Gidday! Greetings and salutations from an impulseive lescyclist in circulation in Vancouver. Here we are, finally over the mid-winter hump, having celebrated Imbolic and survived St Valentine's infamous day of love.
How did you celebrate? Not Imbolic. If you noticed it, you probably nodded farewell to the darkest nights of winter and hello to the first blush of light, and if you were on top of it, you started your seeds in the windowsill. How did you celebrate love? Did you go out with your favourite person, maybe for dinner or a drink?
Did you notice how perfectly lovely restaruants turned into expensive, high end establishments, knowing full well that people are going to go out for the evening,
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| Special heartless Valentine's day drink prices. |
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| Note the six and seven dollar drinks on the standard menu |
with the sentiment inside
I love living in one of the most beautiful, rideable cities on Earth.
Yep, you've gotta love this town, and especially the fact that you can ride where ever you go, day in and day out, all rear round.
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| Check our that crisp, clean urban forest air... :) |
I absolutely love love love that Paris is banning diesel cars, and pedestrianising a great number of thoroughfares. The Left Bank has been completely closed to traffic since early 2013, and last year the mayor of Paris introduced a policy which allows drivers to use their cars only on every other day, so that one day even numbered plates were allowed on the roads, and the next only odd. (OMG you've gotta love Paris!)
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| Paris smog via The Daily Mail |
You've gotta love Vancouver: it embraces cycling almost as passionately as do I. The city has installed heart shaped bike racks like that one in scenic locations all over town, in the hope that people will take photographs of themselves with the racks, and then share their pictures on social media with the hashtag #lovebikeyvr.
And after all, everybody loves a great rack. Heyyyy... come to think of it - that looks like a wonderful little field trip! Hmmm. Yep. Coming soon to a bikecycling blog near you, a #hashtag calling to Vancouver cyclists: Hail and Heart-y... making tracks to the heart racks.
Between the sex clubs and the traffic bans, I am all for emulating the City of Love...
Then all of this heart thumping bike loving cycle blogging will not have been in vein.
Paris idea: people with money buy two cars:one odd, one even plate. result? Penalises less well off people. Fail.
ReplyDeleteIt's a desperate measure for desperate times, because in Paris it isn't just automobile crashes killing people any more. The emissions are killing them, too. I love that the thoroughfare along the Left Bank is closed to traffic entirely. The fact is that cars and healthy living do not mix. Walkable neighbourhoods promote health and wellness, whereas car-centric cities kill people. It really is that simple, and until people figure it out and ditch their precious cars of their own free will, governments will legislate them out of them. It really is inevitable. Wise is the man who figures it out for himself ahead of the curve, because he will be happier with is decision. Sucks to be told what to do, doesn't it?
DeleteIt also helps that Paris has a great Metro system along with its high density living.
DeleteDiesel was promoted for many years through taxation in Europe as as 'green' due to lower consumption averages. 'Buy diesel, be green'. Now diesel owners are being penalised in Europe for their 'green' choices with demonisation in the major cities. Some hypocrisy. Now move out to the countryside in Europe where you NEED a car and you'll see most people drive a small capacity diesel (favourite in France being a Peugeot XUD type and its derivatives) which can make 50 mpg and last with proper service over 300,000 + miles. To me, that's a green vehicle. Like an old Land Rover, it lasts ages, so its impact on the environment is minimal compared to a fashionable 5 year cycle modern car full of electronic sensors and bullshit. The latest EU emissions category (EU6) defines low emissions diesels (fitted with particulate filters) which is a ZERO ROAD TAX vehicle, so is classified the same as an earth saving electric vehicle. The point is not to criticise hard working families for their diesel vehicles but to have some perspective. Remember, it's world shipping that has the monopoly on bad emissions, not vehicle emissions. And most of those bikes we like riding (mine included) were made in Taiwan, loaded on a ship and then......
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DeleteAnd hense the "buy local" movement! Carbon emmissions played into the reasons why I bought a made in the USA Lynskey, but of course, point taken. We are all guilty of that one.
DeleteStill, vehicle emissions are a serious issue, too, and one not to be taken lightly. We have known for decades how nasty the particulates in diesel exhaust are, so the fact that they were promoted as green in the first place was the error. The point is that pollution has gotten SO BAD that Paris MUST to do something now, lest the cost to its inhabitants becomes too high to pay, and lets face it, no commuter vehicle is worth your health and wellness. And it isn't the shippping industry causing the smog in Paris, either. Traffic congestion and vehicle emissions are issues which will confront every single city - the world over - sooner or later. So rather than waiting till it becomes impossible to move, and dangerous to breathe, why not develop safe and effective alternatives now?
And what the fuck happened to us that so many people can't even IMAGINE life without their cars?!? I grew up in a middle class household in suburbia, with two cars in the double garage. By seventeen I was driving all over the place, despite the year before finding my way round town on my bike and transit without any trouble whatsoever. And it isn't overly challenging to eschew cars for bikes, either.
It's just silly, all of the excuses I hear: "Oh, but my hair!!" I get to work boardroom ready, rain or shine. All it takes is a little foresight. "Oh but my groceries!" Oh my God, it's shocking how much you can fit in a pannier. "But it's raining!" Jezuz. You're not going to melt. "I can't! I have kids!" That one just slays me. Kids grow up accepting whatever you expose them to as normal. We chauffeur kids about in SUV's everywhere they go, so that the idea of being independent, and hauling their own ass around is an anathema to them. It's madness. Absolute madness. And it hurts them the most, but endangers all of us in the long run.
