The Health Service Executive (HSE) has rallied to the defence of obese, unfit people, in Dublin who have been availing of the Dublinbikes scheme only to abandon their bikes as soon as they come to an uphill stretch of road.
The scheme, which launched last Sunday, to great fanfare is struggling to deal with the unforeseen problem which has resulted in many of the council’s 450 bikes being dumped at the approach to hilly areas around the city.
“We didn’t see this coming,” a council spokesman said. “I guess we didn’t really think they would use the bikes. And some of the inclines are very slight – you could hardly call them hills really. Anyway, sudden exertion like this is probably not good for them. They should just go for a donut and a latte instead.”
“The problem now is when our target market of non-obese people go to one of the city’s 40 bike stations there are no bikes there for them,” the spokesman added.
However, the HSE has criticised the “donut and latte” statement as extremely unhelpful. “These obese people should be encouraged to participate in any form of exercise. Suggesting they go for a donut is cruel and unkind and could lead to tensions in the community between slim Dubliners and their portly fellow citizens,” the statement said.
Nice one. I’m not too sure that it would work around Sligo. People are too wedded to their jam jars!