Travel in the 5th dimension

Me waving a pump

 I’ve always tried to make my local journeys by bicycle where possible – partly for the exercise, partly to save on fuel but mainly because I hate sitting in traffic jams and wasting time looking for parking. Going by bike on journeys up to 6 miles is often quicker because I can go door to door without stopping. Over the last month I’ve been lucky that the weather has been good at the right times and I’ve been able to go most places by bike – though I did decide that it was better to arrive still alive and walked up the last part of Gas Hill when on a seed swopping trip to see my friend Jane.

Speedy Chris

So it came as a bit of a shock when we travelled to Southwold by car, for a walk on the beach and I was reminded just how many other people there are in this world. I was puzzled by this as some of my bike journeys have been right through the centre of Norwich and there are plenty of people there. I think that there are two reasons for the altered perception of the world that travel by bicycle brings about.

The first is simply that I try and use quiet roads with little traffic – even going through the city there are roads that are quicker to cycle than drive down. The main factor though, is that on a bike you are neither a driver nor a pedestrian and you follow a different set of rules. Unfortunately there are relatively few other cyclists sharing this dimension so you travel along in your own little world. Having cycled a lot recently I find that the wheels turn without much effort and I’m free to think about other things – unless the head wind is really strong! The whole effect is heightened because my journey into Norwich starts by crossing the A47 dual carriageway on foot and then using a disused section of road that is only accessible to a handful of cyclists and lots of rabbits.

Kerry as Superwoman

At a recent council meeting, that discussed funding for schemes to promote cycling, I was the only person to arrive by cycle and I was pleased when the local parish clerk remarked, when she saw me chaining my bike to the drainpipe, that they really ought to have a have a bicycle shed. I enjoy travelling in the 5th dimension but it can be lonely – I look forward to meeting you there.

The pics are some that have appeared in previous blogs about cycling

Conquering Alexanders

Alexanders are everywhere you look at the moment, on, around and near the coast in Suffolk and Norfolk. In Southwold on a recent warm day the honey-like scent of the yellow flowers all along North Parade reached us from several yards away.

Alexanders are edible. The young shoots, the flowerbuds, the leaves and the seeds. Even the roots. They would seem to be the perfect forager food.

Only it's difficult to find that many people who like the taste. Apart from using the seeds as a spice (sort of lovage-like) I've never quite got used to it.

Last Spring at the Low Carbon Cookbook meetings one or more of us would always bring some alexanders leaves and stems and bravely announce that maybe we hadn't got the preparation quite right and after all, Richard Mabey recommends them braised in butter, let's have another go. Not bad, not too bad, quite, well almost nice...

When Josiah visited last Saturday, I had been digging up some alexander roots in the garden and planned to cook the smaller, younger ones sliced lengthwise in a pan, slowly. He bit into one of the roots and it was so bitter he spat it out immediately.

Oh well, let's have some huevos a la mexicana (scrambled eggs Mexican style with chilli and coriander) and some of Malcolm and Eileen's salad leaves from the veg box instead.

As I was putting the finishing touches on Friday's post, I heard the front gate open and the sound of greetings.

I got up and followed the voices outside and the first thing I heard was a man saying, "I love alexanders."

Alexis had just arrived for the weekend from London (by train and then bike from Darsham). He and Charlotte are working on the pilot for a national Transition newspaper, the Transition Free Press and are spending the weekend knocking the editorial into shape.

Alexis couldn't believe how many alexanders there were around.

"You really like them? I mean to eat? Seriously?" I asked him. He was.

"Ask Sarah when she arrives," he said.

Sarah and Alexis have both been involved in North London's Transition Belsize since the beginning. They have also been instrumental in setting up community gardens, including one at the Royal Free Hospital, permaculture courses and foraging expeditions. Alexis is the author of Communities, Councils and a Low Carbon Future: what we can do if governments won't (Green Books, 2010) and with Sarah runs cuttingthecarbon to help "businesses, organisations and public bodies... understand climate change more clearly and to consider the implications of the inevitable end of cheap fossil fuels that will come with Peak Oil."

I picked Sarah up a few hours later from the station (she would have cycled too if it weren't for a broken leg) and as we drove past the alexander hordes lining the A12, she confirmed that they were in fact one of Alexis's favourite plants and he loved to eat them.

Luckily (for me anyway) alexanders weren't the only food around to be foraged. So far we have enjoyed two enormous salads picked almost entirely from the wild greens in the garden and the neighbourhood.

Here are some of the plants in this one. And PLEASE NOTE: DO NOT EAT the PERIWINKLE (Vinca major). It is FOR DECORATIVE PURPOSES ONLY and is harmful if eaten.

The rest is fine, including the alexanders!

Spring Salad mostly foraged by Alexis with help from Charlotte, Sarah and Mark, includes:

Primrose flowers

Sweet violet flowers and leaves

Salad Burnet

Dandelion leaves and flowers

Garlic Mustard or Jack-by-the-Hedge

Fennel

Hairy bittercress

Rue

Cleavers

Hawthorn leaves

Peppermint

Japanese Mugwort

Chickweed

Rosemary leaves and flowers

Oh, and Alexanders!

Pics: Alexanders conquer Alexis in Southwold April 2012 (MW); Me preparing alexander roots which won't get cooked (Josiah Meldrum); Foraging in the neighbourhood with Sarah, Charlotte and Alexis (MW); Mega foraged salad - don't eat the periwinkles (MW); Foraged lunch (MW)

Transition Circle West and the Great Reskilling

At our next Transition Circle West meeting, we will be discussing skills-sharing, so I thought it would be a good idea to use this guest blog post to explore ideas about reskilling. From storytelling, to textile crafts, to growing and cooking seasonal local food, and creative recycling, reskilling has been a central part of the Transition project, and a common theme on this blog. But why is this so important? What is wrong with our existing skills? And what could reskilling mean for Transition Circle West and Transition Norwich?

My current project

Reskilling can be motivated in part by nostalgia, a desire to retain traditional skills which might be useful in our everyday lives or in future; but also as a statement of shared identity and a connection to our heritage and the places we live. Reskilling is a deeply meaningful activity, but it can also have more immediate benefits. It is extremely satisfying to master a new skill, particularly in a society where we increasingly work with computers or in customer service roles, and people are beginning to talk of the fulfilment of working with their hands.

