Today was a pleasant day at work. My first job was a short-term lease apartment I clean on Pulteney Street. I finished there at around 11:30am. Then it was off to Netley. I followed the Mike Turtur Bikeway as I usually do, alighting near the Unley Swimming Centre. I wound my way through the backstreets, over Anzac Highway and Main South Road, before finding Marion Road. There I had two jobs–an “Everybody Loves Raymond”-style, daughter and parents situation. I found my way back to the city doing the reverse until I got over Anzac Highway, and detoured to Wayville Reserve, on Le Hunte Street, for a rest and a spot of lunch. I love this spot. It’s quiet and shady. The perfect spot to read, relax and enjoy your lunch.
Over lunch, as I often do, I scrolled through my Twitter feed looking for something interesting to read. The misconception of Twitter as a box on which to stand and share your toilet habits frustrates me. It’s a pretty easy to do well–follow people with similar interests to you and share stuff that you and they might be interested in. That’s how I found today’s lunchtime reading. Adelaide Cyclists tweeted an intriguing looking article: “A Car-Free Year in Adelaide” by Andrew Leunig.
Andrew shares his experience of going almost car-free for a year. He spent some time in Amsterdam, Berlin and Copenhagen and this inspired him to make like them and adopt the bike as a gesture of good health, happiness and a thicker wallet. It was a success and Andrew is happier for it. In his words, these are some of the benefits he discovered:
“It is fun (recapturing the fun I had as a kid on my bike). It is a “flow” activity. Cycling to work is a good way to wake-up. I feel fresher when I get to work than if I had driven. You are engaged with the environment. You feel the sun, you feel the wind, you hear the sounds, you smell the smells.”
After lunch, as I hoped back on the saddle, I had a distinct spring in my legs. As much as I, and others, complain about the cycling infrastructure in Adelaide and the behaviour of motorists we have it pretty good. In fact, exceptionally good. Infrastructure and motorists aside; this city lends itself to cycling. It’s relatively flat, the climate is good–save those scorchers,–and there is so much to see. And for that I am very thankfully. I get to ride everyday, whilst most people are locked up in their offices, in an artificial climate, with phones, photocopiers, and computers polluting the air with artificial sounds. I get to breathe hot air or cool. My skin gets wet or sunburnt. My back sweaty under the weight of my backpack. My legs burn as I try to make good time up Montefiore Road to North Adelaide. Bliss.
What made it even more delightful today was riding around Whitmore Square, on the home-run. To my left, on the verge out the front of St Luke’s Anglican Church; pumpkins, strawberries, chard and capsicums. All growing metres from a busy road. I wondered how many motorists noticed food growing a matter of metres from their steering wheel, in the city! And thus, today’s The People’s Produce Project (#TPPP) contribution.
Whitmore Square, #Adelaide, Community Veggie Patch.