I went to the river with my wife on valentines day. It was nice and quiet :)
ReplyDeleteVery relaxing lying in the dappled light of the eucalyptus trees on a warm afternoon listening to the water flow over the rocks.
Mmm eucalyptus... mmm. :)
DeleteI planted a young eucalyptus on Saltspring Island a few decades ago, and recently saw a photograph of it thriving in the climate there, despite my reservations. That island is in a rainshadow, so it isn't quite like the rainforest climate everywhere else around. I love love love the smell of an eucaliptus tree.
What a lovely way to spend the day! Goodonya, Harry! :) xo
I cycle to work and back every day with panniers and a backpack as I was not fortunate enough to score a locker. It's a great way to start and end the day- even in the +30'sC and 85% humidity we're having at the moment.
ReplyDeleteKeep ridin'
Right?! Even when the weather isn't ideal, a bike is the best way to get around, because it makes you feel good. Everyone else is sluggish and slow while your blood is pumping, and endorphins flowing. It is such a great way to live.
DeleteYay! Good for you. :-D
It would be wonderful to get rid of the car and bike/walk everywhere. BUUTT... not all of us live in such an urban environment. My home town has been devoured by sprawl to the point that you HAVE to have a car or else ride as much as 3 times the distance just to arive at your destination. Public transport is an afterthought. Cycling here is something reserved for the DUI cases, extreme low income cases, and the eccentric fred types. Maybe thats why our hit and run count is so high. The last time i chased down a car that nearly flattened me, i confronted the driver and was told "yeah well, you never go back for cats and dogs". (Yes i replied that thats the reason i only #@!%'ed his mother once.) You can see the mentality thats created by this environment. Please, be thankful for your city and its virtues. It could be much MUCH worse.
ReplyDeleteYou are making my point for me! Sixty years ago most of your suburban American neighbours felt righteous in actively discriminating against their African-american neighbours. Just because they all agree, doesn't mean they're right.
DeleteOf course I am grateful for living in this particular urban center, but it's a chicken and egg sort of thing, isn't it? After all, we wouldn't have a bike friendly city without people who insisted on riding way back when before we had bike lanes. In other words, I am exactly the kind of person who has made this city what it is. But I have lived and ridden full time in a lot of other places. A. Lot. I started riding full time in Edmonton, Alberta, a city on the same latitude as Moscow, whose primary income is derived from the oil patch - worse, the tarsands. That was decades ago, and even though they have bike lanes now, it is still a place where car is king. I have lived in the suburbs, too, I was in White Rock, BC, before I came here to Vancouver, and before that, I lived in Surrey in the UK. And yes, of course I have encountered people like that asshole who wouldn't stop if he hit someone's beloved pet. I have also lived and cycled most everywhere in island and rural locations. I lived on Saltspring Island, and also on North Beach on Haida Gwaii. It isn't always simple, but it is do-able.
And the thing is, nothing is going to change until normal people like you show the way. My friends in Vancouver's suburb of White Rock were astounded that I should choose to cycle when I could drive, but over time, they noticed the benefits of my lifestyle, and now a few of them ride, too.
In the wise words of the Lorax, "Nothing's going to get better - it's not! - until someone like you cares a whole awful lot."
Babble,
ReplyDeleteIt’s a very pretty World…through your eyes. It’s awfully nice of you to - share - to narrate, and so colorfully illustrate your perceptions with handsome photographs! Yeah, it’s a B I G and complex society out there, with B I G and complex problems, to be sure. Personal transportation, doubtless one of them!?! Your perspective is clear, though. We don’t, each one of us, have to be Atlas, and individually shoulder the heavens. There ARE simple strategies. Instead of always driving, sometime take the bus. Then, instead of busing, sometime ride the bike. Then, instead of riding the bike, sometime…just walk. I don’’t know, maybe we cannot ultimately “save the Planet” from it’s assassination. But then, at the very least, no one can point at us and say: “Et tu, Brute?”
Thank you. It's true, I am an idealist, and also true that small steps in the right direction will eventually get us to our destination. I just despair at the prevalant attitude that it is acceptable - nay, preferable - for an individual to drive everywhere they need to go, day in, day out, year after year. And I worry that history will indeed point the finger at us, and at our needless, endless consumption of all that this gorgeous little planet has to offer.
DeleteBut sometimes it feels as if I am shouting in a vacuum, that no-one can hear, and nobody cares. Thank you for proving that I am not alone. :)
It also helps that Paris has a great metro system along with its high density living.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. Here in Vancouver, we are about to hold a referendum, wherein we are asked to decide whether or not we will approve a 0.5% sales tax to fund improved transit/transport. This is not just for a subway along the 99 b-line route to UBC (the busiest bus route in all of North America), and it doesn't only include improving service to all of the outlying communities, either. No, this will also help to fund all manner of infrastructure improvements, including bridges and roadways.
DeleteAnd do you know what? That referendum appears doomed to fail. People are saying no in droves. And in ten years time, when our already renowned gridlock has become unbearable, everyone is going to complain that nothing is ever done to improve congestion.
Stephen Hawking, brilliant theoretical physicists, recently stated that “aggression could destroy us all”. Apropos of Vancouver residents not funding improved transit/transport…I wonder how Professor Hawking would rank…stupidity?
DeleteI'm counting this as podium for your next posting !
ReplyDeletevsk