Working with your hands can help you to engage differently with your task, and enjoy watching your progress and feeling a sense of achievement when it's finished – a feeling many of us experience rarely in our working lives. Learning new skills is also a great way to meet new, like-minded people or to reconnect with people you already know. Reskilling is part of the transition project of building community, and it helps us to improve our own personal resilience: for example growing our own vegetables, making and mending clothes, and learning to maintain our bikes. Therefore reskilling is about living better, helping us to slowly change our lifestyles, not only to adapt to environmental challenges, but also to make them more fulfilling and resilient.

So what might reskilling look like? It can be organised formally through alternative currency networks (like Local Exchange Trading Systems), where participants within the network are able to trade units of their time to either teach or carry-out certain skilled tasks, making the most of their particular skills sets. Such networks can be international in scope, encouraging both virtual and physical interaction and sharing. Perhaps more often, skills-sharing occurs in more informal or ad hoc ways – in fact, we might not even realised we are doing it!

Websites like Gumtree are used to exchange skills such as language and music teaching, and it’s possible to learn to knit, crochet or even cook from scratch with the aid of youtube alone. But reskilling is perhaps most productive when it occurs through our existing social networks, through groups of friends, or common interest groups like transition circles. Close bonds of trust and friendship can stimulate learning and sharing, and it’s always a confidence boost when you know you can call up a close friend or relative for advice about your veg patch, or to fix your latest knitting mistake.

Even bikes as pretty as this can be temperamental!

People are constantly reskilling themselves, without a particular project in mind, just out of necessity and as their lifestyles evolve. I took up cycling properly when I moved to Norwich, and I’m still slowly learning how to look after and fix my bike. Our families are also hugely important in influencing our skills sets. I have my parents to thank for my love of cooking, my musical skills, and my ability to knit and sew; but they might also be responsible for my fear of all technical tasks and dread of gardening! It is also possible to encourage reskilling by design. Transition projects like farmshare offer members opportunities to learn about food growing in a relaxed friendly environment. And our forthcoming Transition Circle West meeting will hopefully stimulate some new skills-sharing networks or encourage people to seek information and help elsewhere.

Reskilling has always been at the heart of the Transition initiative, equipping communities with the skills they need to live well and build their resilience against threats like climate change. We can encourage these activities within Transition Norwich, through both formal and informal initiatives. For example, engaging people through circle meetings and connecting with other TN groups. Reskilling is a wonderfully fulfilling, frequently exciting, and vitally important task for transition. Helen Pallett

Transition Circle West next meets on 25 January. For more information about the group and our forthcoming meetings contact mshelenpallett@gmail.com

Changing The Climate

Jon has asked us to write about the aspirations that we hope will become realities during 2012. My own ambition is to ensure that people can cycle directly and safely between Hethersett, Little Melton and the UEA/Research Park/Hospital. A planning application to build nearly 1200 homes in Hethersett has recently been submitted  and many of the people who will live in the new houses, will work just a few miles away at the UEA/Hospital/NRP.

 Cycling is not just about reducing traffic pollution and oil consumption but also provides both physical and emotional health benefits. Cyclists can easily stop at local shops and can exchange greetings with other cyclists instead of fuming at each other in traffic jams. Making it attractive for people to cycle to work ticks so many boxes that I struggle to understand why so little provision has so far been made for cyclists. Cars are cosseted indoors in multi-storey car parks whilst my bike is lucky to get a rail to lean against, out in the rain. I’m forced to conclude that too few of the people with the power to make things happen ever get on their own bikes and they don’t see cycling as a ‘proper’ mode of transport.

NCC proposed cycle links

Which is where Transition comes in. By getting on our bikes at every opportunity and turning up to in our cycling gear, we change the climate of what is ‘normal’ – and it is surprising how rapidly this can have an effect. If I always cycle to see someone, then they cycle when they come to see me – and all these little actions add up. Since we started our cycle path campaign in Little Melton, mainly in response to the needs of children cycling to school, there has been a noticeable change in people’s attitudes. What once seemed like a cranky idea, now features on developer’s plans and NCC plans. There is still a long way to go but I like to think that all the talking and blogging about the path has changed the climate around it for the better.

Picture of MP Richard Bacon joining children on ride to school in Hethersett

You don't have to be mad to be a transitioner but it helps

This politically incorrect statement used to be around every office in the '90s in the form of 'You don't have to be mad to work here but it helps'. I was out with my mother shopping in Peterborough and was surprised at how friendly everyone was and how many people she knew. It then dawned on me that she didn't know any of them and this was an aspect of her dementia. I have since heard of other neurological conditions with a similar outcome. But why do you have to have some kind of brain impediment before you will smile and say hello to someone you do not know?

Living transitionally means you may behave in ways that look a little odd. You may ask to borrow something that is really cheap to buy such as a cake tin. If you are cycling places then you tend to arrive slightly sweaty and multi-layered. You might eat strange things in the lunch break such as last nights leftovers. The other day I walked round the office asking if anyone was driving to our headquarters and felt rather embarrassed as people looked me up and down in wonderment at my lack of transport. 'Is she too poor to have a car?' 'Perhaps she has something wrong with her and is not allowed to drive'. Our company has now joined liftshare which means you can log on and find someone else going on the same journey and cadge a lift. Its kind of like a computerized hitchhiking with the knowledge that the person works for the same people as you.

You may also look generally poor by not flying abroad on holiday or buying the latest flat screen TV. So as well as being odd you will be poor and odd thereby lowering your status further.

However you will be oblivious of all this because you will be having such a good time connecting with people you share lifts, food and cake tins with. Different things will be important to you, for example I nearly crashed my car the other day ( yes I still have one) because every year I decorate the pine tree on the puppet theatre roundabout with secondhand baubles. This year I drove past looking for a place to park when I saw that someone else had already done it! I threw my head back with laughter! I have created a TRADITION.

Oh and the photograph? I just googled 'baubles' to look for someone who looked stranger than me and it didn't take long.

Be the change you want to see in the world.....

So I am still fired up after the Transition Norwich event on Tuesday. In fact I am not the only one as I saw someone had painted a billboard in NR3 the next day!

