Home

It was awesome to see so many cyclists supporting the annual Ride to Work Day at Edinburgh Gardens in Melbourne.

The event was organised by Bicycle Victoria with the support of the City of Yarra and sponsorship from various local businesses.

The police offered free bicycle engravings that help identify the bike in the event of theft. Lord mayor Jane Garrett and Greens Councilor Kathleen Maltzahn also gave their support to the event.

With increasing road congestion and growing environmental concerns helping fuel peoples’ desire to find alternative forms of transport, cycling offers a viable, cheaper option that also keeps you healthy.

Unfortunately, while cyclists share a narrow shoulder on the side of most roads, it raises the possibility of being hit by cars and trucks..

In many European cities they have three major initiatives to help improve cyclists safety and increase patronage:

1.Copenhagen style bicycle lanes that clearly demarcate cyclists from vehicle traffic using dedicated bicycle lanes. The City of Melbourne has flagged a similar system for Swanston St.

2.Shifting the onus of blame to motorists in the event of a collision with a cyclist, ie in all cases of a vehicle/cyclist collision the motorist is guilty of an offense. Similarly, if a cyclist hits a pedestrian, the cyclist is presumed guilty.

3.Non-compulsory wearing of helmets. This will only be possible with the introduction of vehicle guilt in the event of a collision with a cyclist.

If you are inspired to ride to work, then check out Bikepark a company that has shower facilities and bicycle parking to help commuters get refreshed before heading into the office.

So, even if you missed this year’s event, riding to work is still an easy option every other day!

Compare the size of our rubbish bins to out parents & grand parents. Now we have a huge dedicated bin for recycling and another for general waste.
Why do we need so much more space for rubbish, well buying more stuff, especially packaged food will quickly put your garbage bin under pressure.
Sixty years ago we made everything, all our meals were cook at home or we prepared our lunches for work/office.
A modern supermarket may stock 20 000 to 30 000 different items.

Prior to the fifties, Supermarkets didn’t exist, we went to a number of speciality shops for our food supplies: the Grocer for packaged, dry or canned foods, Green Grocer for fruit & vegetables, Baker, Butcher, Milk Bar/confectionery shop.

Yet we managed fine making our own cookies and other treats, jams and break fast cereal was porridge, toast, fruit or the good old bacon & eggs (Ok if you;re doing manual labour), lunch was sandwiches, fruit and dinner made from scratch.
We had our milk home delivered with a trip to the local Milk Bar satisfying our basic requirements of flour, sugar, bread etc.

Somewhere along the way our basic range of products exploded, have a look at the pasta source aisle, how many products are there?
Making a great pasta source is pretty simple, why pay for a processed product with preservatives, chemicals & artificial flavors when there are simplier alternatives?

The main point is all these products have packaging and can be made at home but “I don’t have the time”.
Well maybe ask yourself what you are doing with the other 8 hours you are not working or sleeping.
Yes modern life is crazy yet we can make some decisions about how we manage all our activities.