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megmeister drynamo long-sleeve baselayer
a baselayer fulfils at least two important functions: firstly, with a bit of luck, it keeps you warm, fuzzy and as dry as conditions will allow. and secondly, and arguably more importantly, it fulfils a similar purpose to that offered by the mips liner in several contemporary cycle helmets. in other words, if, for any unfortunate reason, you hit the deck at speed, the baselayer forms a middle-man (so to speak), between your jersey and skin, possibly saving you from highly uncomfortable road-rash.
the latter, however, is probably not the garment's primary purpose, and possibly not at the top of the design list.
it has long been common advice to those indulging in adventurous outdoor activities, that the most pragmatic means of dressing for the weather, is to layer one's garmentage. working from the inside out, commencing with a thermal baselayer, under a seasonably appropriate jersey, topped, if conditions demand, with a windproof or waterproof breathable outer shell.
the theory behind so doing is the ability to add or remove layers as conditions demand across the course of a day and trapping warm air between each layer. in practice, it tends to work better for hillwalkers or hikers, who probably have a backpack capable of accepting an outer shell. the three rear pockets on a cycle jersey are usually found wanting when wishing to stow a full-size outer jacket. who hasn't found themselves in that situation?
however, for the purposes of today's discussion, we're looking specifically at the humble (or, in this case, not so humble) baselayer, a garment i confess to wearing at every point of the year. in summer, that will most likely consist of a short-sleeve and relatively lightweight item, either of merino wool construction or some blend of polyester. merino is often the preferred fabric, if only for its odour-free demeanour, but the primary function in summer is to wick sweat away from one's personage and pass it on to the jersey and subsequently to any outer garment worn as a barrier to wind or rain. even in a hebridean summer, keeping warm is of a secondary consideration.
an erstwhile cycling colleague of mine swore by the cotton t-shirt as the finest of base layers, a recommendation with which few of us would find favour. when cotton gets wet, it tends to remain so, and there's no denying that you'll be perfectly well aware of that propensity both during and after the bike ride. perfection in a baselayer is either one that conceals its saturation, or, better still, passes it outwards, leaving itself in a most amenable state of dessication. megmeister's branding of this particular baselayer as drynamo probably gives some indication as to where it lives on that sliding scale.
it is rare that i find myself requiring a long-sleeve baselayer, even in the depths of winter. the hebrides are renowned for vast quantities of rainfall at this time of year, but unlike scotland's east coast, our climate is reckoned to be of a more temperate constitution. climate change, however, might be in the throes of altering this; over the past year or so, the prevailing south-westerly winds appear to have changed tack, and we are on the receiving end of easterlies far more than was once the case. easterlies are, by definition, colder. and on the first day of the review period, islay was on the receiving end of a north easterly blast, dropping the temperature display on my garmin to marginally in excess of three degrees (excluding wind chill).
day two was a tad less onerous, but still an excellent opportunity on which to check the veracity of a seamlessly constructed baselayer. to return to my original mention of merino wool, it comprises 68% of the garment, aided and abetted by 4% regenerated lycra, and 28% amni-soul. if the latter is new to you, it's also new to me. it is, apparently, a soft to the touch, biodegradeable polyamide fabric, meaning that, when the baselayer reaches the end of its useful life, it will naturally decompose, unlike many modern, man-made fabrics that tend to last, and last, and last.
if you will allow me to be quite blunt, this is possiby the finest baselayer in which it has been my good fortune to be cossetted. as previously mentioned, a long sleeved baselayer is something i'd be inclined to keep in storage for special occasions, perhaps better known as january. however, the combination of cold weather (though relatively windless) and the second-skin feeling as described by megmeister on their website, meant that it was remarkably cosy, and all but invisible in use. and despite wearing a long-sleeve winter jersey and thermal jacket, comfort, in every sense of that description, was undoubtedly the watchword following my return to the croft.
the lack of seams undoubtedly played a part in that situation. the sleeves are well judged in length, featuring thumbholes at the cuffs, either to ward off any untoward draughts when riding, or keeping the sleeves just where you want them while donning a tight-fitting long-sleeve jersey over the top. and though it would be naive to expect the layer to be 100% dry at ride's end, it kept that pretty much to itself.
