LotteBum said:
Theo Bekkers said:It was the standard method of travel when I was a kid in Holland. I
remember going on family outings to my great uncle Frans place, where
us kids would climb up the huge cherry tree and eat cherries all day.
Dad with the twin girls, one seat on the crossbar and another on the
back. Mum the same with the twin boys, except for the crossbar. My
older brother with my younger brother on the back, and my sister and I
on our own bikes. My older brother was 12, older sister 9, I 7, younger
brother 6, twin girls 3 1/2, twin boys
18 months. This was the only way we ever travelled, no heros, no medals
needed.
That's awesome! Way to go Team Bekkers!
--
LotteBum
Back in Ancient Times during the 1950s when I was a youngster, the idea
of my mum or my father pedling around
Sydney Roads with child trailers behind push bikes would have been
utterly impractical and
entirely irresponsible because of the dangers of riding on the crowded
narrow roads.
I lived about 17km away from the fabulous Sydney beaches where my
sisters and I were taken on many weekends
but most certainly not by means of bicycles. The round trip would have
been utterly exhausting
and dangerous due to large hills and steep descents, and the bloody
traffic.
From an early age we walked a mile to primary schools, then later caught
buses.
I cannot recall a single student riding a bike to school in the 11 years
at St Leo's.
But a couple of kids who were sons of Dutch immigrants and a couple of
Italians were interested in bikes,
and raced on weekends, and at 15 or 17, I used my earned pocket money to
buy a second hand beat up
old push bike which I gradually restored,
and unlike most of the rest of my car driving peer group I rode to the
beach and back quite often,
or rode to Gosford and back with the Dutch Comrades, who I found to be
brilliant company.
The two Dutch guys were utter dunces in class, except that their picture
painting efforts were excellent, but despite their
dismal marks elsewhere they were quite successful after leaving school,
showing much more panache than most aussie kids.
But once I completed school, and work and night school study began, I
ceased cycling completely, and got around only by
motorcycle, which allowed me time to travel all around Sydney and for
work, study and to socialise
without turning up exhausted in a lather of sweat. I refused to buy a
car, or marry the dopey sheila living next door.
It was expected that i do that asap, but I let them all down.
Mum and Dad most certainly did not have the time, inclination, or
capabilities for cycle travel it seemed.
And nor did I, in all my 20s, and half my 30s.
When young we always went around by car, and usually in a Morris Oxford,
or a [censored]'s Jeep stationwagon.
My dad was a vet, always rushed off his feet, and also a local alderman,
and never cycled anywhere
while I knew him. ( But he cycled in his youth, riding to Cairns and
back to Sydney in 1927.)
My grandma and a great aunt lived with us, and they sure were never to
ever turn a crank with a foot.
There were hardly any cars on the road in '27, but by '55, Sydney's
roads were already choked.
Road widening and re-building has never kept pace with car ownership and
use.
There were no cycle paths. My mum rode a lot in her youth, but only on
horses in Centennial Park,
as she enjoyed life in Paddington with its airs and graces methinks. She
just wasn't even slightly
ever interested in bicycles, like about 90% of those around her. My
sisters never rode anything
that wasn't a horse or at least a moped. Providing leg power just wasn't
on!
Here in Canberra, a network of cycle paths allows ppl to cycle if they
want to
without any fear of being run over by motorists.
The hills tend to be gentle and short compared to many other places,
and if ones life expecations do not include being a busy professional
person,
or living expensively in a bigger city like Sydney, then a humble simple
life
of frugality in a cycle friendly town may suit some folks exceedingly
well.
I own a small car though, and use it constantly for shopping and its a
luxury I allow myself
even while on very low wages. The $1,400 per annun to run a 1986 Ford
Laser seems good value to me,
as well as the cost of the cycling, maybe $500 per annum in costs, and
$1,000 in time spent cycling and cost of
earning during that time. The bicycle could provide all my travel needs,
but I like the diversity of operation,
and don't much like riding into town when its -10C on winter evenings to
play chess.
The idea of borrowing money to buy a new car seems utterly wasteful, and
I never ever have.
the depreciation on a new car is a waste. But I did once buy a brand new
utility for my building work.
22 years later I got a very nice price of $4,000 for this Holden One
Tonner.
It was impossible for me to be a working tradesman without a motor
vehicle.
I did such a fine job of buying and renovating my house in distant past
years that I don't need the huge income
or time to now maintain what I own. Other folks seem to need to work a
lot more than i do.
Young folks buying their own house now are having to pay much more in
real terms than I did,
and so often their work schedules don't permit the time to cycling with
kids in tow
as a priniciple means of transport. There is only so much money anyone
can save by refusing to buy a car.
Judging by my own economics of the issue, it really isn't much of a
saving, a couple of grand a year at most
if one can settle for a cheap to run small four cylinder car.
I chose the building trade as my trade because I knew one of the biggest
purchases I'd ever make
would be to buy a house and land. I came easily to the idea of being a
settled down person,
and this boring dull attitude saves me a huge amount because I don't pay
rent.
Being a builder meant I could buy a tiny run down house
cheaply, and invest my time and skills directly to rebuild it without
paying profits to another builder to house me,
and have to earn high wages to pay that builder, and pay tax on top of
all that.
So I managed easily to provide a very adequate house with moderate
luxuries of two bathrooms and an inground pool
all paid for by age 37, and all without the help of any "partner", as a
wife is called these days.
The point I make is that ones life decisions and choices have a large
effect on how you
get on later in life, and the more you avoid the larger massive expenses
of housing by being
self reliant, the better. If you have any time left over to avoid
motoring costs by cycling,
its an additional winfall.
I don't need a wealthy lifestyle, do not have to do parenting duties and
chores so i can spend a wednesday and sunday
on a bicycle for 4 hours each day and then rest up.
I don't even bother to ride the 1km to the local shop to shop, where
each bag of groceries is $20 average,
and heavy, because there are no packaged "Fake Supermarket Food
Products" within.
Three times a week it seems a weight of vegetable expense is difficult
to avoid. The land I own combined with the
local climate prevents me growing my own food.
Compared to many, I'm bone lazy and quite inconsistant, but I couldn't
care less; my greenhouse footprint on This PLanet
is tiny compared to busy people whose average weekly earnings are 7
times my earnings, and spend every darn thing i don't want or need
and it all ends up CO2. Most ppl today cannot be frugal and happy, or
even just happy.
Relying on buses to get around Canberra would mean long waits especially
on weekends,
and a car makes sense to me, and I don't like riding when its wet.
But overall, I've always found it cheaper to live in Canberra than
living in Sydney.
I have come to terms that Canberra is viewed by those living elsewhere
that is THE MOST BORING PLACE ON EARTH.
Hmm, sounds wonderful to me, no bugger takin a quid off me each time I
do anything at all.
Beautiful dull boring empty country scenery is only 5 minutes away by
bicycle. No seeemingly endless tracts
of deprssing urban landscapes.
I sure don't miss the Sydney beaches, and I don't need a pretentious
McMansion.
People who say Canberra is boring are usually very boring themselves,
and have less ability to be self sufficient.
For those defiant and rebellious enough to reject the peer group imposed
straightjacket like conformity
of being addicted to cars and wealthy pretense more than I do, they sure
can do it well in Canberra, and only have a bicycle for
all their family travel. For such healthy rebellions, I'd hand out
medals if I could, but alas I have not
quite the right relationship with people running The Mint.
Patrick Turner.
