I often take my bike on the train to visit one of my best friends in Didcot. I love the journey, partly because you don't have the hassle of having to pre-book the bike, but also because of the great views such as Radley Lakes.

Because you see fewer cyclists in Didcot, I assume I'm cycling in a more dangerous place, where cars don't treat cyclists as well as in Oxford.

On my latest visit, the first I saw was a proper' cyclist, with suitably toned legs and all the gear. Then a lorry stopped to let me pull out and a pedestrian didn't walk off the kerb to cross right in front of me. The only drawback was having to cycle up a hill (frankly not much of one, although when you're this pregnant, there's not much room or energy to pedal hard).

When I returned to Oxford later in the day, I nearly got squashed outside the station on one of the poorly designed junctions in Frideswide Square, then nearly got knocked off by a large tourist jumping out in front of me, and wasn't let out of any junctions by vehicles.

The real differences are in the design of the roads. Why, with all our collective knowledge of cycling, is stupid road design still allowed to be implemented, let alone still be on the drawing board?

I'd like to know who designed the Frideswide Square junctions and ask them why. We all have to suffer sitting at the crazy traffic-light setup. It is well documented it works much better when the traffic lights have failed and the traffic merges on its own. Even last week, another cyclist was knocked off there, but thankfully not killed.

As you pull off the lights into Hythe Bridge Street, you are going from a cycle lane and a wider road into a narrow road with no cycle lane. Who gets squished? Yes, cyclists and it makes me mad!

Another example (and this one is terrible for pedestrians as well) is the corner of George Street and Magdalen Street. I accept it should be pedestrians first, then cyclists, then buses and other vehicles, so maybe a raised pelican crossing area would be appropriate. Maybe then people would not dive out on my green light in front of me when I'm second off the lights behind a car - I don't see them trying that with the car!

The tourist season is now with us. Tourists can be infuriating to cyclists. The tourist who jumped out in front of me this week was a Michael Flatley' (named after the Irish-American dancer of Riverdance' fame).

Michael Flatleys are tourists who wander out sideways into the street with their back to you. They are quiet and delicate, the move is smooth and their feet light. I am more often victim to the meditating' tourists - they are the ones already in the road when you come round the corner and they're looking at something important and far away. They don't hear you, however much you bellow.

Michael Flatleys' are far more dangerous, especially when you have 10 of them all moving at once right across your path. Oh well, it will only be five or six more months until it quietens down. But you never come across these people in Didcot - hills or no hills - so I'm going back there for some more relaxed cycling!