if i have any complaint, and it's a relatively minor one, i'd have preferred a higher neckline. i tend to wear a richard sachs monogrammed colsino over all my jerseys, so in practice, it's a moot point, but i would have liked it to have been a smidgeon higher. that said, megmeister also offer a turtleneck version to suit those of us with wimpish tendencies. if winter weather is about to, or already afflicting your riding, this might just be the very solution for which you seek.
the megmeister drynamo long-sleeve baselayer is available in small/medium (as reviewed), or large/xl at a cost of £90. colour of the review garment is focus olive. however, if you're quick, it's currently on sale at £72, if you're interested.
monday 27 november 2023
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................a stupidity of sheep
the collective nouns applied to gatherings of particular animals or birds, rarely seem to pay a great deal of relevance to the animals themselves. how else, would you explain why several crows are referred to as a murder, or a murmuration of starlings? and though i confess i've never actually come across a ptarmigan, it seems i'm even less likely to find them in numbers, given that their collective description is an invisibleness.
of course, for every bizarre apellation, there is a corresponding ordinariness, such as a herd of cows. that seems quite logical; only a couple of weekends past, as i thundered along the abhainbhoggie (aven-vogie) road on my way to mulindry, i met with a large number of highland cattle being driven in the opposite direction. the farmer kindly advised that my flashing front light, about which i had forgotten, might be likely to startle the beasts, and for my own safety, i should probably conceal myself behind a nearby woodchipper.
such happenstances are not uncommon around these here parts.
highland cattle, the very beasts beloved of artist, steven brown, who, for reasons best known to himself, paints them in a multitude of colours, are relatively docile beasts, but equipped with rather wide and fearsome looking horns. on the basis that they might be less aware of the damage those horns can inflict than am i, removing myself from their onward path seemed like the sensible thing to do. however, the fact that they tend to stick together while being directed from one field to another, seems most aptly described by the word herd.
sheep, on the other hand, bear no logic about their person whatsoever. they are, and i have complete agreement from numerous sheep farmers on the isle, predictably the most unpredictable animals on the planet. a farmer's wife of my acquaint has often said that, if they can find a stupid means of dying, they probably will. at lambing time, when plying the route between loch gruinart and loch gorm, on the descent it is not uncommon to see mum and one lamb on one side of the road, while sibling number two is on the opposite side. you know that, despite them being in no danger from the peloton whatsoever, one or other is going to move; the difficulty is in guessing which.
on yesterday's solo bike ride, as i headed past carnduncan, overlooking loch gorm, two sheep at the side of the road found it necessary to interrupt their munching of grass, in order to run in front of the bicycle for several hundred metres, causing an oncoming vehicle to have need of pulling into a passing place to avoid running them over. only a matter of half a kilometre further on, neilan passed me in his skoda estate running close to a sheep on the roadside verge. despite the possibility of the car causing untold harm to the woolly beast, should either have moved but a few centimetres in either direction, the sheep continued munching undisturbed.
yet when i passed moments later, on the opposite side of the road, it ran away in a panic, despite my posing very little risk to fleece or animal. and only a few hundred metres up the road, despite my cycling on the opposite side, and separated from several sheep by a sturdy wooden fence, as i neared, they rose up en masse and ran away. this aberrant behaviour was similarly underlined by sheep in a field between coullabus and uiskentuie. once again, despite the existence of a fence and grass verge between me and them, the entire crowd ran willy-nilly into the corner of the field. had i, in fact, had designs on causing them any physical harm, their agglomeration would have made life so much easier by their crowding into a corner from which there was no obvious retreat.
i would humbly suggest, therefore, that the collective noun applicable ought best be a stupidity of sheep. mind you, the hundreds of barnacle geese on gruinart flats weren't much better.
image: © ron steenvoorden islay.scot
sunday 26 november 2023
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................ignored
the recent release of a carbon e-bike by one of the progenitors of british cycling's advanced track bike, appears to have been welcomed by not only the cycling media, but also certain corners of the motoring world. of course, a limited edition £20,000 e-bike will, by definition, appeal only to an appropriately limited audience, presumably one that has no qualms over dropping a not inconsiderable amount of money on a road bicycle that is probably incapable of completing even the shortest of sportive events without being plugged in at some point(s) along the parcours.
despite its claimed extremely light weight (for an e-bike), and possible concomitant lengthy battery life, there's no legitimate denial that at various points throughout its future life, it will require to be fed with electricity sourced from the national grid, not all of which, in all locations, will be derived from renewable sources.
