I guess what I want to get across is that it's not that big of a deal.

It only seems odd because the dominant social paradigm is to drive. Walking sounds difficult, tiring, slow and inconvenient...but it's all relative isn't it. When you change your mindset to a new way of travelling, it just becomes the way you do things. Sure, it takes longer and requires more effort - but what's to say we shouldn't be active during our days or that work and leisure need to be achieved at break-neck pace. I would respectfully like to point out that if you don't have time to do these things in life then prehaps you need to re-evaluate where time and quality of life fit into your priorities, because the space and time is available to us, we just have to change what kind of value we place on other things in our lives like money or prestige or convenience or consumption.

It all depends on what you find important I guess.

Now, onto the fun. We all have at least one idle day-dream about the perfect little life we wished we're living, right? I have many, but my current favourite is a tiny rural property and a magnificent vintage-styled bicycle which I attach a little trailer to and ride to the weekly farmers market with the Little Miss and a pile of steaming hot apple pies, berry pies, lemon meringue pies, etc. to sell. Of course, we're wearing skirts, and nice boots and possibly straw hats.

Okay, stop looking at me like that or it will be the very last time I share my fantasies with y'all.

Anyway, this is the Velorbis Victoria ladies bicycle I'd be riding if that dream ever became reality. Isn't it lovely - it has a step through frame and skirt guard - perfect for riding in girly-girl outfits of skirts and heels. And you ride along at a stately pace in the upright position, none of that sweating or lycra. Leather saddle and handle bar trim, a wee wicker basket, chain guard to stop messy smears, a lovely vintage black. *sigh* I'm in love.

Check out these lovelies showing how it should be done at; Copenhagen Cycle Chic - Advocacy in High Heels

Well, my boss and God probably hadn't seen this youtube video featuring a bunch of Melbourne kids moving house by bike.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI-kYdqLniA

Good to see that low-energy transport alternatives like bikes can be so much fun.

The audio player below was posted here automatically via my Hipcast account by calling a number from my cell phone, entering my account's PIN, and following the instructions. The sound quality is pretty low, but the ease of posting audio content remotely that the system allows is really slick. 

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The poster above demonstrates that during the years of wartime scarcity, it was considered unpatriotic - perhaps even traitorous - to waste valuable resources. Back in the day, car-sharing clubs were introduced as a way in which people could preserve precious petrol rations and, in turn, keep Hitler at bay.

Just like the blackouts, car sharing clubs went out like a light at the end of the war. Thus, sharing your car went from being something noble to something needless. Indeed, the whole notion of public transport was eventually downgraded, to the point where it was seen as something rather grubby. There is a - possibly apocryphal - quote from Margaret Thatcher, that goes, "'a man who, beyond the age of 26, finds himself on a bus can count himself as a failure."

Texxi is a new system, operating in Liverpool and elsewhere, that basically gives a new twist to car-sharing. What is does is combine three new technologies: text messaging; advanced journey algorithms and real-time data. Its also being touted as not just a cheaper form of transport, but a greener one too. Could it work? Well maybe. It depends, I suppose, on how much trust is embedded in the system at the end of the night.

It shows how climate change is at last starting to make people think twice about how we travel around our cities. But its not new to this world. You come across shared taxis in a lot in places, especially the middle east. But to catch on in the UK the idea needs something else. I've written before about how the internet is helping promote car-pooling schemes, but this time i can see how mobile technology can offer the promise of improved ease and efficiency, even for very short journeys.

In my backpacking days, I took advantage of shared taxis and taxibuses and Sheruts to get about Cyprus, Egypt and Israel . At the very least, they were a lot more exciting and interesting than taking the scheduled bus service where you rarely got to speak to a single soul.

Dad was keen to show me that our long abandoned car left in his garage now actually started after 8 months of sporadic tinkering by my estranged brother (well I'm the estranged one - we agree not to occupy the same postcode for the sake of each of our blood pressure levels) but  it only ran in a kind of spluttery way and apparently only on 3 cylinders, so no attempt to move it was made. Dad thinks it's worth repairing but I don't have the kind of ready cash to get someone to do so and have said on several occasions to get rid of it but he and my brother persist in their self belief that a miracle will happen.

I have no great hope that it's economically feasible to repair (cars=bottomless pit of money and exploitative garage mechanics don't help) and anyway we've got used to living without it though I admit it would be handy to have a small moped or an electric bike sometimes as arriving somewhere 'glowing' and with wild windswept hair is not always the desired look. If I could share a car with someone then I'd be happy with that as we only need sporadic access to a car.For the moment we hire as and when.

Otherwise we've adjusted our life accordingly and I don't much miss the stress of sitting in traffic and popping here and popping there and popping anywhere just because we could. Perhaps I was a hermit in a former life or maybe it's  just that Cancerian attachment to the home that quells any wanderlust.

Just when I thought life couldn't get any stranger, I was walking down Hennepin Avenue last Wednesday and saw this:

According to the officer facing the camera, the scooters can do about 12 mph--faster than most people can run, at least for sustained periods.

A block down the road, I saw these guys using boring old human-powered transport.

In a game of chicken, who do you think would win?