Neil, our tour leader described Aleppo as his favourite city in the Middle East. I can see the charm. It has real history, is not at all pretentious, and the souq is a proper working market. We drank at Baron Hotel, a run down colonial hotel which has the dubious fame of having T.E. Lawrence skip his bill. Agatha Cristie stayed there too (although it seems that she stayed at every old hotel in the region). Our city guide, Ahmed Modallal of Lonely Planet fame, was just so passionate about his city (we have his card if anyone wants his details).
Click on the photo below to see the set.
I was looking forward to seeing the Krac and it didn’t disappoint. It’s mystique was heightened by the rain and clouds closing in during our tour. We saw probably the most amount of tourists here during our week in Syria and as you can see by the photos, the lack of tourists was one of the reasons why I enjoyed Syria so much.
Click on the photo below to see the entire set.
Bosra was an unexpected pleasure on our second day and a great introduction to Syria. It was not on the itinerary and felt quite special, mostly because the people still lived in some fantastic Roman ruins. A Christian chapel that was home to Bahira, who encountered Muhammad in his youth, is considered one of the first Christian churches, lay in ruins. We ate fantastic food and slept on the floor at the restaurant under the welcome sign next to the amphitheatre (see last photo in set).
Click on the photo below to see the entire set.
Siew and I have been back a week now from our month long trip to Syria, Jordan and Egypt. It’s about time I started sorting through my photos and posting them to my Flickr account. I’m attempting to post 1 set per place and use this blog as a record of our stay.
All photos are taken with a Nikon D60 with a Nikkor 18-200 mm VR DX lens, my Dad’s equipment. My D70 was out of commission due to dust spots on the sensor that I haven’t gotten around to buying swabs for.
Here’s the first set from our first day in Amman, Jordan.
After I blogged about my Skype credit expiry problem I raised a support ticket and got the following response:
Hello Ben,
We apologize for the delayed response. Our goal is to respond to all customer e-mails within 72 hours, however due to a recent increase in inquiries it has taken longer to respond to you.
Thank you for your understanding and patience.
After reviewing your case we have decided to re-instate your credit. Your balance will be updated in the next 3 days.
For the future please remember that you must place one call lasting at least one whole minute every 180 days in order to keep your credit balance.
Skype is continually working to improve the notification process to make sure that our customers would remember to make this one call.
Thank you once again. Enjoy using Skype.
Should you need more assistance, feel free to contact us again; we will be glad to help.
Best regards,
Andras – Skype Support
Visit www.skype.com for latest news, updates and tips.
My Skype balance was restored. This is great customer support!