at the time of its launch at this year's rouleur live, i did indeed comment that i found its existence something of a conundrum. all roadies of my acquaintance subscribe to the paradigm that followers of velominati are in this for the challenge, testing their mettle against the vicissitudes of the open road, meteorological conditions, and their own tenacity in the face of velocipedinal adversity. not for nothing does rule #5 advise us to have more of a backbone when pursuing the way of the saddle. to mitigate all of the above with a motor (albeit one that is arguably of tiny proportions) and battery is scarcely something that might have you described as one of the activity's hardmen/women.
however, i take into account the observation of one of my work colleagues, pointing out that not everyone with a bicycle embraces a similar approach, that the bicycle is a means of undertaking sometimes intensive exercise in occasionally challenging circumstances. many more are quite content to take a more leisurely approach to a sunday bike ride, happy to observe their surroundings without recourse to wout van aert impersonations.
i understand why modern representations of the human race are keen to follow their socialised upbringing and resort to the easiest means of resembling a cyclist. currently (pun intended), that would be on an e-bike. and according to bike industry statistics, the e-bike is likely to be seen as the successor to the mountain bike of the early 1980s, bucking the trend of diminishing sales and helping save the industry from post-pandemic doldrums (depending, of course, on which statistics to which you pay attention). that would tend to suggest that it is the acoustic bicycle that is in need of resuscitation, particularly given its credentials as an efficient and totally environmentally benign means of transport.
which is why i am once again confounded.
in mid-november, the bicycle association, with support from investors in cycling and chairman of active travel england, chris boardman presented westminster with a manifesto focusing on jobs and the economic growth potential of greater adoption of the bicycle within the nation's transport infrastructure. in essence, this is not only to be welcomed, but congratulated on the basis of its almost entrepreneurial stance. however, according to my opinion, one of the three succinct demands encapsulated by the manifesto veers a tad close to controversy.
in order to present a simplicity of message and target as wide a range of parliamentary interest as possible, the association précised its suggestions in three main points, namely, a national uk e-bike subsidy scheme, zero vat on children's bicycles, and funding innovation in the uk cycle industry to increase employment. my problem, you will be unsurprised to learn, is with the first of the three.
why is it there are these regular demands to subsidise the only genre of bicycle that seems not to require any subsidy? and if, for whatever reason it is found appropriate so to do, what of those who might prefer to ride an acoustic bicycle? since bicycles of every hue essentially accomplish the same objective, why would any subsidy not apply to bicycles as a whole? and given that the alleged average price paid for an e-bike approaches £3,000, is it not possible that any subsidy will disproportionately benefit the well-off? a bit like offering a 5% discount on a ferrari.
i truly do not comprehend why there is constant suggestion that e-bike purchases be subsidised by government to the exclusion of the acoustic bicycle. the latter is undeniably more environmentally sound, and if the government is truly invested in improving the nation's health, surely the e-bike is a less effective means of doing so?
does anyone else feel ignored?
saturday 25 november 2023
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................big bobblers
at the turn of the century, islay was paid a visit by two fellows from ibis cycles who had recently exhibited an ibis single malt at one of america's premier cycle exhibitions. this particular bike, as long-term post readers may remember, was an all steel, single-speed mountain bike painted in lagavulin green, and when exhibited had featured a custom made bottle cage capable of safely carrying a bottle of lagavulin malt whisky (apparently the favoured tipple of ibis chief, scot nicol).
perhaps unsurprisingly, as a famous memmber of the cycling media, the two gentlemen not only contacted me directly to allow an afternoon of fun and frolics on the single malt, but indulge in earnest conversation, augmented by the presentation of a few ibis monikered trinkets, one of which was an ibis baseball cap. i freely admit that this is a mode of headgear with which i find little affinity, predominantly on the basis that the majority tend to make me look like a complete dork (no sniping from the back row, please). however, the cap with which i was gifted, by common consent, undermined that particular disadvantage by almost suiting my general demeanour.
