Swords, Knives, Long Bows.....

General
1

but no unicycles allowed because they are too dangerous!

I went to the Renaissance Festival with the family today and thought “what a great place to get a little riding in!” Didn’t work out exactly as planned. Apparently, swords, knives, bow and arrows, etc… are safe and acceptable, while unicycles are dangerous instruments of destruction. Lieutenant Nixon of the Atlanta Police Department who was hired as one of the part time cops to work the festival approached me while I was waiting in in line to buy tickets.

Officer Nixon- “You don’t plan on riding “That” in there are you?”
Me- “Hadn’t really decided.” “I was going to wait and see if there was anywhere to ride. Mostly planned on riding from the car and to the car.”
Officer Nixon-“Well you can’t ride it in there.”
Me- “Oh, is there a regulation that prohibits it? Because I am pretty sure I have seen a unicycle ridden in there before.” “I’d be curious to read the rules that say unicycles are prohibited.”
Officer Nixon- " No there isn’t, but you just can’t ride it in there."
Me-“So do you just randomely enforce non existant rules or was there something special about me that made you feel obligated to enforce this non existant rule?”
Officer Nixon- “Well, you just can’t ride it in there, it could be dangerous.”

I pretty much ended it there, because I didn’t relly want to try to reason with him. He was going to force his will on me no matter what I said. So I rode off and put it back in the car.

Later that day, sure as I had said, there was a performer on a unicycle. On a slack rope no less. It seemed dangerous. Maybe if I was wearing tights I would have gotten away with riding it in.:smiley:

Once again the “Man” is trying to beat down the unicyclists.

2

Stick it to the man! man.

3

i went to the festival when it came to maryland… didn’t see any unicyclists tho :frowning:

4

The difference between you and the guy on the slackrope is probably that you stood in line to buy a ticket and he didn’t. He may have even been paid to be in there. The makes a big difference! That guy is supposed to be there, but you are a total wildcard. A cop has no idea of your level of skill, and no idea of the safety level of a unicycle. Same as everybody else.

5

I have disdain for police officers so I keep my distance.

Recently, I was practicing riding backwards down a double yellow residential road. When I saw the cop coming, I just dismounted and put on my “random unicyclist standing on the street sweating look.” The cop stopped anyway, and did the “typical unicycle” interview and drove off.

Unfortunately, there is a new police station in the neighborhood. Fortunately, I haven’t had any encounters. I don’t want to have a cop tell me that I can’t ride backwards, or not ride on the street, or not ride on the sidewalk. Oh, and I am pretty sure it’s illegal to ride on the railroad (that goes past the sherrif’s/constable building and the police station).

Imagine having one cop in the neighborhood limit me to sidewalks, and another to the street - and the 3rd element, me, continuing to ride using myself to govern safety.

My policy with police is to avoid them like I am already a criminal.