So, one minute I'm walking down a drumway rocking out to Walk in the Park by the Nick Stroker Band...
...the next I find I've taken taking a step in the dark of a very different kind. Right into a pile of dog dirt, I regret to say.
So, what happened in the intervening seconds to find me in this fulsome situation?
Well, in the first instant I was aware of hearing an aggressive trill! trill! over the music in my headphones and then a flash of yellow followed by an array of multicoloured plumage fluttering in the wake of the object that sailed past at breakneck speed.
An early exotic avian visitor perhaps? One of those Himalayan parakeets?
No, somebody on a 'bent waterproofed to the nines with more pennantry than I'd consider tasteful adorning the flagpole on the back of his bike.
Now, I'm a 'bent rider myself and I'm not normally one for altercations but in this occasion, altercate was what I was going to do as this selfish individual had just caused me to foul my new retro Clarks "cornish pastie" shoes.
But as I caught up with him waiting to join the traffic at the end of the path, I noticed that he was propelling himself by rotating what looked like the wheel from a Singer sewing machine. It turned out he no longer had use of his legs and this was his only available form of propulsion so I rather cravenly backed down from my planned confrontation.
Now I can't help wondering if I was right to let him get away with this. There are signs at both ends clearly stating that cycling is forbidden. I mean, couldn't he have taken the long way around? Or is he really any different to the invalid carriage users that one sees on the path all the time?
Your thoughts please....
A walk in the park, a step in the dark 
So, what happened in the intervening seconds to find me in this fulsome situation?
Well, in the first instant I was aware of hearing an aggressive trill! trill! over the music in my headphones and then a flash of yellow followed by an array of multicoloured plumage fluttering in the wake of the object that sailed past at breakneck speed.
An early exotic avian visitor perhaps? One of those Himalayan parakeets?
No, somebody on a 'bent waterproofed to the nines with more pennantry than I'd consider tasteful adorning the flagpole on the back of his bike.
Now, I'm a 'bent rider myself and I'm not normally one for altercations but in this occasion, altercate was what I was going to do as this selfish individual had just caused me to foul my new retro Clarks "cornish pastie" shoes.
But as I caught up with him waiting to join the traffic at the end of the path, I noticed that he was propelling himself by rotating what looked like the wheel from a Singer sewing machine. It turned out he no longer had use of his legs and this was his only available form of propulsion so I rather cravenly backed down from my planned confrontation.
Now I can't help wondering if I was right to let him get away with this. There are signs at both ends clearly stating that cycling is forbidden. I mean, couldn't he have taken the long way around? Or is he really any different to the invalid carriage users that one sees on the path all the time?
Your thoughts please....
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