The U.K. Government is to spend millions of £ (yes, you heard right, Millions) to get more of us here onto bikes. May be that is not such as bad initiative, but at times when they cannot afford to fund some basic services one does wonder if the priorities are correct.
Now having just come back from visiting a number of European countries bikes were much more in evidence. They were much more a part of the way of life in all the countries visited, except that is for Russia where the car now seems to rule.
Even ‘parking’ the bike was done with a degree of neatness – even, one might say with a touch of flair…..
It seemed as if any odd corner was pressed into use to create parking lots……
Even when ranked in line outside the Town Hall at Tallinn they seemed to add atmosphere to the local scene…..
Or standing in neat rows outside shops……
But not all bikes were used as cycles….some were pressed into use as an extension to the shops display…..
We even caught a glimpse of a bike actually being ridden!….
Government initiative or not I think it will take a time for us here in the U.K. to become as comfortable with cycling as our European cousins.
13th August
© David Oakes 2013
Those were the days, David. They don’t make them like that anymore 🙂
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You are right…yet here in the U.K. it seems as if it has to be bright and shinny and looking as if it will go fast! Where have those more sedate days gone too?
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I love bicycling… 😉
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I am crazy with bikes… and still I want a bike… Beautiful. Thank you dear David, love, nia
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Nice series! The last one (with comment) made me smile.
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Thanks…..she is actually cycling into the Danish Parliament building…..note the total lack of security!! 😊
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Wow …a lot of bikes! I guess Oxford and Cambridge are the only places in the U.K. that could come anywhere near matching that number. The excuse is of course that your country is flat…so cycling is easier! But I guess it is more a state of mind and a culture you have grown up with. Here cars are king.
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