Grrrrrr!

It's over a year since we were in India, a trip of incredible ups and downs documented on here. Our favourite place from the whole trip was undoubtedly Darjeeling, and while there we visited the Tibetan Refugee Self-Help Centre, where, amongst other things, they handmade carpets. Now Mel loves her carpets and rugs, so the opportunity to buy a handmade Tibetan carpet/rug direct from the source, having seen them being made, and for a fraction of the cost if bought in the UK, was one that was never going to be turned down.

At the time we ordered the waiting time was around 6 months... Well it arrived at the end of last week. Worth the wait though. Just need to work out which space on the wall it's going to take over...

Should really now be working on the website. Got over half of it done (that being 26 of the 50 pages required for the magazine) and running out of steam tonight. Really should get it finished tomorrow because I'm meeting some friends at the German market on Thursday night. All in hand.

Anyway, in place of a rant, here's a short article written to take up a page tonight.

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Time for some pure pedantry, on something which has been building for a while. This isn't a rant; this isn't intended as a slur on anyone. Oh alright, it is. And whether they be people who don't know the Highway Code, or have a loose grasp of the English language, it's one and the same. Ladies and gentlemen, there is a difference between 'right of way' and 'priority'.

Basically it goes like this:

Right of Way
The right of conveyance in or on your chosen means of transport on that particular route. So cars, bikes, buses, horses and so on all have a right of way on the road (unless specifically excluded). Bikes can also have right of way on officially designated paths, along with the pedestrians obviously.

Priority
Where more than one person is using the same right of way, one of them will have priority over the other in certain circumstances.

Right of Way versus Priority
For instance, when turning right off a road the oncoming traffic has right of way and priority, the person turning only has a right of way. Unless of course there are a set of traffic lights with a filter to turn right. As soon as that arrow is lit the person turning right gains priority over oncoming traffic. That oncoming traffic hasn't lost its right of way, but has certainly lost (temporarily) its priority.

At road narrowings this is also evident. Coming from either direction you have a right of way, but priority is determined by the arrow on the sign entering the road narrowing. You don't lose your right of way, that would mean never being able to pass by that way, but rather you lose your priority.

Of course, when you're involved in an incident in which your priority has been neglected by another party I'm sure you're not going to be too worried about the semantics and you may well perceive an insult to your right of way; but by the time you've calmed down enough to post on a website, on any cycling forum, or in a letter to the press, please bear in mind the difference.

End of lecture. Now please excuse me, this article needs to be thoroughly proof-read because it would be rather embarrassing for there to be any mistakes lurking in an article on the correct use of language...