A life-saver. ‘Bike Helmet’ (c) 2010 Dana Beveridge. Used under a Creative Commons license.

Hello my dears!

This is one of those very, very rare posts where we have a change of plans (mostly because there is no plan to begin with, but there you have it!). The thing is, as eagle-eyed viewers might have spotted at the end of the last post, I was planning to do a fan interaction segment, where we discussed the importance of road safety for both corporate and self employed courier jobs. But as I was getting ready to start fielding your entries (which I was sure would be plenty, and were!) I got a very kind offer that I could not refuse.

Those of you who have been following me for a while will know that my nephew, Stephen, is a self employed delivery driver. And before he got his van, he used to work self employed courier jobs on his bicycle. So when he read my last post and called me offering to give his own take on the road safety subject, how could I refuse? It’s not every day I get to have an ‘industry expert’ wanting to write for my blog, is it?

So for all of you who wrote in hoping to see your letters featured...I’m sorry, I’m sure you’ll understand. Besides, it’s not like I’m throwing the emails away – I made a special folder in my email thing just to put them all for future reference, in case I forget I want to do that segment! So as you see, they are in good hands. With that said, Stevie darling, the stage is yours!

“You know when you’re little, and your Mum and Dad keep telling you not to ride your bike without a helmet on? Yes, it’s annoying and lame – because they’re grown-ups, so it *has* to be lame, right? – but guess what? It’s going to help you loads later in life - *especially* if you happen to start working self employed courier jobs.

Now, you might think that since you’re ‘self-employed’ nobody can *make* you wear a helmet or reflective vest, and you’d be right. Technically. In practice, you would be very wrong not to wear these protective accessories, as they really do help prevent accidents.

Case in point? Me. When I first started working self employed courier jobs, I was a daft teenager wanting to be rebellious, and I didn’t wear any of those things. I was cool, maaaan, you know? That is, until the day I almost ran a little kid over. I was coming round a corner – at full speed, as usual – and the little boy was crossing the road that I was about to come into. He looked both ways, but he couldn’t know to look behind, could he? If I’d had a bell, I could have warned him I was coming and not had to swerve out of the way and almost hit a hedge, like I did.

Then there was the time I almost got run over myself. I was on the road coming back home after my last job of the day, and it was getting dark. Instead of moving to the sidewalk, though, I just kept going – with my headphones on, to boot! Needless to say, a lorry started coming down the one–way street, and I never saw it coming! In the end it was all right, because the street was wide enough for the both of us, but I shudder to think what would have happened if it wasn’t.

Anyway, those two incidents helped me wise up to the importance of safety gear when out doing delivery work on your bike. If you think it’s lame, think again – it could save your life!”

Thanks so much, Stevie! As for the rest of you, I hope you understand why I scrapped my regularly scheduled post for this one.

Until next time, ta-ra!

- Gertie
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