I have been thinking about how everybody can make a change that can influence other people. At the event Elena spoke about how if we cycle to work someone will see us and it will encourage them to do the same. In fact I first started cycling to work when I asked one of the Art Therapists for a lift home because she lived in my street. 'Yes of course' she said 'but you do know I have a tandem?'. For some reason it seemed too late to change my mind and I found myself standing nervously by while she raised the seat from a child's position so I could sit on the back. We sped down St Stephens road by the old hospital and I was beginning to enjoy myself and forget that my hands were quite near her bottom when the seat returned to its original position leaving my knees up by my chest. Undeterred (and because I was too scared to say anything) we continued until we reached the North city. I looked at my watch and saw it had taken 8 minutes. The same journey takes about 45 minutes to walk and 30 minutes to drive at rush hour. From then on I walked or cycled to work having previously taken the bus occasionally.

When I walk I sometimes take my shopping trolley which if I have heavy things to carry. Its particularly important when going to green events as it makes you look all kind of holy in an environmental way. I nearly convinced someone I had made it but I did in fact put new wheels on which I took off a pram that I am almost certain had been abandoned.

I asked a bloke to take the photo after he found me trying to balance my camera on a garden wall.

I hope that I have influenced people into living more transitionally over the years. I know that many people have helped me along in my journey so far.

how to get where you want to go - part 2

This is an update on my efforts to travel in a low carbon manner.

As some of you may know I nearly got rid of my car earlier this year. But now I am glad I didn't. Why? Because sometimes I am so tired I can't be bothered to cycle, walk, catch the bus, cadge a lift or sit on a train.

The other day I got talking and missed my stop and ended up in Grantham because I forgot to get off at Peterborough and then spent an hour making bunting in the waiting room until I caught the next train back. Also my boss has just told me I am being given a different job that will involve me driving around North Norfolk and visiting people which would be impossible to do by public transport.

I am determined still to use environmentally friendly methods as much as possible. So I have taken my bike to the menders and for £40 I got a new gear something-or-other and a new tyre. I was a bit worried when I went to pick it up because he said there was some extra stuff that he had had to do. I braced myself for the bill which turned out to only be another £9.

The other day I borrowed a friend's electric bike. It was amazing. Kind of how I imagine it would feel if you rode a bike and were really fit. I am going to borrow it a bit more and then maybe buy one.

I also saw an electric scooter on Norwich market. It looked like a childs scooter but had a lead and a plug which was for recharging. It looked like a cheap way to get about but it is probably only legally allowed to be used in your dads driveway between school and bath-time.

Tomorrow - the advantages of going out with someone in NR3

Going Green in Glasgow

The trials and tribulations of taking your green ethos to a new location

Every time I put my veg peelings into the landfill bin a little bit of my spirit dies, its a fight against my better instinct, but what can I do? When I first moved in I collected up a massive container full of compost, until I finally accepted the fact that I had nowhere to put it or take it to.

I moved up to Glasgow in mid May and I have been in my new flat for almost a month now. I do have a shared garden, but it doesn't have a compost bin and my logic makes me reluctant to make the effort to make a compost heap when no-one is going to make use of the resulting compost (I'm probably here for less than a year). I have tried to go and find local allotments where I could 'donate' my peelings, but to my dismay they are locked up behind big wire fences and although there are quite a few community gardens in Glasgow the nearest one is a good 15minutes cycle ride away. I do live right next to a wonderful country park and I have considered taking up guerilla composting, but that feels a bit more like being a civil nuisance than a responsible citizen. So the compost conundrum remains unsolved. I think it may end in a small compost bin in the garden, but I still have to organise it and reassure the rest of the tenants that it isn't going to smell/ attract rats.

As well as worrying about what you are going to do with your veg peelings, moving to a new city poses the challenge of where you are going to get you veg from in the first place. It didn't take me long to track down the wholefood shops in Glasgow and to go and check out what delights they had on offer. The discovery that one of them has an entire wall of herbal teas to choose from made me a very happy hippy indeed, especially the discovery of tulsi (holy basil) tea that I had discovered in Inverness on my Otesha tour last year and then never seen since.

Unfortunately though the fresh fruit and veg selection was not as exciting, although one of the shops has an entire greengrocers, so a good array to choose from, but it was not necessarily organic and very little of it was local.

Get a veg box I hear you say. Well I did! I found three different possibilities, but I decided which one to try out first (as they had the option of a UK box) and after sorting out all of the logistics I got my first box on Thursday! Its wonderful to have local, organic veg again, but its quite a bit more expensive up here than it is in Norwich. Its easy to forget how easy we get it in Norwich, being in the middle of a massive arable area. Scotland is rather more livestock orientated, which is not quite so good for a vegetarian...

Trains, planes and pedal power
Generally travel is further and longer in Glasgow than in Norwich. Glasgow is considerably bigger and quite a bit further way from, well, most places. I didn't have my bikes with me when I first arrived so the first aspect I explored was public transport and Glasgow does have a fairly awesome public transport system. It has one underground line that goes in a big circle around the city centre, which is pretty useful as it takes a good 30mins, if not longer, to walk across the city centre. And at only £1.40 a journey its pretty good value. But the subway is only useful if you are in the city centre and I live further out than that.

But here Glasgow gets one up on Norwich, it has the most amazing network of urban railways. Within 15mins walk of my flat there are no less than 5 train stations, on two different train lines with regular services into the city centre taking only 10minutes and costing only £1.25 off-peak single.

This makes me very happy as I have always preferred trains to buses and although there is a good network of regular buses around Glasgow that are pretty good value, they take a lot longer and you have to pay the exact fare. They will not give you change. So if you don't have the correct money with you then you just have to pay more. I think that this is a shocking, profit making tactic. Bus drivers are bad enough in Norwich, being unwilling to accept notes, even though ATMs only give £10 as the smallest denomination and therefore there is no easy way of getting smaller change. But to give no change at all? So I am kind of boycotting the buses out of annoyance at having already paid at least £1.50 more than the actual fares since I have been in Glasgow, as I didn't have the correct change at the time.

