It's All Gone "Mythbusters"

As the traffic here worsens, concerned parents find new ways to protect their kids on the backs of their bikes.
This man clearly gets Discovery Channel and has built a Mythbusters-style blast screen to protect other road users in case his child explodes.
Adam and Jamie would be proud.

Cute Kid

If you're going to go through a bus stop while riding on the wrong side of the road you might as well have a cute kid perched on the front.

On a Break

Sorry for the long break, The Crash Test Dummy was in Tibet. We took the train. Tibet is so ethereal that they don't ride their bikes, they sail them - according to this bike shop in Lhasa, at least.

Squeeze Me!

A blue Mazda jumps the lights. He gets caught mid-crossing and makes his second mistake - leaving a 4 foot gap between him and the bus in front. 22 bicycles and scooters (count 'em) squeeze through before he gets a chance to move again. The moral: never give a cyclist an even break.

Green Light

So you've got a green light - lucky you. But what does a green light here REALLY mean?
Simple. It means that somewhere at the same junction 6 bicycles and a couple of scooters are jumping a red. THAT'S what it means.

Little Old Lady With Bloody Great Sword

As The Crash Test Dummy is still off bikes for a few more days we thought we'd take the opportunity to blog this clip of tai chi practice in the local park.
Very beautiful, very graceful.
A friend of ours tried this in a park in London once and nearly got arrested.

Off Games

Thanks to a torn ligament The Crash Test Dummy is off games (and bicycles) for a few days. We could say we were para-gliding or skydiving but actually we were playing laser tag with Wingman (see sidebar photo page link) and his friends - damn, those five year olds make small targets!

Our having to work from home was compensated, however, by finding our photo on the comingsoon.net website. We spent a fun couple of days as a film extra on The Painted Veil last year. The film, with Edward Norton and Naomi Watts is due out in December and we will be very disappointed if The Crash Test Dummy's credit doesn't read "Blurry Balding Guy in Tux".

Bus Stop Bungle

Bus stops. I hate bus stops.
The buses have to cut across the bike lane then load and unload passengers into it (and anyway, on this occasion, spot the car parked in the cycle lane / bus stop.
So do you get caught up in all that - or do you overtake the bus on the outside, dodge the 3 girls jaywalking past a police car, get cut up by a red moped, get squeezed between said cop car and a black sedan while trying to get back into the cycle lane then get squeezed between the next bus and a taxi - only to have the cycle lane vanish at the next bottleneck anyway?

Drummer Girls (OK, Ladies)

Public spaces in China get used for all sorts of groups in the mornings doing tai chi, fan dancing, wushu, ballroom dancing and drumming.
These gals have usually just packed up as I pass their rehearsal space in front of a department store but one day last week
Wingman's school bus came early so I got a head start and caught their last few bars.