Appreciation and Depreciation

Do you think you’re pretty tough? Riding to work in the wind and rain, spending 20 minutes fighting the elements and then getting into the shower for a tough day driving a desk? Yeah, me too! This morning I even had to deal with the sun, it was far too low in the sky and I really felt like I should have worn sunglasses, but let’s face it, we don’t really have too much to moan about when compared to the city’s cycle couriers.

It’s a not easy as a courier, as the London Review of Books points out. Not only is there the constant exposure to all weathers and sulky security guards as you ride up to 300 miles a week, but more to the point is the lack of security. Working where you’re paid by the job and with little of the support that most of us are used to in our jobs means that getting knocked off your bike, even in a minor incident could mean losing a couple of day’s money, not just having to rest a bruised knee by getting the bus, or sitting at home on sick pay watching Jeremy Kyle. I’m not saying they’re heroes. In fact I still stand by my comments on the In Harms Way programme I saw a while ago, but maybe some appreciation and support is worth paying to the people who are still getting our packages delivered even when the Royal Mail decide not to.

It seems other people agree, and the London Courier Emergency Fund, which provides some support to injured couriers, has arranged a London Courier Appreciation Day today. With help from various bike shops and organisations the organisers have given out coffee and home made cakes to couriers on the junction of Shaftesbury Avenue and Bloomsbury Street. Hopefully next year they can get the support of the Mayor and make this an official date in the city’s calendar.

It seems that someone at Tescos is caught in the early Nineties, when Muddy Fox were a hip new mountain bike company, and has slightly over estimated the value of their bikes today. Mind you, even if that is the case, £984 000 seems rather a lot for 6 bikes, especially when the most expensive bike in the range goes for under £400. Personally I would have gone for something a bit classier if I was spending a million on bikes, at the very least 300 Merlin XLMs or something. One for nearly every day of the year.

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