Hackney $chunt 10/1/12

[Boyo]

Arranged to meet BE and KS at the Hackney Pigpen in Andrew Road for 11ish, but thought I'd check the honeypots on the way down there as I was passing - it would have been rude not to! As luck would have it, I pulled into Lawrence Buildings N16 and Bingo! there he was. Quick call to BE who was only minutes away and we assisted for 10 mins or so until KS arrived. Soon after the $car decided to leggit, BE and KS gave chase but unfortunately I proved a little tardy (and not a little lardy) after the Christmas excesses. I thought I'd scout round the honeypots and bingo again, the other car was at Boleyn Rd! I assisted here for about 15mins, called the two others who'd followed the first car back to it's little pitstop in London Lane, where the driver had parked and decamped. They came up to Boleyn Rd and we followed this car when he decided to move on - straight back to London Lane. Now we had two cars, both empty, to look at. Before long the first driver came back and KS rode wingman. By this time it was past midday and both BE and I were feeling a bit peckish, so I thought I'd forage for berries and see if I could find something in the local area to take the edge off our hunger. No sandwich bars/caffs etc that I could see but I chanced upon a kebab shop and duly ordered two small kebabs. Christ on a bike! When it came I didn't know whether to eat it or play - it was about a foot long and wrapped in nan bread! I'm so glad I didn't order the large ones. Anyway, BE and I manfully struggled with these two edifices of hearty nutrition and, you guessed it,  about half way through wrestling the kebab, the driver returned and took off. Fair play to BE, despite eating twice his own body weight in chicken shwarma, he managed to get going and follow the $car! I'm afraid for the second time in a few hours I was found wanting and collapsed under the weight of Turkish cuisine. By this time Coco had picked up the newspaper snapper from the Hackney Gazette who had promised to come out and play with us. We all rv'd at Cecilia Road where KS was assisting. Hopefully Joe the snapper got some good pics and was able to get a pillion from Coco for the remainder of the afternoon's game of cat and mouse, including some great minicam footage of following the $car. Nice one Joe and thanks for coming out to cover us.

We finally called it a day about 16.30. Thanks to BE, KS and Coco for a fine day of old school $chunting. Hopefully I'll be a bit more "match-fit" next time and will try not to repeat my slight tactical error of hoovering down so much scran at lunchtime. Huge thanks to Coco too for coming all the way into Hackney for 13.00 and being Joe's taxi-bike for the day

[The Bald Eagle]

I really should have got a photo of those kebabs Boyo. They were monsters that had to be seen to be believed. Thanks for the treat though. Two days later and I'm still not sure if it has been fully digested.

The guys driving the $cars seemed fairly decent chaps, as did the CEOs I spoke to. So much so that I'm still not sure that they didn't double team me at one point when I was waiting for one of the $car drivers to come back from lunch. I will explain.

I was waiting round the corner with the $car just in sight and the driver came out and gave me a hearty greeting, announcing that he would be on his way shortly. I was ready to go and sitting on my bike watching the $car when two very friendly CEOs on scooters pulled up and started chatting to me. I had half an eye on the $car, but got into an impassioned debate with the scooter riders about how we actually support them and do not hold any grudges against them personally.

In the meantime the $car had buggered off without me seeing it.

I will tell you now that won't happen again.

A good day's old skool $chunting though. I think Hackney may need some more attention soon, and I'm not just talking their parking department.

[Kill Switch]

Front page of today's Hackney Gazette, with a short write up on page 7, shame about the reference to us being "Vgilante Bikers" 

http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/launch.aspx?referral=other&refresh=wK0531mJi2D0&PBID=049af911-0410-4706-8e42-1be27a7bddc4&skip=

[Pat Pending]

Oooooh! you little Vigilante Activist KS :dancing: :dancing: :dancing:

[The Bald Eagle]

Definition of vigilante - "One who takes or advocates the taking of law enforcement into one's own hands."

I don't ever remember doing that!?

Why is it that journalists love to stereotype bikers as being hairy arsed rebels without a clue?