however, though there is little to deny that a baseball cap merges well with the offroad crowd, in road circles, it has taken a re-naming of the style as the podium cap in order to gain tangential acceptance from the casquette brigade. it might be possible to wear a podium cap under a cycle helmet, but that scarcely makes it a pragmatic or worthwhile idea. rapha's subsequent popularising of the casquette effectively put paid to roadies wearing the podium cap anywhere other than upon the podium. but then there is velominati's rule #22, which helpfully points out that 'cycling caps are for cycling'. this dogmatic statement is qualified by "cycling caps can be worn under helmets, but never when not riding, no matter how hip you think you look."
fearing any form of public ridicule, i have thus abstained from the wearing of either a podium/baseball cap or casquette, in favour of a black, woolly, king crimson embroidered beanie, purchased from the merchandising stand in glasgow's royal concert hall, prior to witnessing that particular tour's crimson extravaganza (any gig featuring three drummers, tony levin and mel collins, surely deserves such a description). however, so doing hardly advertises my predilection with cycling.
that particular problem, however, seems to have been solved in ways i could scarcely have imagined. watching a european cyclocross event last season, i noted a trackside banner proclaiming big bobble hats. further investigation revealed that not only does the company offer a particularly wide range of woolly hats decorated with indeed, a very large bobble up top, but on a more parochial level, it transpires they are based in east kilbride, a town barely a stone's throw from glasgow. given their legitimate association with the union cycliste internationale (uci), i opted for an official uci world cup cyclocross bobble hat.
though a tad self-conscious about wearing it amongst the great unwashed, it turned out that a substantial number of the village population commented on just how fabulous a hat it truly was, completely oblivious to its cyclocross heritage. in fact, it's possibly worth my pointing out that, to my knowledge, only one other village resident has the faintest idea just what cyclocross actually is. to perhaps underline the immensity of the big bobble hat's magnificence, i have taken to pointing out, in a rather juvenile manner, that it is a professional hat, the wearing of which is confined solely to the fully-qualified individual. and delightfully, they offer the possibility of custom designs, currently under consideration by the velo club in debbie's livery.
and if you promise not to tell anyone, i'll admit to wearing my uci big bobble hat while watching each round of the cyclocross world cup series on eurosport. next target will likely be the ronde van vlaanderen big bobble hat.
friday 24 november 2023
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................oh, no you can't
in 2009, i paid my first visit to portland's fair city, during which i had the good fortune to visit a number of cycle practitioners in some of the more obscure corners of the town. one of those with whom i was keen to make contact, was a young lady by the name of jude kirstein (now jude gerace), who had only recently commenced with a wheelbuilding business entitled epic wheelworks. her workshop (and i use the term in its loosest sense) was scarcely any bigger than the elevator in which we reached her first floor premises. though she had a wide array of the componentry required to build wheels, along with a workbench on which to carry out her skilled practice, with three of us in the room (chris distefano was my tour guide), there was very little room to move.
jude had spent the weeks and months leading up to opening the business and staking her claim within portland's burgeoning cycling culture, by visiting those whose work she admired, determined to learn as much as possible. the built wheels sitting under the window sill were testament to her ability to learn quickly.
however, only a few weeks following my return to civilisation, i learned that she had been served with a cease and desist order from the legal department of specialized bicycles. it transpired that they had registered the word epic as a trademark, and took exception to her adoption of the name for a wheelbuilding concern. i confess this seemed particularly heavy-handed, considering the extreme unlikelihood of anyone confusing her broom cupboard of a workshop, with one of the world's largest bicycle manufacturers. however, well aware of her meagre resources, both legal and financial, in comparison to those possessed by specialized, she capitulated and altered the name of her wheelbuilding to sugar wheelworks, an enforced change that winningly provided not only a better name, but a far better logo in the process.
i can understand her disinclination to take on the might of the merida-owned cycle behemoth, but it seems quite possible that she would have won her case. for starters, her epic logo differed greatly from any use specialized had made of the word and it seems highly unlikely that anyone would confuse her handbuilt wheels with that of a carbon bicycle, particularly when specialized's own wheel brand is known as roval. and though i believe it pertains solely to legal matters in north america, the reliance of the judiciary upon the so-called dupont factors would appear, from my cursory investigations, to have sided in her favour. of course, it's now all water under the bridge, but the big boys seem still to spend what might be considered an inordinate amount of time worrying about potential trademark infringement.
