Tag: perception

Quality of time, or, less isn’t more. It’s less.

The latest buzz is to ‘slow down’. Metaphorical or otherwise. Wisdom has it that if we do slow down we “increase our productivity/health/happiness/work-life balance” – or insert your life goal of choice. Whether it is a meme on your social media platform of choice or a well-meant lunchtime chat, the sentiment is the same. Our way of life is hectic and stressful and can only be improved, our life amplified by the speed of which we do things.

On the surface there is nothing really to object to, really. Yes, most of us are busy. Our schedules seem to be filled to the brim. We chase from one commitment to the next. The to-do lists grow by the minute. We’re anxious, stressed, exhausted. Then we hear the well-meant advice to slow down. Breath. Be less stressed. Be more mindful.

Somehow this feels like adding another layer to the chores. A bit like telling someone who is close to drowning to stop worrying so much or stop paddling so hard, perhaps instead breath more and add a smile to your face while you’re at it.

While the sentiment of choosing mindfulness, of consciously living in the moment may have I incredibly positive impacts on our lives, its attempts to incorporate this set of thinking into the contemporary ‘busy-bee’ lifestyle has warped it into another challenge to be accepted and another idea to be marketed.

And yes, why wouldn’t you want to attend a workshop learn to be more happy, healthy, productive or connected to people around you?

The problem with the idea is the proposition that if you incorporate mindfulness into your day you can continue your lifestyle just as an ‘improved’ version of it when that’s simply impossible.

Let’s say I spend more time on consciously devouring a custard tart. I stop multitasking, put my phone away and really focus on the sweet stickiness on my tongue and feel the  pudding texture in my mouth. No doubt will I have maximised the experience of eating said dessert, which may increase my overall well being and happiness. That doesn’t mean that now that I’m more mindful I have the ability to now catch-up on all the other things I had planned on doing.

In other words, more isn’t more of everything. It’s less of some things. I’m consciously choosing what I don’t want to do and increase THAT part’s quality.

And that’s crux – beauty and challenge alike – of slowing down.

What on earth does it have to do with active transport? Very simple: using bicycles for transport is literally and metaphorically slowing you down. Yes, it is not as fast as a car (depending on your route, traffic and time of the day), but the quality of the journey is improved: your exercising, connecting to your place through experiencing the season, the weather and people around you. The point isn’t to be fast and the consequence is that, yes, I may have spent 15 or 20 minutes longer to get home from work/school/uni, but have increased the quality of that experience.

Living in a time when we can seem to purchase anything the proposition of willingly choosing something we give up and say ‘no’ to in order to experience, treasure and enjoy what we do have seems to be the biggest challenge.

When did you choose to say no last time in order to slow down?

Review: E-bikes share system in Wedel, Germany

You may have read about my newly kindled love for bike share systems. Hamburg’s citybike wasn’t the only project that made my heart flutter: In Wedel, a tranquil little city of Hamburg’s outskirts, we HAD to try the local bike share system. Why was it different to Hamburg’s citybike, you wonder? Well, there you see the boundaries of local government, literally. Wedel belongs to a different local government area, hence they opted for a different bike share system.

Here a quick review:

The excellent aspects of Wedel’s bike share:

  • This system provides E-bikes, which come with a number of advantages. Hire bicycles cater for normal sized people and anyone bigger (like my partner) than normal will find the bike fit is less than desirable. Imagine yourself borrowing the bike of a five-year old and you’ll get close to my partner’s sensation on a regular bike. While it would have been hard to pedal a small bike, the pedal assist on an e-bike compensated and provided comfort.
  • Wedel is flat as a pancake, but windy as. Again, the e-bikes enabled us to travel without kicking up a sweat. Our goal was to get around in comfort and site-see, which we were able to achieve. I might add, the sleek sit-up style made it VERY comfortable.
  • The self-serve vending machine was easy to use (despite a little paper-dispenser hiccup), accepted credit cards and made picking-up and returning the bike a breeze.
  • Access to the share system was easy: the bike boxes were 20 meters away from the train station and bus port so it was super easy to combine trips with public transport.

The challenges of Wedel’s bike share:

  • We hired the bicycles for two days and by the time we returned our trusted treadlies, both of the bikes’ batteries were starting to run low. While that worked out well for us I wondered how to charge the batteries? One of the options was to hire the bicycles for an entire week – surely you would need a charger cable or replacement battery for the entire time?
  • The system was easy to use, but I couldn’t find any options for regular users like customer cards.
  • The number of access and return points were limited to a few local government run spots (leisure centre and train stations were the ones I came across). Limiting the no doubt expensive infrastructure also limits the use.

If the city’s objective was to provide alternative transport to visitors and tourists then this goal was achieved. We were happy customers and would recommend a trip around town by bike to anyone. Whether this system supports locals’ short trips around town is questionable.

Have you used and e-bike share system? What was your experience?

Bike Share: when it’s done well

What is Bike share? Bike share systems are local government run provisions of bicycles (free or at low cost) supporting a city’s transport system. Such a system works alongside a network of buses, trains, trams, taxi/uber and private vehicles and provide people a way of getting around town without. The nature of trips are usually short and bike shares fills specific needs for users to get around town. Of course, the idea is to get people active, minimise their carbon footprint and alleviating congestion.

Many local government authorities around Australia are playing with the idea of implementing these systems. Advocates and critics cast their eyes to Melbourne and Adelaide where bike shares have been implemented. Running a successful bike share systems contains more than simply buying a bunch of bicycles, locking them at the nearest corner and waiting for people to do their thing. Risk adverse councils like to point to lack of infrastructure and costs versus uptake.

