You would never know it was August. It's as dull and chilly as late Autumn. Not only that, with our recent strong winds, some trees are convinced that Summer is over and are shedding brown leaves everywhere. You feel like shouting "No! Stop it!" but you just know the trees aren't going to listen to some gesticulating and noisy ape descendant.

'C' That?

Remember the Sinclair C5? Those of you who can't, it was a sort of sports model mobility buggy. available in any colour as long as it's white. Except they were never entirely mobile. Not really a success for a vehicle intended to redefine urban transportation.

When these came out years and years ago, I only saw one man brave enough to drive it on the public road. On my way to work there was a traffic jam, and the vehicle causing it was a man who was without doubt the advance guard of the eco-car movement. If only he could have advanced faster.

Within a few days he'd given up, his morale crushed by lines of amused and irate motorists, not to mention his first encounter with rainfall. That really was the last time I ever saw one in action.

Not any more. Last night some youngster was pedalling one around the area. A new generation has discovered the joys of green... I mean, white, motoring. Despite all the criticism our education system has received over the last twenty years, this young man has realised that obstructing the free flow of irritable motorists is a dumb idea, and prefers to send pedestrians flying in all directions as if he was riding an aerodynamic three wheeled skateboard.

We used to blame Clive Sinclair. Now we could blame Bart Simpson. On the other hand, we might just as well blame the ecological movement for making people think the C5 was a good idea after all. Then again, the young driver might quickly discover he hasn't addressed the second major flaw in the C5 design.

Riding On The Pavement

Maybe it was high spirits. Maybe he was just showing off to his friends. Maybe he was jealous of my new