community 'support'

so... wednesday morning... i'm on my way to work... which involves a little detour along the pavement, as the council has kindly closed the road that i need to use. now i spy what i think are some city police (they were all over liverpool street), so i think best be on the safe side, not fancying another £40 fine or indeed the conversation with the humourless twat that handed it out.

anyway, they're not police, they're 'community support officers' and they're throwing out the fines.

so, fair enough, i guess... you shouldn't ride on the pavement, it's against the L-A-W.

but for fuck's sake, do we live in toy-town? is the greatest evil facing london cycling on the pavement?

a few nights previous to this a father of 2 in hackney was stabbed to death on his doorstep, just up the road from where i am now, but no, let's spend our tax's on ticketing cyclists.

now don't get me wrong, i know people do take the piss and fly along the pavement sometimes, this is out of order, no dispute, but fucking hell, these are people riding slower than i walk, can't we have some discretion? nope. £40 please sir.

i'm fuming by now, then i see someone on a nice little track bike deliberately take to the pavement (when he could follow the road) squeezing past the 'officers' and ignoring their attempts to exert some authority... then one of the chumps hops on his shitty mountain bike and gives chase! i just wish i could have seen the whole thing, all 30 seconds of it...

anyway, my point is, priorities, let's have some please.