[Pat Pending]

Well I've just checked with a mirror and I score 2 out of 3

[Kill Switch]

So that's hairy arsed and no clue then   

[DastardlyDick]

Front page of today's Hackney Gazette, with a short write up on page 7, shame about the reference to us being "Vgilante Bikers" 

http://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/launch.aspx?referral=other&refresh=wK0531mJi2D0&PBID=049af911-0410-4706-8e42-1be27a7bddc4&skip=

They must've changed it for a later edition - you are no longer vigilantes

[Kill Switch]

They must've changed it for a later edition - you are no longer vigilantes

Is that a printed or online edition?

[Pat Pending]

So that's hairy arsed and no clue then   

Nah sorry I miss read it I thought it said Hairy Arsed with  Red Balls so its just the one then.   No Clue!

[DastardlyDick]

They must've changed it for a later edition - you are no longer vigilantes

Is that a printed or online edition?

Online

[Kill Switch]

They must've changed it for a later edition - you are no longer vigilantes

Is that a printed or online edition?

Online

When I go to the online version, the front page still says "Vigilante bikers"

[DastardlyDick]

They must've changed it for a later edition - you are no longer vigilantes

Is that a printed or online edition?

Online

When I go to the online version, the front page still says "Vigilante bikers"

I didn't see the front page - the link took me straight to page 6.

[Ewan Hoosami]

I've stuck a couple of screen shots on Dick so you can see the front page. I personally like the article. It highlights exactly what $chunting is(opposition to revenue raising) along with the council's actual obligations (to issue zero penalties.) The council's point of view at the end of the article is quite inspiring;
Cllr Feryal (is that a type of weasel? Oh no, I must have been thinking of a ferret, just ignore me) Demirci, cabinet member for neighbourhoods said the council does not and cannot use CCTV as a means to generate revenue.(At last, a law abiding council) She said "When there are concerns about motorists abusing no entry restrictions, or continually parking on yellow lines or footways, the council will use its CCTV van and CCTV cars to stop this happening." She went on to say "I'm over the moon that the NoToMOB assist us by pointing out where our cars are because the last thing we would want is any unwanted revenue. They don't even charge us for their services. You could not hope to meet a more helpful group of people."

[Boyo]

Thanks for putting the article up Ewan, I hadn't seen it and haven't been into Hackney this week, so haven't been able to get a copy. (I didn't think of looking online )

I think it's a good bit of coverage too.

Code: [Select]

Why is it that journalists love to stereotype bikers as being hairy arsed rebels without a clue?
I know what you're saying BE but personally (and I stand to be corrected), in the grand scheme of things I don't find the term "vigilante" to be too bad a fit - and I'm certainly more "born to be mild" rather than "wild". I looked up a few definitions in my admittedly, elderly dictionaries and this is what they say:

"one of an organised group of citizens who take upon themselves the protection of their district, properties etc" Collins English Dictionary 1995
and:
" member of a self appointed group undertaking law enforcement but without legal authority" Concise Oxford English Dictionary 9th Edition 1995

and finally, from the inbuilt dictionary (American, no doubt) on my laptop circa 2007:
"a member of a self appointed group of citizens who undertake law enforcement in their community without legal authority, typically because the legal agencies are thought to be inadequate"

Interestingly the term originates from the Latin "vigilare" which means "to keep watch" which seems quite appropriate!

Obviously, we know that we're not (and have no authority or desire to be) enforcing any "laws", but overall, to the lay person/passer by, it probably looks just that, in that we're helping to "enforce" by assisting the correct passage through junctions by pointing out signage etc. It maybe that the difference between "law enforcement" and "assisting with compliance" is too subtle for the general public as they pass by?
I know it's something of a biker stereotype but like I say, I don't think it's all bad. To be fair, I can see how that stereotype's being perpetuated too, when we have "mob" in the title - arguably it's the same sort of term as "vigilante", though to my mind less favourable. But that's a discussion for another thread!