Goa
is Warmer.
On the beach for Christmas and enjoying the sunshine
I discover that Yorkshire has also had snowfalls. I wonder how warm it is at
the Museum. I’m still on the case and at the resort I am staying at I meet up
with a guy from Leicester who is a member of the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle
Club.
He said he was just crazy about anything on two wheels. I have frequently
just stopped and looked at the vast array of lightweight machinery parked
around everywhere. Enfields’ are about too and their burbling exhaust is very
distinctive within the hubbub of traffic. Most bikes have Sari guards and the
Enfield one is very artistic.
It is here in Goa that I see the aftermath of a
bike accident with a scooter on its side and a gathering of bikers assisting. I
had watching the traffic as we progressed by taxi from the airport. There were
no cars involved in this incident so I gather that it was a close manoeuvre
that went wrong and one bike clipped another resulting in a spill. This comes
as no surprise as the antics of undertaking and overtaking make me cringe. I
have seen people going at a steady pace with a little room on their left and
riding sensibly only to be undertaken by someone at speed almost knocking them
out of the way and almost into the path of someone overtaking. The result was
swift actions by everyone near to avoid collisions. The riders and drivers give
little room for error. They have transferred their bicycling techniques of go
anywhere to motorcycles and then to cars. The result is mayhem and complete
disregard to any rules that apply. It is not for the feint hearted. Normally
India drives on the left as we do in the UK. This is not always the case as on
some dual carriageways a continuous central reservation stops access to the
other side of the road. To get around this traffic just goes the wrong way up
the road to get to where they need to be. Sometimes directly towards you or the
timid ones in the nearside gutter. It is all a bit disconcerting.
Some people
stick to the rules and go to the left of roundabouts others just treat it as an
obstacle and go the shortest route. It all amounts to seeing a space and moving
toward it. No great speed is involved even with overtaking, creeping by with an
indecisive manoeuvre frequently forcing the overtook vehicle to slow to allow
room of misjudged distances especially when there is something coming towards
you. This results in much blowing of horns and flashing of lights. It seems
that drivers and riders don’t plan their moves only seeing a space and trying
to go for it even against a flow of oncoming traffic. I have talked people
about how they ride and drive and all seem to have no real idea about gears and
revs and acceleration. Quite happy to creep along in too high a gear labouring
the engine and getting nowhere. It also appears all they want to do is get
ahead of the person who is in front on any space available and not always the
road! One lane becomes two and three becomes five as motorcycles, cars and
tuc-tucs jostle for position. I would recommend tuc-tucs for any short taxiing
around. They get through places cars can never go being almost as narrow as a
bike. There will be more observations of riding in India as time goes on. In
the mean time I’ll just keep topping up my sun tan.
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