On a positive note, when I looked into going to visit my parents I was astounded to discover that it only takes 4 hours on the train, which is incredible as it is the same time as it took me to visit them from Norwich on public transport, despite it taking 2.5hrs to drive from Norwich and something like 6.5hrs from Glasgow! It is of course quite a bit more expensive if you buy your ticket on the day, but if you plan in advance a £13 advanced single is pretty good going for travelling almost 400miles. Unfortunately though longer distances mean more carbon emissions, so my transport carbon footprint is going to suffer :(

But I do finally have my low carbon vehicle with me, my wonderful bicycle. When I first came up I couldn't bring my bike, so I tried to get a cheap secondhand one to see me through until I could bring my others up. However, secondhand bikes are soo expensive up here. Where as you can get a bike in Norwich for a tenner (probably not a good one, but anyway) on Glasgow gumtree the cheapest bikes were £30 and they really didn't look that good. So I never did get round to buying a bike, instead I bought my town bike up on the train when I went down to move all of my stuff out of my Norwich house. Unfortunately the excitement was short lived as my poor little bike, who was brilliant for pootling around Norwich, wasn't up to the longer distances, hills and potholes of Glasgow. I need to replace the front wheel and get the gears working at the very least! So the bike saga continued.

Finally, success! I now have my more robust touring bike up with me as well and it is doing me proud. This week, Kristina and I took the plunge and decided to cycle from work back home, a distance of 6 miles. And it's amazing! A beautiful cycle along the national cycle network, following the river through parks and quiet residential streets and it only takes us 45mins! Thats faster than the train and so much more enjoyable. We were so impressed and enthusiastic that we cycled to work and back on both thursday and friday. This was however a fairly ambitious start and I am rather tired today from so much exercise all of a sudden!! But it is definitely worth it.

Transition times
Lastly, but definitely not least, I haven't found a lovely group of Transitioners in Glasgow yet who I can share my low carbon living attempts with. I think we are very lucky in Norwich to have our transition circles and such a supportive community of people trying to live differently rather then just focussing on projects. So I miss you all, but I am very happy to hear all of the wonderful things you are still getting up to.

I am having a marvellous time up here in Glasgow, but it is definitely a challenge to my low carbon lifestyle. I am finding some things are easier and some things are harder, but hopefully I can take inspiration from all we have achieved in Norwich and make some suggestions for enabling low carbon living up here.

Photos: The shared garden of my flat, a grow wild veg box and the view from my local train station.

Achtung! Peak Oil Reports and Community Transport

What have a leaked German military think tank report on Peak Oil, a Guardian article stating that for two years the British government (i.e. the Department of Energy and Climate Change - DECC) has consistently played down and dismissed as ‘alarmist’ warnings from its own civil servants about the threat of civil unrest in the face of ‘peak oil’ energy shortages, and Sustainable Bungay’s midsummer bike ride and Green Drinks on Community Transport got in common?

The German report is clear, sobering and well worth reading. It outlines the systemic risks involved in an “unavoidable peak in oil production, which go beyond gradual shifts in energy systems and economies,” and discusses those risks from the standpoint of globalised, industrialised economies – oil being the base for 95% of all industrial output. The paper also addresses energy security and changing international and geopolitical relations – who has the remaining oil reserves and what that means in terms of potential political power shifts.

The Guardian article looks at the DECC report on the risks and impacts of a potential future decline in oil production within the present global context of historic oil price highs ($115 or £71 a barrel). The report had been unavailable to the public until a student gained access to it through a Freedom of Information demand.

Community Transport was the theme for Sustainable Bungay's solstice Green Drinks yesterday as a group of cyclists set off from the Buttercross in the centre of town to St. Peter's Brewery a few miles outside. Margaret Sheppard, SB's own full-on cycling campaigner, organised the ride both as part of National Bike Week and as one of a series of summer rides to raise awareness, show how enjoyable cycling can be and "get bums on bikes."

Some of us chose to go with Richard in the Beccles and Bungay Area Community Cars' wheelchair-assisted van - also to raise awareness of its existence as an alternative to private cars for groups of up to six people for anything from day trips to evenings out. The BBACC also have a network of drivers using their own cars to take people on shopping or hospital trips (this costs 43p per mile). In an area with a large rural hinterland, diminished bus services and many (especially older) people without private transport, this is proving to be an increasingly popular and valuable service.

Whatever the future holds in terms of energy provision, the current trend of rising oil and food prices seems set to last. We need to get more and more into the spirit of sharing our resources - and making it as enjoyable as possible - like cycling (or community bussing) out together at summer solstice for a drink to discuss the practical ways we can go about it.

Pics: Richard, Charlotte and the Community WAV; Bungay bikers at the Buttercross and entering St. Peter's Brewery, Summer Solstice 2011

Low Carbon Celebrations 2 - Solar Power

Up before 4 this morning and on our bikes to the beach for the solstice sunrise. It had rained in the night and the air was soft and warm and filled with birdsong.

Besides one other person further down the beach with a dog, we were alone with the sea, the land, the sky and the morning.

We weren’t going to see the sun rise over the sea because there was a layer of cloud. But if you’re still and attentive you can feel the shift as the sun comes up. Then there’s an increase in light, the gold lining around the clouds intensifies, and you know that the star that powers our planet and makes life possible is there.

Anyone who gets involved in Transition becomes aware of the mighty subject of energy. We talk about it all the time. We look at where it comes from and ask how are we going to save it. What are we going to do about rising costs of food, heating, transport? Where does the food I eat and and the fuel I use originate? Who works to provide them? In what conditions? How much energy is needed to provide for our basic needs? How much as individuals and as a society do we waste on what we don’t need?

And what about that society? In our hearts we know that to continue the current consumerist and individualist lifestyle, fuelled and propelled by the availability of vast quantities of fossil fuels over the past 150 years is a logical fallacy – because, to quote Make Wealth History, “the earth can’t afford our lifestyle.” And those resources are physically limited.

But what does this mean for us as those very individualists? What do we each have to do to become the people we need to become for a fair, liveable future with the inevitable energy-constraints? What do I have to do?

How are we actually going to learn to share space, time, skills, food, ‘resources’? How do we drop centuries-old antagonistic, competitive ways of being in the world with our fellow humans? Those jealousies and envies which plague social interactions from the most intimate of friendships and relationships, to the most well-intentioned groups, because they are there, and have been for what seems like forever? How do we let go of our need to grasp, cling and be proprietorial? To own things and people all the time? How do we let go of I want what you’ve got? And move to how we make the best of what we've got - fairly, and before it's gone?

