Livre d'Or

Many thanks for this! I think it's pretty unanimous that I need Audacity; I feel like a bit of a dinosaur that I've never recorded my voice, so it's really helpful to get suggestions. And ok, I'll see if I can dig out my old USB mic, and if not I'll buy a new one, I don't want to make this recording into a huge enterprise but I don't want to come out with something completely rubbish in quality.

Your Skype headset ought to be sufficient.

Thank you for good suggestions about bikes. I do wear skirts most of the time so I think step-through is the way forward. And yes, I need a rack to attach panniers, that's a really good point. I hadn't thought of getting a loop as well as a D-lock, so that's really good advice. People steal bikes all the time in the English Cambridge too, and part of me thinks that I just have to accept my bike will have a lifetime. But also some of my friends have said that they've gone years without a bike getting stolen if they use a D-lock, so that seems a good investment.

You need to secure the frame, front wheel and rear wheel all to an immobile object if possible. This is the ideal solution; but it's indispensable (which means a chain (and ideally a D-lock, but I don't take one if I'm not leaving the bike long in public areas), or two D-locks) if your bike has quick-release wheels, because quick-release is quick-nick.

FWIW, I've been cycling to work for eighteen years now, and I've never had a bike nicked, though I've had two attempts to nick my bike, both foiled by my chain, and a horn nicked from my €25 bike in Berlin (it was almost worth more than the bike).

I'm sorry you had such a horrible accident, and glad that you were protected by your helmet. The evidence is really clear that in accidents where riders hit their heads, helmets have an important protective effect. However given that riders without helmets have fewer accidents, it's not a straightforward calculation, and I'm reasonably convinced that without helmet is better. I'm also not cycling in US cities which have considerably worse car-centric infrastructure than British ones, and that changes the balance of risk too.

My experience cycling in London (though not, curiously, cycling in Edinburgh) is that drivers aren't the problem; the problem is pedestrians taking one step out onto the road before looking to see if there's any traffic, which destroys your argument.

And if, by cycling without a helmet, you think you're creating a world in which the risk of head injury is lessened for all cyclists, maybe that's so but I still think it would be increased for you.

If you insist on doing that, at least get yourself an invisible cycle helmet. It'll be cool; you'll be living the Snow Crash world.

Speaking of invisible cycle accessories, check out this.