This article is classified "Real"
Cambridge is not a city for car drivers. The ring road is OK but the
centre of town is geared towards pedestrians and bicyclists. Both tourists
and students are renown for this form of transport. Bicycle lanes abound
and take away valuable road surface from cars. Cambridge has a "park and
ride" scheme for bussing motorists into town from car parks from the edge
of town.
A recent scheme for public transport involved "The Green Bike" scheme.
In this project bikes were provided by the city council and left unlocked -
free for anyone's use. The only condition was that the bikes would be
left for use by the next person when you finished with them. Needless to
say, all the bikes were stolen within a few days.
The Pubs:
These almost all have boat or some river term in their name. Ask friendly
locals for their opinion on the quality of your preferred beverage in a pub
before going in. There are real ale pubs and cider pubs, but I have yet to
come across a lager pub.
One such pub is the "Boathouse." The "Old Speckled Hen" is recommended by
a bitter drinking friend. I wouldn't touch it as the head looked like it
was made from washing up liquid. The balls of the pinball machine ("The
Twilight Zone") got stuck quite regularly. It was worth it just to see the
boss reset the machine and watch the table hunt for the lost ball and then
replace it when it couldn't find it.
Shops:
Cambridge is heaven for a book buyer. (On par with London's Charing Cross
Road). Cambridge is also renown for its antiquities. Players of the
Hitchhiker's Guide adventure game will be pleased to know that there is a
junk shop called "My Auntie Had One But She Threw It Away."
There are several emerging high technology companies to work for. None of
the many people I know who live in Cambridge dislike living there.
Rhodri James
(Rhodri/S=James/O=SJ-Research/ADMD=INTERSPAN/C=GB/@mhs-relay.ac.uk)
writes:
In fact the centre of town is mostly geared for pedestrians, as
anyone attempting to cycle through the Market Square will find
out to their cost. Bikes are banned from 10am to 6pm, i.e.
whenever anyone might possibly want to go back to college from
lectures or out again after lunch. It seems that people complain
about big, dangerous bicycles running them down on the nice brick-
surfaced streets (sigh, why did they have to make it *look*
pedestrianised?) when they waddle out into the middle of the road
without looking. Aside from the fact that no self-respecting
cyclist would allow himself to do anything so dangerous as
collide with a pedestrian (that *hurts*!), people are now finding
it really quite difficult to get near the colleges. The council
are therefore considering allowing nice, quiet, safe busses back
into the area, because of course they wouldn't run anyone down.
You can probably guess my opinion on the matter.