I’m not saying I have the answers to these questions. But I think to ask them is important. And then to pay attention to what comes up when we do give them time and space.


In tomorrow’s post I’ll be reporting on Sustainable Bungay’s midsummer Green Drinks which takes place tonight. The subject in honour of National Bike Week is Community Transport.


Pics: Before Summer Solstice Sunrise Southwold 2011; After Summer Solstice Sunrise Southwold 2011; In the Path of the Risen Solstice Sun; Low Carbon travel

Changing Lanes and Rain

I was planning to write about May Day, council elections, Sustainable Bungay’s Give and Grow, Gasland, our bloggers' meeting, dinner on Friday with Josiah, getting a message from an old friend, my birthday, a present of concert tickets, car-sharing with neighbours...

But darlings, that was all SO LAST WEEK!

Last night it RAINED! For the first time in ages. Now that’s news. And I know I’m not the only one who’ll be relieved and delighted. I got up at 6, dragged myself and Charlotte out of bed and we jumped on our bikes and cycled to ‘Harebell Lane’ to see the mile long-river of cow parsley and hawthorns in full bloom lining the way. The morning was fresh and full of birdsong.

There were hares in the field and a fox hunting rabbits. Charlotte heard nightingales in the wood, though I cycled home to get going with this post.

Near our house we found the ground sprinkled with the small white flowers of the holly tree. There are several in the lane’s hedgerow, and this year they are all über-blooming. As you pass by you can catch their musky scent.

So the plan for tomorrow is to have a look at some of those things I didn’t look at today. But who knows what new surprises the day and evening might bring?

Pics: Cycling down the lane, hawthorns and cow parsley; Holly flowers on the tree and on the ground

Battledress

This post is about the problems of dressing for cycling and also includes contributions from Kerry and Chris. The title comes from a friend who cycles everywhere but bitterly resents the expectation that she should dress ‘for battle’ in protective, fluorescent gear - just to make a trip to shops.

A lot of people only cycle in the summer and jump on their bike in a pair of shorts and a tee shirt, but anyone cycling year round in this country knows that choosing what to wear on a bike is an art! Once you get moving on a chilly day the wind chill will quickly freeze unprotected ears, fingers and feet – other parts will warm up and need ventilation. Trousers have to be roomy enough to allow your legs to move without cutting off circulation to vital parts. If it is raining then you either have to add waterproof layers or just accept getting wet and take a change of clothes for when you arrive – which is what I did every day when I cycled to work across central London (and managed the same door to door time as using the tube) . My cycle journeys are now often after dark and include sections on rural roads, where traffic can appear round corners at high speed - so I’m very keen on being visible and that means fluorescent and reflective jackets and ankle bands.

So my cycle clothing is dictated by what is practical and comfortable and other people will just have to avert their eyes from bright jackets and bare legs if that offends them! I always keep in my pannier a pair of disposable gloves for the inevitable day when the chain comes off – chain dirt is the hardest thing on the planet to remove from clothes! Kerry and Chris have their own views – and sense of style it seems :)

I used to get quite embarrassed about walking into places all dressed up in my cycling get up, but I think a summer more or less entirely in lycra and high viz has cured me of my squeamishness - note the photo! There are however still certain drawbacks. Quite a few of my trousers and skirts have oily marks on them where they have, at one time or other, been eaten by one of my bikes and eternal hat hair is something I still haven't fully come to terms with. Cycling in heels is actually less of a problem than people seem to think it is, in fact it is arguably easier than walking in them! However, no-one would argue that cycling in a skirt is a right pain. The best solution I have come up with so far is tying most of it up with an elastic band (tucking it into your tights isn't very ladylike!), but it does leave you with rather a crumpled look and borders on indecency if you are not wearing thick tights or leggings. It is also fairly difficult to cycle in mittens and any gloves you are wearing you must be willing to sacrifice when your chain falls off, either that or spend the next few hours with grease stained fingers.

I think my favourite item of cycle clothing that I have seen recently is the high viz helmet cover, that reminded me wonderfully of a fluorescent yellow shower cap! Kerry Lane

As a County Councillor, making my regular trips to county hall by bike, I always had to dress hybrid, as it were. Top and trousers suitable for the occasion, but cycling shoes (and overshoes in the winter), to change out of when I arrived. This was fine as long as I remembered to bring my 'proper' shoes to change into.......so you can imagine the looks when I arrived one day realising I had forgotten my propers, and had to sit in a carpeted meeting room wearing shirt, tie, smart trousers....combined with cycling shoes with bright yellow flashes down the sides. It was actually fine, with one person commenting that he was surprised the shoes weren't green, to match my tie.

Generally speaking it is not a good idea to arrive in cycling shorts and all the rest, perfect though they may be for the rider. That's an easy decision. For me, it is a more difficult balance pacing myself in non-cycling gear, so that I don't get too hot for when I arrive - which means not being tempted to catch up that car that just brushed my pedal at the last set of traffic lights. The joy of cycling in the city is that, even at a moderate pace like this, you can get to places on a bike quicker than you can by car or any other means, and you can time your journeys more accurately.

Is the bicycle a vehicle of revolution, or a natural cycle? I reckon it's both. Chris Hull

Book about Cycling

The Best Books section in a recent issue of the The Week was all about bicycles. I've not had time to read the books yet but I have been out on my bike a lot recently and I have often thought about these books as I pedaled along.

Cycling by Viscount Bury was published in 1887 and describes a time when cycling was the 'exclusive pursuit of athletic, wealthy males. It records the bicycle on the brink of a golden age. ' One imagines that those early cyclists were treated with much respect. Now that cycling is open to all, I often feel that I am held in contempt by drivers who are annoyed at having to slow down, even for a few seconds and probably think that I'm only on a bike because I can't afford a car. It must have been much nicer to have been a cyclist in 1887 - even if the gears were not so good! (Viscount Bury was MP for Norwich at one time.)

The Third Policeman is described as 'a satirical tale of unrequited love between a man and a bicycle'. The mind boggles - perhaps all those stroppy car drivers have read this one?

