GET A LITTLE LOVE ON THE ROADS

TO paraphrase Fats Waller: my pedal extremities are colossal. That is, one day I’ll whirr through side streets on the old $1000 road bike and lock it in the well-patronised racks four floors below the throbbing nerve centre of Carsguide.

Next day in a $90K Audi I’ll be giving the brakes and clutch a workout along a favoured obscure escarpment.

Comrade Dowling’s suggestions for family and cycle-friendly conveyances bring those poles closer and, we can but hope, might help to get a little love on the roads.

The more I see of other cyclists from the saddle, and of other drivers from behind the wheel, the greater the need I see for anguished types on either side to pull their heads in.

Drivers, less aggression please, riders have scant protection; and as ESP is not a licence requirement, could you use the blinkers?

Cyclists, stop being so pious and work on being pragmatic; put some air in the tyres, lube the chain (and the place for the helmet is on the head, not draped on the handlebars).

If this apartheid is to crumble, we’ll need competent drivers and confident cyclists. If the former foster the latter, by taking them to the parks and paths to gain skills, so much the better.

Meanwhile, to paraphrase George Orwell: two wheels good, four wheels good too.