by 
Above: Scene of the crime part two. My first collision with a cyclist outside Jempson’s, Hastings.
After being hit by the skateboarder in Priory Meadow and seeking help from Sussex Coast College, I found myself further developing my ‘close involvement’ with Hastings anti-social boarders and bikers, when a cyclist rode into me outside Jempson’s bakery and coffee shop.
He came ‘flying’ around the corner of Jempson’s, having cycled down past the toilets and heading into the town centre. This is an area that is unsigned, despite my already having called East Sussex County Council about the lack of signage. I’ll return to their hopeless signage in another post.
As I had already discovered, verbal abuse on the part of the person crashing into me would be an integral part of our close contact.
%&*!”!…
%&*!”! in my way, you ‘%&*!”!’ and $$1! Watch where your’re &&*££! going, you “@?@#.
Feeling an intense scream of pain from the right side of my neck, twisting around my body and ending in my left foot, I try and say something but in the shock of it all I am unsure what to say. I’ve just been hit again and it’s apparently my fault. I don’t know whether he is just attacking me because he feels stupid and is on the defensive or if he genuinely believes I am at fault.
People are sitting watching but no-one wants to get involved. After I don’t know how long, the abuse stops and the guy cycles off towards McDonalds, muttering and cussing to himself.
I don’t have any clear memories of getting home. I’m not sure if I had to take the bus, though I do remember a lot of pain and limping up part of Queen’s Road.
It took me 3 weeks to recover from this collision with a cyclist
I woke up the next day and I have to say that I have never felt so physically mangled at any period in my life. Not during Bmx crashes when I used to race when younger. Not through any of my martial arts or boxing years.
I had bruises on my bruises. I didn’t go out for about a week and when I felt ready to venture out, I was using the bus to head into and get back from town for the second week and just using the bus on the way back for that third, still uncomfortable week.
Back in 2010, Nick Hanna of Hastings Urban Bikes (HUB) said to the Observer newspaper:
We understand the fears and concerns of the elderly and the disabled around this issue, although we maintain that the perception of the risk is far greater than the risk of collision itself.
Well, I’ve been hit by a skateboard. Then hit by a bike. Will this perceived risk hit me a third time, or a second, if we’re counting bikes? Stay tuned to find out.