Full Tilt - Ireland to India with a Bicycle - reminds me that years ago I bought the map of the cycle route that runs from Norwich to Felixstowe and I still haven't ridden it yet. Anyone up for it?

The list was composed by Robert Penn who has just written The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels - anyone read it yet? I just put it on my birthday list - hint.

End to End Tour - Third Otesha Log

As we departed Exeter after a fun filled weekend, we headed towards our next destination, Beaford arts centre in Northwest Devon, a leisurely 40 mile ride with some cheeky free cream teas and biscuits for one lucky team along the way apparently. My group missed out on that little treat but I was content with a quick 10 minute snooze in the sunshine after lunch.

Arriving at Beaford, we were all delighted to find hot showers, dorm rooms with beds for all, in amongst beautiful grounds. Here we performed to our largest audience yet; 100 children from three local schools. We were blessed with sunshine so spirits were high and the whole day ran fantastically. In the morning we made tetra pack wallets in the ethical fashion workshop and planted seeds in the grow your own workshop. We felt the children really engaged throughout the day and came up with some fantastic ideas and questions. This has to be one of the most inspiring aspects to our trip for me, getting to talk to young people and being constantly surprised by their knowledge and enthusiasm for the issues we’re talking about.

Tiverton was next on the map, a slightly trickier route with rain from the moment we set off in the morning to about 7.30pm when we arrived, typical! It was a fairly dramatic journey from start to finish, with me skidding to a halt on the cycle path with the bob the trailer in tow. Ouch! Back on the bikes again, a little further down the track we found a hysterical (laughing) Ellie and Beth after rescuing Sarah and bike from a little dip in the canal, as if we hadn’t got wet enough with the rain throughout the day! Luckily only wet panniers and a soggy Sarah were the result of that escapade! As the day turned to night we had been well and truly fed by the cooking team we all crashed out in our hosts barn at Abbotsford farm. An early wake up call by the resident swallows, a bowl full of cold fruity porridge and we were ready for a day of conservation work exchange with BTCV. We shared our Banana chain game, along with a banana dance much to the volunteer group’s bemusement! Then we all got to work, clearing a footpath through woods on the edge of Tiverton, thank you to the BTCV volunteers for such a fun afternoon of lopping and chopping!

To Bristol next and epic 80 mile ride ahead of us….oh and guess what it’s raining!! (by Liz 28th July )

End to End Tour - Second Otesha Log

It's time for the second journal entry and the Otesha LEJOG (Lands End to John O’Groats) tour is now in full swing. Yesterday we descended on our third school – the Maynard school for girls in Exeter – and we definitely made an impression on the girls there. And this is what this week’s journal entry is going to be about – the children that we have met so far. However, first we would like to send out a massive hug and well wishes to Olivia (a tour member) who took a nasty fall on Tuesday and fractured her collar bone, so has been unable to continue on tour with us. The team is very upset about losing one of our ‘family’, but there are rumours of an ‘Olivia doll’ that can join in on team photos and we are all very much looking forward to seeing her when we can hopefully rendezvous further up the country.

The last journal entry gave an update on our first in-school session and, despite the traumatic experience mentioned above, the second school day (in Coads Green, Cornwall) went remarkably well. The play kept the attention of a class of 4-6 year olds for its entire duration and the popularity of the Tupperware rap (an amazing song in the play) was well and truly established. With the little ones audience participation is the key, but trying to say your lines while 25 children continue to try and suggest sandwich fillings for you is quite a challenge!

Then commenced a lot of slightly disorganised running around games, a grow your own workshop where they planted broad beans and covered themselves in soil and an energy workshop where we were all impressed by their knowledge of what uses energy. As a whole we have been impressed with just how knowledgeable the children are and how quickly and easily they grasp the issues and embrace the actions they can take to help make a positive impact on the world.

Our school yesterday was quite different with much older children 10-13 years old. They had also already broken up for the summer so had come in especially to see us (so pressure to perform well!). Due to their age, it was really difficult to get much reaction from them during the play, but the transformation throughout the day when we had done some workshops with them was incredible. They really started to open up and join in and we had some fantastic conversations with them. It was lovely to see. We had just swapped play roles before the performance so it was fairly improvised at times, but it went down well and we had assurance that no-one noticed the ad-libbing!

The workshops we did with them were about Fair Trade (using bananas as the example – it is after all great fun to pretend to be a banana!) and ethical fashion where we spread the knowledge of how to make wallets out of Tetra-paks! Both of the workshops went brilliantly and it is an amazing feeling when you talk to some of the children afterwards and they tell you all of the things that they are going to change as a result of meeting you. I had one lass telling me that she was going to make sure that her parents only bought Fairtrade bananas. All of these little impacts put together are the Otesha way of changing the world. As we say in the play ‘together we are stronger’.

We have all loved working with the children so far and it really does give you hope for the future that they do all care and want to make a difference. That's it for this week folks, stay tuned for the next entry. (Kerry & the rest of the Land’s End to John O’Groat’s team)

End to End Tour - the Otesha Project - First Log

During the months of July and August resilient TN blogger, Kerry Lane is cycling with the 17-strong Otesha crew from Land's End to John O'Groats. In our Bike Week last month she described how she came to be spending her summer cycling sustainably up and down the hills of Britain with 17 fellow volunteers. At the end of August she'll be posting a special Low Carbon Life report of her epic journey. Meanwhile here is her teammate Thalia writing for the Otesha website. . .

When thinking about what to write for the LeJog 2010 tour it was really hard to fit in all of the amazing things which Hanna, Jo and the team managed to fit into training week!

Our journey to Sancreed, Corwall and ‘Plan-it Earth’ (a small, sustainable farm and our home-away-from-home for training week) was up one very steep hill…. the first of many. One of the first things we had to accomplish was to get to know our new ‘family’ mainly through lots of games, which made us feel a bit like uninhibited little children. The ’serious’ endeavours of creating a ‘food mandate’ (a shared agreement on how the team would eat for the duration of the trip) and the community roles (the responsibilities that we would take on as a team) went smoothly and allowed us to form a common idea of how life will function over the next two months.

We decided through consensus decision making to eat a completely vegetarian (and largely vegan) diet, to buy local goods as often as possible, and when not possible, to buy Fairtrade imported products (especially chocolate). We decided on all of this as a reflection of our commitment to reduce our impact on the environment and promote social justice.