the most recent case of which i'm aware, this time concerned the other manufacturing monolith, the trek bicycle company. an application to register ranger trek as a trademark for use on products (not bicycles) sold throughout america's national parks had been challenged by trek bicycles on the basis that they too sold backpacks, sports bags and the like, and there was a high possibility of the two being confused by potential customers. however, the trademark trial and appeal board, upheld the ranger trek registration after careful consideration of the previously mentioned dupont factors, a link to which i have posted below in case you're as intrigued as was i.
the applicant for the ranger trek trademark, having spent the past six years defending her application, has stated that had she realised trek bicycle was likely to be quite so belligerent, she'd never have included the word 'trek' in the first place.
it turns out that trek bicycle ranks at number four on a list of trademark bullies, sitting in line behind kellogs, apple and monster energy. legal experts have explained that trek has to continually to protect its trademark due to the common use of the word in many different situations. it reminds of mick and andy at prendas who, after years of research, offered a reproduction of the colnago casquette as worn by wesley snipes in the movie 'white men can't jump'. only a matter of days after placing it online, colnago came a calling with their own cease and desist order.
somewhat naive and confused about the situation, i contacted windwave, the uk colnago distributor, to enquire as to what the problem might be? surely the worst that could happen was that more people bought a colnago? the qualifying response pointed out that, while colnago had no particular problem with the prendas cycle cap, if they were seen to grant clemency to mick and andy, it could prejudice any future situation where more serious infractions of trademark law could prove harder to defend based on their previous leniency.
it's a funny old world.
thursday 23 november 2023
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................stating the glaringy obvious
when i was young, oh so much younger than today, one sunday afternoon, my father took the family to a strip of tarmac somewhere near turnberry hotel in ayrshire, to participate in an advanced driving event curated by the local traffic police. i confess that i recall very very little of the afternoon, other than the car weaving in and out of traffic cones and similary carefully placed obstacles. whether this made my father a better driver, i honestly have no idea, though he did end his career never having suffered a motoring accident, unless you count one or two speeding tickets within that category.
of course, so-called advanced driving courses are scarcely the sole preserve of the constabulary nowadays, though several are led by former or current police instructors. while i don't doubt the efficacy of such techniques, casual observation of driver behaviour on hebridean roads would tend to suggest that there are many hundreds, if not thousands, of prospective clients, the majority of whom have likely assured themselves of their proximity to formula one fame and fortune.
while i do possess a driver's licence, i effectively gave up driving over a decade ago, partly because i dislike driving a car, but predominantly due to the realisation that i really wasn't very good at it. better, i thought, to desist from driving in order to safeguard not only yours truly, but every other driver on islay's roads. my regular transport demands are met predominantly by bicycle, shanks's pony (walking) or the occasional lift from my son. i should, conscientiously, point out that this is made considerably easier by living in the principal village on a small island.
and though i might be lacking any confidence whatsoever when behind the wheel of a car, there's a solid argument to be made suggesting that i might be a tad over-confident when on my bicycle. i beleve that a mitigating factor preventing the latter from providing ill-advised bragging rights is the salient fact that i am no longer young or fit enough to squander this misbegotten confidence by riding insouciantly at speed. i have, along with many others, learned to stake my claim to roadspace, riding in the centre of the road on blind corners to discourage any following vehicles from attempting to overtake, and though quick to disapprove, i am rarely unnerved by cars or trucks which fail miserably to allow me the required 1.5 metres.
i did, at one time, own one of those triangular enamel badges signifying my passing of the national cycling proficiency exam, though given the amount of time that has elapsed since my senior primary school days, i honestly doubt so doing has any direct influence on my current professed superiority in the saddle. however, given my apparent obsession with riding my bicycles, i have carefully observed the professionals on the road and in cyclocross and attempted to adopt relevant approaches that would make me a better cyclist.
however, i live in an arguably remote location, populated by a far lwer density of motor vehicles than the vast majority of mainland locations. add to that, many of the vehicles encountered during my perambulations, are driven by people i know and who know me, making the whole process more enjoyable and considerably safer. for those cyclists not living in the hebrides, you have my sincere condolences; your traffic experiences cannot hope to approach those of my own, so it would seem prudent to spare a thought for those embarking upon the joys of cycling we all know so well. how to gain the necessary experience while remaining in one piece long enough to put it into practice cannot be the easiest of learning curves.
