Bicycles are in the news this week, what with the Olympics & all
Perhaps that is why some other bicycle related items caught my attention
I have been skimming through some (not very good) pieces by Robert Benchley from the 1930s (Benchley Lost and Found: 39 Prodigal Pieces )
One piece, The Return of the Bicycle, does seem prophetic:
With the complete collapse of the automobile as a means of transportation … Any agencies of propulsion which depend upon such tricky outside helps as gasoline, heavy motors … All motors giving off carbon-monoxide exhaust … should be confiscated
And best of all:
If motorists want to leave their “cars” anywhere, let them leave them at home where they will be out of decent people’s way
Many years ago I heard on the radio that, in any medium sized town, 40% of the land area, during the day, would be occupied by parked cars. This seemed a bit excessive, but not long afterwards I was crossing the whole of Manchester by train. That line travels on a viaduct, so one has an unrivalled view of the lie of the land. I was shocked by the amount occupied by tons of steel going nowhere for 8 hours or more
Since then there has been much regeneration, the value of the land has risen, & there are more multi-storey car parks which may have reduced the actual area of ground so covered, but still …
Or take the district general hospital. Every day, it seems, they devise another unsightly method of shoehorning more parked cars into the site. And still residents of surrounding streets find their access blocked by the parked cars of hospital visitors & staff
And why do people think that they own the piece of road outside their house, which it is theirs & theirs alone to park on? As park they do, causing congestion & delays to buses. Surely they should have to purchase some specific form of lease to do this?
I realise that in some places residents already have to pay for parking, but in this relatively less densely populated area, with relatively lower levels of car ownership, any such proposal would probably cause an uprising
The other bicycle related story I noticed is in fact a very old one. The Times published, in its Archive series, a picture of the machine in which Bleriot made the first Channel crossing being brought out to celebrate the 25 anniversary of his feat
I must have seen a picture of his machine many times before, but this is the first time that I have noticed the bicycle-like contraption on which he sat. Surely the whole thing was not driven by pedal power?
Perhaps that is why some other bicycle related items caught my attention
I have been skimming through some (not very good) pieces by Robert Benchley from the 1930s (Benchley Lost and Found: 39 Prodigal Pieces )
One piece, The Return of the Bicycle, does seem prophetic:
With the complete collapse of the automobile as a means of transportation … Any agencies of propulsion which depend upon such tricky outside helps as gasoline, heavy motors … All motors giving off carbon-monoxide exhaust … should be confiscated
And best of all:
If motorists want to leave their “cars” anywhere, let them leave them at home where they will be out of decent people’s way
Many years ago I heard on the radio that, in any medium sized town, 40% of the land area, during the day, would be occupied by parked cars. This seemed a bit excessive, but not long afterwards I was crossing the whole of Manchester by train. That line travels on a viaduct, so one has an unrivalled view of the lie of the land. I was shocked by the amount occupied by tons of steel going nowhere for 8 hours or more
Since then there has been much regeneration, the value of the land has risen, & there are more multi-storey car parks which may have reduced the actual area of ground so covered, but still …
Or take the district general hospital. Every day, it seems, they devise another unsightly method of shoehorning more parked cars into the site. And still residents of surrounding streets find their access blocked by the parked cars of hospital visitors & staff
And why do people think that they own the piece of road outside their house, which it is theirs & theirs alone to park on? As park they do, causing congestion & delays to buses. Surely they should have to purchase some specific form of lease to do this?
I realise that in some places residents already have to pay for parking, but in this relatively less densely populated area, with relatively lower levels of car ownership, any such proposal would probably cause an uprising
The other bicycle related story I noticed is in fact a very old one. The Times published, in its Archive series, a picture of the machine in which Bleriot made the first Channel crossing being brought out to celebrate the 25 anniversary of his feat
I must have seen a picture of his machine many times before, but this is the first time that I have noticed the bicycle-like contraption on which he sat. Surely the whole thing was not driven by pedal power?
Realted posts: Cynical cycling
