The Life-Sized City Blog

I found this brilliant sign over at Will o' the Wisp, a website featuring four Dutch mothers who blog about life in the Netherlands with sharp, entertaining wit. (now defunct, it seems.) They didn't cut any corners when writing about Dutch bicycle culture. Like the sign above says, "Please refrain from reading newspapers while cycling". I often see people riding with books here in Copenhagen and lament daily the fact that I have, as yet, been unable to catch a photo of one. [I'm still waiting for the shot of a cat in a basket, too] Newspapers would be frightfully tricky to control on a bicycle, however. Well, unless you were selling them, of course: . Although the Italians figured out newspaper transport on bicycles decades ago . I do have a photo of Felix reading a book on our Long John - back when we had the Long John - on our way to football training: This is a common sight. Kids in cargo bikes reading books on their way home from school. The ar...

So... on the basis of the overwhelming positive response to what was in essence a spontaneous idea... The Slow Bicycle Movement is launched. Herewith and henceforth, and all that, The Slow Bicycle Movement can be found here . Come one, come all. Join the peloton. It's not moving that fast, so you can easily hop into it.

The Slow Bicycle Movement I'm fascinated by the growing Slow Food movement which started in Italy in 1989 and I can certainly understand its popularity. "Slow Food is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic member-supported organization that was founded in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world." As with all good, timely ideas, the concept has really taken off. Inevitably, the concept of Slow has spawned other offshoots. - Slow Fish - Slow Company - Slow Design - Slow Retail - Slow Planet - Slow Cities [Cittaslow] - The World Institute of Slowness - Slow Travel To name but a few. So why not start a bicycle-friendly version of the movement? The Slow Bike Movement - no, make that the Slow BICYCLE movement - the very word 'bike' is a speeded up version of the original. The very cool Icel...