Will’s View

For me, there are two defining moments in pop culture about laundromats. The first is a scene in Mr. Bean where he somehow manages to get his washing mixed up with a woman’s, and has to wear a long brown dress instead of his traditional pants. Unsurprisingly, hilarity ensues.

The second comes from the movie Die Hard With a Vengance. John McClane (after surviving a subway crash) walks into a bank, and when the security staff baulk at his state of dress, he explains “It’s laundry day”. And that’s usually what happens to me (minus the subway crash, clearly). By the time it comes to laundry day I have usually worn all my somewhat-good looking clothes, and am down to the traditional trackpants and torn tee shirts.

Except the last time I went was somewhat different, I went to the laundromat because I didn’t have any clean trackpants. You see I’ve been in the middle of exams, and therefore walking around the house (and uni) in trackpants and torn tee shirts. So I actually had to head to the laundromat in nice, somewhat decent-looking clothes. This led me to wonder if laundromats have an implicit dress code. Did I stand out and look like a fool because I wasn’t wearing trackpants? Or did I just have too much time on my hands while waiting for the end of the spin cycle?

--> For me, there are two defining moments in pop culture about laundromats. The first is a scene in Mr. Bean where he somehow manages to get his washing mixed up with a woman’s, and has to wear a long brown dress instead of his traditional pants. Unsurprisingly, hilarity ensues. The second comes from the movie Die Hard With a Vengance. John McClane (after surviving a subway crash) walks into a bank, and when the security staff baulk at (More...)

I’ve been cycling for a while now, almost a year I think, and I was quick to notice two things. It’s hard to cycle into a headwind, and it’s easier to cycle into the wind if you’re behind some other poor sod. This became particularly relevant on the way home yesterday whilst I was battling against a headwind the entire way home.

After a while I got fed up with getting nowhere, and so I started free-wheeling. As a large number of people take the same route home that I do, it was unsurprising that I was passed rather quickly by another cycle-commuter. As a side note, it is interesting to see the different people that cycle home. There are the hardcore biking nuts that have all the lycra, and the bright yellow vests and the super-expensive helmets, and the flashiest accessories. And then there are the people who have just hauled the bike out of the garage and are just hoping like hell it gets them home. I was passed by one of the former.

Anyway, it suddenly struck me that it would be nice to just cycle behind this guy and get a reprieve from the wind. A couple of other people caught on too, and before I knew it there was a trail of cyclists taking advantage of the ol’ laws of fluid dynamics.

The question I have, in terms of cycling ethics, is this: Is it okay to deliberately slow down so that the person behind you gets fed up and overtakes you, so that you can draft them?

--> I’ve been cycling for a while now, almost a year I think, and I was quick to notice two things. It’s hard to cycle into a headwind, and it’s easier to cycle into the wind if you’re behind some other poor sod. This became particularly relevant on the way home yesterday whilst I was battling against a headwind the entire way home. After a while I got fed up with getting nowhere, and so I started free-wheeling. As (More...)