Hoisted by my own Karma ... I'm now at the confessional

Pride comes before a fall, as they say. In my case, as you may be able to detect from this blog, I was just beginning to get a little bit preachy and smug about being a considerate cyclist. In my mind, I was giving myself a nice pat on the back for being better behaved on the roads than most. Then this morning, an incident which has set back my build-up of good karma several ... months perhaps.

Picture the scene: Mr KarmaCycle is cruising along the Regent's Canal going West, minding his own business. He's approaching a tunnel and spots a fellow cyclist waiting by the entrance. I slow down ready to wait too. But then I notice another cyclist nip in through the tunnel, ignoring the waiting person. The waiting person is showing no signs of moving, so my brain tells me that she must have stopped for some other reason and think she is on the phone or something. So I too nip in front of her, only to see that sure enough there are pedestrians coming through, including a child in a push-chair, and of course I stop to let them through. But quite rightly I am soundly berated by the waiting cyclist who is now behind me and the father who is pushing the push-chair - didn't I see she was waiting etc etc. I mutter my excuses, explaining that I thought she was on the phone, and of course she thinks it's the most ludicrous thing she's ever heard. I go on, feeling rotten and stupid and dwell on the incident for the rest of the journey.

Luckily I did recognise the dad concerned so will be able to offer an apology and explanation when I next see him. But if you, polite waiting female cyclist who goes West down the Regent's Canal at approx 8.45am near Victoria Park happen to read this: a big apology from me for an error of judgement.