Stock Photo

I am thoroughly in favour of resurfaced roads. Not just do they mean a smooth section of riding into work, which makes a change from the usual mountain biking session that cycling on London roads often becomes, but also it throws up interesting insights into the workings of line painters.

How often have you wondered how they put the right lines back after re-asphalting the road? I know I have spent literally a few moments considering the problem and was slightly pleased to find out the answer the other day. It would appear that the lines are marked up on the pavement to give a guide as to what to put back – which makes sense if you think about it. The markings on the particular road I was looking at included this cryptic symbol:

Clearly this wasn’t a stock-cube related marking and I was interested to see, once the lines were repainted on the road, that it actually meant a bicycle symbol. Perhaps this is a code that cyclists can adopt in the manner of romantic American Hobos and early Christians to identify each other in the future?

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