the major's map

The BOF is big on Barclays' Bicycles; he uses them most days for scooting around on short journeys. Even on the slightly longer treks, it's very hard to work up any kind of sweat: the rewards for pedalling harder are so small that it's not worth the effort.

He has been puzzled by the apparent lack of rational behind the placement and spread of docking stations, the places where the bikes live. Heading south, the casual rider cannot even approach the river until Dolphin Square, location for many a twin-bedded research meeting. The same curious barrier occurs westward: Holland Park is your limit.

It is perhaps a worthwhile exercise to consider the daily routine of the scheme's larger-than-life chief proponent,  Major Boris. If you were to draw a line on the map between his home and his office, and if you were then, for decency's sake, to pad this out by an equal amount to the north and the south of the line, until a pleasing rhomboid is evident, you have the exact distribution of the bicycle stations.

The BOF hopes that the same technique is being applied to CrossRail, and is even now preparing a letter to the Major, suggesting a slight re-routing and a station outside his own front door.