Other activities included learning vegan cooking from some amazing volunteer chefs (Rosie and Iona… thanks guys!), yoga and outdoor showers, lots of learning about environmental issues and group dynamics, and everything we could ever want to know about two wheels from the mad bike scientists Pete and Dave (who we are all in love with, the boys included).

We also did a lot of work on the Otesha Play. We re-worked the scripts, created new characters, voices and scenes to give us some ownership over the final performance, which we will be giving to schools and communities at stops throughout our tour. In a few days time, team members began to blossom into characters such as Jamie Oliver, Simon Cowell, a ’Banana Pirate’ and a rapper who sings about the wonders of Tupperware. After a week of practice and rehearsal we gave our very first performance to a small school tucked away in a little valley not far from Land’s End. We were rather nervous but everything went well and the kids’ lovely eco suggestions to us included such brilliance as ‘recycling flat hedgehogs’ and considering the ‘ethics of factory produced Fairtrade products’ (these were coming from students age 4 -6 six!! Pretty impressive huh?).

At last, to finish the long week of training, we had our first team cycle….. a trip out to the famous ‘Land’s End’ on a rocky prominence overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. After some photo opps, hugs and (of course) a bit of shenanigans, we set off again for Plan-it Earth and a team party before departing for the tour. 16 miles and 1 performance down… 1000 more miles, 18 performances, lots of adventure, and thousands of people to reach out to still to go…

We couldn’t be more excited!!

Thalia & rest of the Land’s End to John O’Groats team

Otesha team discussion; Kerry's bike resting before the big tour; spelling it out at Land's End

Zero Carbon to Copenhagen

I was in a state of despair about climate change. All the science said we needed an extremely rapid transition away from fossil fuels in order to avoid it spiralling out of control in a runaway greenhouse effect. We have never made such a fundamental transition in society before.

Or have we? War! That is the key. America made its first tank seven months after Pearl Harbour. We can do the same again, only making wind turbines instead of weapons. Nothing stops us from making the transition except lack of political will.

The first edition of the Zero Carbon Britain report detailing how we could go zero carbon in 20 years was published by the Centre for Alternative Technology in 2007, and that year, at their members' weekend, I asked Zero Carbon Britain project director Paul Allen if we could do it quicker than 20 years. His reply - yes we could, but the public wouldn't accept it 'because climate change isn't as visible a threat as Hitler'.

So, how do we make it visible, and how do we get across the idea that we need a new world war, a war on climate change? Then I heard a report on the evacuation from Dunkirk on the radio - the flotilla of little ships which crossed the North Sea and picked up the British army from the > beaches of Belgium in the darkest days of the second world war, a war we eventually went on to win. It's the sort of inspiration we need (though it might not exactly enthuse peace campaigners, and, as the German Green MEP Sven Giegold said when I explained it to him "This will not go down well in Germany!").

So, the idea of the zero carbon caravan was born - groups of people would travel to the Copenhagen climate summit - our last chance to prevent runaway climate change - without using any fossil fuels, cycling on land, and sailing in a flotilla reminiscent of Dunkirk over the sea to Europe. Tall ships would bring people from all over the world, from America, Australia, New Zealand. Thousands of cyclists from all over Europe would converge on Copenhagen. On the way they would collect information on how to go zero carbon to present to the delegates at the climate summit. Worldwide media coverage would have the delegates trembling, millions of people the world over would be demanding they sign a treaty which would save the world from climate catastrophe ...

Well, we all know what happened. Copenhagen was a disaster. But I did make it there, (starting in Wales on August 14th, finishing in Copenhagen on December 5th) though not with the army of people I had imagined, and I didn't get nearly as much media coverage as I hoped for. But I did get on TV three times, and had a few radio interviews, and got in lots of local papers. And I visited some really interesting and inspiring examples of the things people can do to get closer to the > zero carbon living which is both possible and preferable. And I did manage to collect these examples together and put them on a couple of datasticks, one of which I presented to Ingrid Nestle, the German Green Party MPs' spokesperson on energy economics, and the other to Colin Challen, who was at the time an MP and chair of the All Party > Parliamentary Climate Change Group (sadly, he didn't stand at the last general election, because the constituency boundaries in Leeds were redrawn and they lost a constituency, and he lost out to Ed Balls in the Labour Party selection for the seat).

Lastly, I met a truly amazing person called Kim Nguyen, who made my > journey from Wales look insignificant, as he cycled all the way from Australia http://www.rideplanetearth.org/. Not only that, he managed to organise rides all over the world just before the climate summit. And this year we are working together, organising rides all over the world, finishing with zero carbon concerts, to show both people and politicians that, not only is a zero carbon world possible, it's also much more fun - the people stopping it are those with vested interests in the fossil fuel industry, and it's time we took them on.

We're also working with 350 http://www.350.org/(who are campaigning for an > eventual carbon dioxide concentration of 350 ppm maximum) and 10:10 http://www.1010global.org/ (who made The Age of Stupid, and are now campaigning to get people to cut their carbon emissions by 10% in 2010), joining in the Global Work Party carrying out practical actions to cut carbon emissions by starting preparations for the zero carbon concert events, doing things like building bicycle generators. So, if anyone from Transition Norwich wants to join in, please get in touch by visiting http://www.zerocarbonconcert.org/. And spread the word to everyone you know. Because maybe, just maybe, we can still rescue the world from runaway climate change, and it isn't too late after all.

Chris Keene

En route to Copenhagen: Klimahaus at night and with students, 6 November 2009.

Let's Hear it for Pedal Power!

Hello, I’m Tom Foxe, and my cycling travels haven’t taken me very far yet - holidays along the coast of Holland, in Southern Ireland and the Isle of Man. Mostly I cycle to and from work in Norwich, about 5 miles a day. I became interested in bike-powered gennies (short for generator) about 10 years ago, through the internet. There are dozens of bike genny sites and lots of clips on Youtube.

My first genny was the hub of a Rutland wind generator, the white disc behind the bike above. It powered a 12 volt sound system. A battery kept the system going while riders changed over, and when people pedalled, the genny kept the battery charged. Most people generate about 50 watts easily. This will run a 100 watt sound system at medium power.

