Cross-posting my comment from the other community:

I think what our mate Darin is referring to by “e-bikes” is throttle-operated, no need to pedal, capable of going 30-60mph electric motorbike which, like any other motorbike, you need a licence and protective gear to ride, and no, they’ve got no business being in the bike lane with people noodling along at 10-15mph, and definitely not on the pavement with pedestrians.

Unfortunately, Darin is an idiot who can’t string a sentence together and so he’s just told everyone that my electric assist pedal cycle, top assisted speed of 15.5mph, no need for a licence or insurance, is also illegal. Thanks, Darin.

This House of Commons briefing from 2019 lays out what the issues are with e-scooters, in that because they’re not legally classed as a bicycle, they have the same legal requirements as a motorbike, which is clearly nonsense for a scooter with a top speed of 15.5mph, however, the law has not yet caught up with reality. Since that briefing was written, various trials have started in cities with hired e-scooters provided by third parties to see how the law needs to be updated and what needs to change in order to make them legal on UK roads, but the trials seem to just keep getting extended with no conclusions drawn. As we’re currently in election purdah, nothing’s going to happen until July anyway, and I highly doubt that “sorting out e-scooter legality” will be top of the new government’s priority list.

The office where I work in central London, UK has bike parking for 300 and only eight vehicle parking spaces. We also have a fitness suite. There's two (male and female) locker rooms with showers, towels provided, a drying room.

At least one of the green building standards doesn't give you the top rating unless you have provision for active travel, institutional investors won't buy your shiny new building unless it's rated "Excellent" or "Platinum", tenants are looking for added extras which encourage their staff to come to the office rather than WFH.

And Westminster Council charges business rates (property tax) on parking spaces.

the New World Order, the World Economic Forum, you won't be allowed to leave your neighbourhood because 15 minute cities are coming with guards and checkpoints.

I think what our mate Darin is referring to by "e-bikes" is throttle-operated, no need to pedal, capable of going 30-60mph electric motorbike which, like any other motorbike, you need a licence and protective gear to ride, and no, they've got no business being in the bike lane with people noodling along at 10-15mph, and definitely not on the pavement with pedestrians.

Unfortunately, Darin is an idiot who can't string a sentence together and so he's just told everyone that my electric assist pedal cycle, top assisted speed of 15.5mph, no need for a licence or insurance, is also illegal. Thanks, Darin.

This House of Commons briefing from 2019 lays out what the issues are with e-scooters, in that because they're not legally classed as a bicycle, they have the same legal requirements as a motorbike, which is clearly nonsense for a scooter with a top speed of 15.5mph, however, the law has not yet caught up with reality. Since that briefing was written, various trials have started in cities with hired e-scooters provided by third parties to see how the law needs to be updated and what needs to change in order to make them legal on UK roads, but the trials seem to just keep getting extended with no conclusions drawn. As we're currently in election purdah, nothing's going to happen until July anyway, and I highly doubt that "sorting out e-scooter legality" will be top of the new government's priority list.

Emergency services vehicles' journeys are faster and easier if the roads aren't cluttered with private vehicles.

They can get closer to the scene if they aren't having to negotiate on-street parking full of cars.

They will be called to fewer severe road traffic accidents.

"Oh, I'm on this new medication and I can't drink on it", may or may not be a useful fib for your beer festival. There's a surprisingly long list of medication where alcohol is contraindicated, including some common antihistamines.

It's what one of my friends did, said she couldn't drink because of medication and then "Oh, remember when I couldn't drink? When I could drink again, I decided that I didn't want to, so I've stopped."

I live in one of the most deprived London boroughs. The council is installing LTNs, school streets, and a borough-wide 20mph limit. Many of the existing housing estates are already LTNs, but because that's how the estate was built, people don't recognise it as an LTN, it's just the estate.

I'm so sorry you've got bad stuff to deal with.

I think you've already realised the main thing about booze, which is that pouring it on bad situations makes the bad situation worse.

Can you pour the rest of the alcohol down the sink?

Can you arrange to see a friend tomorrow, somewhere without alcohol, just to talk over the issue, or if you don't want to, just talk about anything but that? I always find getting out of my own head is useful for dealing with stuff.

They're doing something like that in France - all new and existing car parks with space for more than 80 cars have to have solar panels https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/09/france-to-require-all-large-car-parks-to-be-covered-by-solar-panels

Not all e-bikes are illegal to use on the public road, so Darin is also wrong.

Do not offer street homeless people shelter unless you have the skills, training and abilities necessary to support them long term, including dealing with the underlying issues which led to the person becoming street homeless in the first place and the subsequent issues which have kept them there.

It's not my first, my advice is to make sure you've got some nice drinks in (Saicho sparkling tea, here), and remember that if it all gets a bit much, you can slip away for some quiet moments, or just leave if you need to.

Good morning, fellow sobernauts, IWNDWYT 😁!

Day 638 checking in.

Different political parties.

Red = Labour (new governing party).

Gold = Liberal Democrat.

Blue = Tory (former governing party).

Grey = Independent (but he used to be Labour and was leader of the Labour party for a bit).

Good morning, fellow sobernauts, IWNDWYT 😁!

I had a long-distance train trip for a sporting event when I was not even a month sober. London to Amsterdam, a few days in Amsterdam, a trip to the cricket. My first sober holiday, my first sober cricket match.

I went in with the attitude of "got to learn how to do this sober, and there's no time like now."

I told the friend I was going to the cricket with that I was off the booze, so I wouldn't be making a decision on the spur of the moment, the decision was already made.

When the steward came down the train carriage with the drinks trolley, I said "Oh, I don't drink, but I could murder a coffee!" Fine, I got off the train vibrating from too much caffeine but I didn't have any alcohol.

I looked at restaurant menus in advance as far as I could, and made the decision of what to drink in advance, so I wasn't flustered and making the decision in a foreign language. Of course it was Amsterdam and everyone's English was perfect and the waiting staff were patient and kind, but it was one thing off the list of things I was worried about.

And, the one time a waiter made a mistake and brought me an alcoholic beer instead of the non-alcoholic version, I did the most un-English thing I've ever done and sent it back, rather than drinking it to avoid making a fuss 😁

And don't offer lifts to anyone so you're not on their timetable, either.

Relying on willpower is a dangerous game. It gets used up in thousands of little ways every day and, as you recognise, one day you'll get to the point where increased temptation meets used-up willpower and disaster ensues.

You're building a new sober life, and you wouldn't build something without scaffolding, you need sober scaffolding. There's some resources in the pinned posts here, check those out and see if any of them grab you.

In my first year, I was very occasionally conflicted, but because I'd told everyone I was off the booze, I felt I couldn't then start drinking without having loads of difficult conversations. I'm British, dammit, I'd rather saw my own leg off in public than have a difficult conversation.

Going into social situations, I made very sure there were non-alcoholic drinks I liked on the menu (and yes, I once vetoed a venue for a work thing because "the non-alcoholic drinks are shit, I'm not drinking water while everyone else is on the wine,"), and if it was a party at a friend's, I'd offer to bring stuff I knew I liked. There's nothing worse than being faced with a row of booze and a jug of tap water.

I don't miss it. I have very occasionally thought "what this day needs is a nice cool glass of rosé," and then I stop and think "OK, right, what brought that on?" and usually it's because "this is the first nice day we've had in about a million years," and habit and association are incredibly strong drivers of habit and behaviour.

Congratulations!

woohoo, huge congratulations!