• AS an ex-cyclist, now in my late 80s, I abhor the bike lanes which did not exist when, for 30 years, I would cycle from Harmood Street to Great Russell Street five times a week.

They are costly, disruptive, and dangerous. I wonder how many people have not got to hospital in time because the ambulance they were in was stuck in that traffic jam in Prince of Wales Road…

But I have, at last, found a use for them. The other, wet and gusty, morning I walked from Harmood Street to Castlehaven Road in the bike lane and without having to make way for a single cyclist!

Asphalt is a lot less slippery than are leaf-strewn paving stones. Highly recommended to others of my age.

ESTHER WHITBY
Harmood Street, NW1