The first (2003) Human Dynamo system was very basic – microphones + mixer + keyboard amplifier, but it sounded great and people loved pedalling the bike to power the system.

The folk group Seize the Day played in Chapelfield Gardens, Norwich last Summer using the improved Human Dynamo system. We used good quality P.A. speakers and it worked so well, some people asked if we could please turn the volume down? We obliged of course.

People have asked me how a bike genny compares with mains electricity, and what can be powered by it? A one-person genny can only be used in limited situations, and cannot compare with mains electricity power-wise. In a recent TV programme the makers showed that to boil just one electric kettle (typically 2,500 watts) it took 30 or 40 people pedalling to produce enough electricity!

So what good IS a bike genny ? Well, being limited, it makes us think about using less – smaller and more efficient devices, and switching things OFF when not needed. This is a useful mindset to develop as Earth’s oil supply runs out. They now make powerful LED stage lights and Data Projectors which use 1/3 the energy of filament lamps and last many times longer. As oil runs out, unreliable mains power supply is very likely, so a backup system of batteries and bike gennies will be very useful. It will allow us to power some lights and also some important audio-visual devices independently of mains electricity, at least for as long as someone is able & willing to pedal!

Also, because of the dangers of mains electricity, outdoor public events using mains power have more red tape involved and insurance cover is more expensive. For these events, low voltage systems are much safer, cheaper and less hassle.
Having attended a bike genny workshop in May, I found there is a big demand for them - it was booked out 6 months in advance and people came from far afield, many from Transition Towns. It was a great workshop, but a no. of people doubted if they would actually get around to building their own genny afterwards.

So I decided to run a workshop in Norwich, where people will build and take away their own genny. As a bike lover, ex-electrician and electronics engineer I feel well placed to deliver this workshop, which will focus on Safety, Building the Genny and Applications.

The non-profit workshop, 1-5 p.m. Sat. 25th September 2010 in Norwich, provides a new Turbo Trainer, 250 watt generator, 12 volt battery and other parts, and costs £120 (significant reduction possible for cyclists with own turbo trainer) . For comparison, a commercial pedal genny, the Gazelle costs £100 and produces just 15 watts. There are 12 places, no special skills/knowledge needed. Mail tom7railway@yahoo.co.uk for full details.

The workshop will be followed by a Pedal Power Party (6-9 p.m.) to which Transition Norwich people and others are invited. This will feature pedal-powered lighting, cinema, live entertainment and that rare creature, a disco that doesn’t hurt your ears!

Tom Foxe

What's the time? It's Bicycle Bonus time!

Hello, my name is Matt and I have never blogged before. Now confession over, its time to talk bicycles! It is midway through National Bike Week as hopefully by now you will know.

I hope that many of you were aware of this year's events in Norwich- and that you have/will take advantage of the FREE breakfast on offer at the Forum courtesy of the Energy Saving Trust this morning. Organic cakes from the Greenhouse, organic fruit from Rob on his market stall and tea/coffee from Marzanos. If thats not worth cycling for I dont know what is!?

Well... how about a city wide discount scheme for cyclists? OK then lets do that as well! Or at least we will try to. The Bicycle Bonus reward scheme is a joint initiative with Norfolk County Council and it aims to reward those already cycling and encourage others to give it a go. When registered, cyclists will received a Norwich Green Travel map and a branded hi viz 'slap wrap' which they will need to show to participating businesses to receive a discount. You should be able to spot said businesses as they will be displaying a bicycle wheel window sticker. To find out more about the scheme please visit www..facebook.com/bicyclebonus where you can find links to register and check out the latest businesses to join in. Also, if you are on facebook please 'like us'- put your thumbs up to us and share it with friends. And if you know of any businesses that would like to participate all they need to do is register here... www.surveymonkey.com/s/bicyclebonusbusiness

I think cycling is the best way for getting from A to B, especially around the city centre- so quick and easy to park! And of course there are the financial benefits too. But many people also use cycling as a mode of transport to go further a field. To make this blog more interactive I would be interested in hearing where people have cycled to! Where is the furthest place you have cycled to? Where is the most amazing place you have cycled to? I am planning on cycling around Eastern Europe and Scandinavia later in the summer- I would appreciate any advice!!

All my bikes x

Cycle paths - why we need them

I recently signed up for the Bicycle Bonus and was pleased to receive a free map of Norwich cycle paths and a snap band that gets me a discount when I cycle to some shops. This is a great initiative and hopefully it will encourage more people to get on their bikes to go shopping. I live in Little Melton and I can reach the centre of Norwich in 35 mins, which can be quicker than using the car at peak times – the great thing is that I can then park for free and wiz around the centre of Norwich. A couple of good panniers will take as much shopping as I can carry. I have to confess to a smug feeling as I shoot down the Chaplefield underpass and see that the car park sign is showing everywhere FULL and there is a massive queue to get into the multi-storey on the opposite side.

So why don’t I see more cyclists on my trip into Norwich? Well a quick look at my new map shows that there are few off road paths and my own route includes a section on Hethersett Lane that is described as ‘on road, useful part of the cycle network that is generally unprotected’ – my own description would be ‘dangerous, narrow road with cars doing well in excess of 60mph, deep potholes where the cyclists ride and branches intruding into the road’. I cycled this road last night on the way to the TN Solstice party and had an unpleasantly close experience with a car doing about 80 mph. I can’t see any measures that have been taken to make this road cyclist friendly.

I’ve spent a lot of time trying to promote a cycle path to connect the NRP area to Hethersett, where a lot of the workers live. We have proved there is a demand and everyone agrees that it ticks the right boxes for getting people out of cars. Bikes really are the ideal solution for commutes of less than 5 miles and I look forward to people putting pressure on politicians to divert the relatively small sums required to provide cycle paths from the massive roads budget. Cyclists have to become the first class of road users – not consigned to the potholed edges.

Here is a pic of my bike, twenty years old and good for another twenty with the help of some replacement bits every few years. The lights run off a big rechargeable battery and make it really fun to go out round the lanes after dark and hear the owls and other nocturnal animals.

Happy cycling to all - (The Police and Dr Bike will be at outside the outpatients building at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital on Thursday 24th June between 1pm and 3pm for free safety checks and bike security marking.)