however, aside from the schools which still teach cycling proficiency (none of those on islay currently do so - another article for another day), would-be adult cyclists can avail themselves of learner or advanced courses, similar to those made widely available to the motoring public. it seems tautologically obvious to point out that things can only get better for the apprentice velocipedinist, and that undertaking such a course would be for the benefit of all. i doubt there are many who do not see the logical value of so doing.
which is why my eyebrows have expressed just the wrong side of mild surprise that the bikeability trust saw fit to produce a report, pointing out that "...cycle training that meets the National Standards for Cycle Training (NSCT) can reduce the risk of a cyclist being killed or injured on Britain's roads."
one might ask if there was really ever any doubt that things were otherwise?
wednesday 22 november 2023
..........................................................................................................................................................................................................the little pictures
a number of years past, as i wended my merry way towards debbie's for saturday lunch, as i rounded the blind corner at crosshouses, a couple of kilometres or so after bridgend village, i met two japanese visitors in a hire car travelling the same side of the road as that on which i was cycling. there was a brief moment of "what's wrong with this picture?", before taking the avoiding action of making a dive for the opposite lane. unfortunately, the two gents opted for a similar course of action, and i'd to make another immediate correction to avoid any sort of collision.
to a certain extent i can understand their error, having been guilty of riding on the wrong side of the road at least twice when visiting portland, oregon. however, unlike roads in the pacific northwest, islay's roads feature frequent large white arrows painted in close proximity to the majority of junctions. obviously enough, these are to inform foreign drivers on which side of the road they ought to find themselves. by and large, they seem to have been reasonably effective, there having been no collisions, as far as i'm aware, as a result of vehicles driving on the wrong side.
however, the portent of such infractions is relatively minor, given the overall number of foreign visitors and the relatively short length of the summer season. the problem that both cyclists and motorists face on islay, perhaps to a greater degree than those of mainland drivers, is over-eager drivers on single-track roads and the numerous blind corners to be found all across the isle. physically, there is no available space for two cars side by side on one of the above mentioned back roads, but it often seems that the spatial judgment of many a motorist, both local and visitor, is somewhat lacking when adjudging whether to overtake a cyclist.
i doubt there is a single member of the velo club who has not been overtaken at least once on a narrow backroad by a driver guilty of misjudging the width of their vehicle and how much space is required by a cyclist. and where the body of the vehicle may well be capable of passing without incident, in all but the rarest of occasions, the size of the wing-mirrors (some almost approximating the dimensions of a small tv monitor) appears rarely to be taken into account.
such has been the frequency and possible effect of these ill-advised overtaking manouevres, that there have been discussions within the sunday peloton concerning the desire and efficacy of installing what the motoring trade refers to as dash-cams, devices easily affixed both front and back on almost any type of bicycle. in fact, as i write these words, i recall that i do, in fact, have just such a video camera combined with a rear light (i know, wrong direction). disappointingly, the charging cable is absent without leave, and the sd card has gone walkabout.
however, assuming we festooned cameras of this description about our velocipedes to record any traffic violations of the nature described above, what would we do with the resulting footage in order to have the local sergeant have a stern word through the driver's window? or worse.
in the majority of the uk, it would be a simple matter of downloading the footage to a computer before uploading it to a national dashcam safety portal where it could be reviewed by the police, ultmately, we might hope, to make the roads safer places in which to ride one's bicycle. the fly-in-the-ointment is that scotland has no such safety portal, despite police scotland having agreed to develop just such a facility in march 2022. and in order for just such an opportunity to proceed, transport scotland offered funding of £300,000. so far, so good, you might imagine.
however, in october 2023, scotland's justice minister, angela constance, announced that the system had been cancelled by police scotland, having decided that such a portal was not "...the optimum route" down which they wished to travel. instead, police scotland have opted to instigate a digital evidence sharing capability, currently being prototyped in dundee. however, should this proved successful, it won't be fully implemented until 2025.
the scottish branch of cycling uk has, not unnaturally, queried this decision, given the proven effectiveness of the safety portal currently in use by 37 uk police forces. reports uploaded in 2021 apparently led to successful action being taken against offending drivers at a rate of 80%. the portals have also proved their effectiveness in saving of police time, since the footage can be reviewed by civilian staff.
it may be that police scotland have belatedly adopted the 'not invented here' manual as used by last century's apple computer.
tuesday 21 november 2023
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