Benefits Package

Often i write here about the benefits of being car-free. Today i noticed the footer on an email from the people at Ecomotion Concepts.


Sums it up nicely - i reckon.

Path Peace

Riding home after an early morning brekkie with friends, i hear another rider catching up to me on the path (remember i'm not the fastest rider in the world). Anyway, i veered onto the grass to let him pass (some paths are incredibly narrow in places).

Then i hear "It's ok mate - there's no rush". He casually cruised along behind me until we got over the hill and onto a wider section of path.

It was a sharp contrast to the hooting and hollering of road rage, so i've decided to call it Path Peace.

Brekkie Cycle

This morning i met up with some friends for a very early brekkie in Toowong. I decided to ride there, not just for the extra 10 min of sleep-in, but the novelty of having the bulk of the road to myself :)

Riding back was good too. Waved to a friend stuck in traffic. Even struggling up hill, i reckon i was doing double the speed of the morning crawl (going the other way).

Destiny

I've been reading "Heat" by George Monbiot. In chapter 8 he has a great quote from Russian journalist Ila Ehrenburg. In 1929 he said of the automobile...

"It can't be blamed for anything. Its conscience is as clear as Monsieur Citroen's conscience. It only fulfils its destiny: it is destined to wipe out the world."

And he wrote this before the days of SUVs, multi-storey carparks and 12-lane highways. Decades before we understood the impacts of climate change, or depleting non-renewable resources.

Walk / Don't Walk

A few of my writings here have illustrated the health benefits of walking (which we do more of when we are car-free). I think the following illustration sums it up succinctly (though it may not be subtle).

Bus-stop Snack

After watching the cricket, i decided to go for an evening walk - i hadn't been out of the house all day. On the way home, i bump into a friend of mine who i haven't seen for a while (he used to live in my unit block, but moved out a few months ago). It was one of those coincidences that he just happened to be at the bus-stop as i was on my walk.

In a further piece of good luck, he had just bought a pizza. So we sat at the bus stop, eating pizza and talking ... until his bus came.

Santa and the Christmas Road Toll

In the absence of much real news in the Christmas-New Year period, the road toll features heavily on the nightly news update.

For the record the holiday 'toll' (Dec 20 to Jan 2) was 56 nationwide and 13 in Queensland. Whilst tragic for the people involved, and their nearest and dearest, it's nothing out of the ordinary.

In 2007 (i can't find full 2008 stats yet) the number of people who lost their life on Australian roads was 1616. In Queensland, 360. While it may seem gruesome to do maths on these numbers, please bear with me.

For Australia
Year-long average = 1616/365 = 4.43 per day
Christmas/NY average = 56/14 = 4.00 per day

For Queensland
Year-long average = 360/365 = 0.986 per day
Christmas/NY average = 13/14 = 0.929 per day

In short, the "Christmas" road toll (and the underlying message that driving is safe at other times) seems to be a Santa for adults. Nice fantasy - but not actually true.

A Local's Local

Yesterday i cycled to indooroopilly shopping centre (to visit the library) and was locking up my bike ... to a lamp post (don't get me started on bike-parking facilities) when i was approached by a couple.

"A person on a bike. You must be a local."

I don't think they were complimenting the people Toowong-Taringa-Indooroopilly area on an environmentally-aware approach to transport. I reckon their logic was based more on the premise that no-one would be cycling long-distance in the middle of a 34-degree day.

Turns out they wanted to know the nearest pub. I suggested the one at the south end of the centre. That didn't satisfy them. They were after a "pub pub" (whatever that means). I helped them out (because that's what i do) but i couldn't help but think that even on new year's eve perhaps 12.30 was an early start :)

Praise For Late Buses

To get to the family homestead for Christmas, the first step was to catch the bus from my local stop. Knowing the timetable, and how long it takes to walk to the bus stop, i was right on schedule...

Then i realised that carrying all my luggage and a bag of Christmas presents was slowing my pace. While 3pm on a hot summer's day is not the ideal time to do a jog through the neighbourhood while carrying waaay too much stuff - that's what i had to do.

Arriving at the bus stop 1 minute after the scheduled time, the electronic display informed me that i had not missed the bus - but that it would be a couple of minutes late. Just enough time to catch my breath, and have some gratitude for the occassional delay.

Twas Days Before Christmas

Riding my bike along the bicentennial pathway (between coronation drive and the river) i'm getting into top gear and building up some speed, when i hear a "Hello David!" from a passing pedestrian.

It was a friend of mine who had moved to Adelaide a few years ago. Turns out that she (plus hubby & offspring) are moving to Brisbane - which is good news indeed (in my opinion).

Friend (plus child) were headed for the ferry terminal for a 'ride on the river'.