Boris bikes

It has been a while since Boris Johnson, current Major of London, introduced the bicycle sharing scheme and I had a chance to use them as well, now.

There are really many advantages in using "Boris bikes" as:

-   It's cheap and easy to rent. You can purchase a day or week access fee and then you are off. The first 30 minutes of renting is free, which is reasonable for any short distance in Central London, more convenient than taking a bus, for which a return ticket would cost almost three times the price of renting a cycle.

-   Cycling is good for your health, etc. etc.

-   You don't need to worry about where to tie down your own cycle, and then no need to worry about cycle thieves (which I'm still thanking for easing my decision towards buying a new wheel and a new saddle).

The downsides, though, can unfortunately be pretty terrible:

-   You can't leave your cycle everywhere and you need to find a docking station and then plan your route in advance, unless you have a lot of confidence in your luck (sometimes they are hidden from the main roads).

-   It is amazing how difficult is to find a cycle at certain times. As many people are using them, the locations in the centre are filled up in the morning and emptied at night, while the opposite happens for locations outside the centre. This is understandable as people go back home at night and go to work in the morning. Unfortunately, I need exactly the opposite (usually: going back home drunk at night and leaving home when I wake up in the afternoon) and it is extremely frustrating and time-wasting looking for the nearest docking station with cycles in it, and it also becomes a problem when you have to leave your cycle and the docking station is full.

I think that I'll continue to use the service, though. Not that I don't mind walking for 20 minutes looking for a non-empty docking station, but maybe the desire to find it full when I need it will regulate my already messed-up body clock.