The bike share debate has left me fairly ambivalent in the past for various reasons: my bicycle is dear to me (I’ve named it for god sake!), I plan my trips with my own bicycle and public transport, which means I had no personal need. Yes, I could imagine it may be useful, but as neither Perth nor Fremantle have a bike share I also couldn’t imagine what it would be like with one. You don’t miss what you don’t have.

Well, this all was meant to change on my last stint to Europe.

What are all those red bicycles about, I wondered while doing the tourist shuffle through Hamburg and Berlin. In both cities people were zapping around town on fire engine red “StadtRAD” (Citybike) branded treadlies. Train station exits donned bicycle racks with parked citybikes waiting for their next user. I had to find out more about it.

Hamburg’s bike share website explains how it works: first 30 minutes are free, hire and return your bicycle at any station you like – where are the stations? Well, where AREN’T the stations? There is hundreds of them scattered around town!

Perfect for tourists, I thought. Yes, but actually, perfect for anyone who needs to travel a short journey as the system is set up with customer cards, mobile phone access for very fast and convenient rentals.

It makes sense. The more you know a city the more you know exactly which of your trips are worth using buses or trains for, which require a car and which one you can tick of by bike.

Did people in Hamburg and Berlin complain about traffic? Oh yes, they did. Did they have alternatives for using the car? Hell yes, and they did! In fact, the single most complained about aspect of travelling by car was *drum roll*, you guessed it: parking! Any short, quick trip by car was prolonged by finding parking that riding a bicycle made more sense.

Have you tried a bike share? What were your experiences?

Oh beautiful suburbia

Owning a five bedroom home with double garage and garden situated in a quiet urban neighbourhood is synonymous with living the accomplished, settled life. In fact, home ownership remains one of the hallmarks of living the Australian dream.

There is nothing wrong with this dream per se. Only that isn’t actually a dream anymore, but a reality for many. The detached, single house has not only become a tangible for more Australians, the demand for it has let to an enormous urban sprawl which fundamentally shaped the faces of our cities, the way we travel within them and our expectation of its infrastructure. What does that mean? Let’s say you are living in the pictured neighbourhood: Do you expect to find a supermarket nearby? Will there be a school within reach? What about your local library, hairdresser or restaurants? How far will your workplace be away? And how will you get to all of these places?

While many would say ‘yes’ to all of the above, the common expectation is that our desired destinations outside of home only require a short drive by car and a hopeful quick opportunity to park nearby. Look at universities, hospitals, shopping centres – in fact, picture any popular destination and you’ll also be able to imagine it’s car park. The suburbia we have come to love has become a place where we cook, eat, sleep and spend those hours in between said activities. The rest of our lives has become a careful construction of journeys to and from.

For many people this kind of life works. It is desirable for – predominantly mothers – to taxi children around town and contribute to their education and physical exercises that way. Our car offers a safe commute, a place for private conversations, contemplations. It is safe, fast, flexible, always available.

There are obvious moments when our expectations aren’t met: we’re stuck in traffic, can’t find parking or having to pay to park. Usually these moments remain without consequences and only become a topics of shared complaints around the kitchen table, with work colleagues or anyone else who cares to join in the shared disappointment. There aren’t any consequences because our demands are “more parking” and “better infrastructure” by which we mean more roads for cars.

Suburbia has a direct impact on our quality of life and level of health. When science warns us about the prevalence and danger of sedentary lifestyles, the time we spend at work sitting is only half the picture. For many the other half is usually spend tucked behind the steering wheel, sitting. The life in suburbia demands a price beyond its mortgage. It asks for the commitment to maintaining things they way they are: the job, the travel, the car.

Is there a viable alternative to living comfortably yet more actively? When we dream of ‘livable neighbourhoods’ and ‘connected communities’ do we just imagine a group of detached single houses next to a train line, or an extra shared path we can ride on? Maybe we just mean a bit more time so we can build a bit more exercise into our day?

As long as the majority of us want a slice of the Australian Dream there will be more single houses and we all live more of the same. Long live suburbia!

Cycling: Creating a Culture of Positivity

News about accidents and fatalities on our roads – regardless of people’s mode of transport – is always terribly sad. If the incident involved a person on bicycles it can be particularly intimidating for other people on bicycles.

Unfortunately bad news is always a great angle. Media outlets thrive on it like mushrooms on manure. We love to focus on problems. Accident between two people – one in a car the other on a bike – makes great headlines and it solicits opinions. We love problems and love our opinions about the problems even more!

If there’s any doubt about that have a read of any random news article and scroll to  the ensuing comments. The follow a reoccurring pattern: blame, shame, entitlement (I pay tax and you don’t), introduction of licensing for bicycles, further escalation. This is terribly good click bait (read: money).

What it also inadvertently does is creating an aura of threat, humiliation, negativity and fear. Riding a bicycle becomes dangerous undertaking were the perceived risk is disproportionate to its actual risk. For those who could hop on their treadlie for a short commute the mere thought of swapping to a bicycle becomes absurd. Why would you put yourself into harms way if you can drive and it’s much safer?

It’s very easy to get caught up in focusing on the dangers of riding a bicycle. With any activity there’s no denying that it involves some risks. However, the truth is, you can also slip in your shower, chop your vegies mistake your index finger for a carrot. Would you a) consider giving up showering and eating vegetables? and b) continuously talk about the perils of personal hygiene or food preparation? And c) would they actually stop you from doing either? No, I didn’t think so.

Many aspects of our daily life contain high levels of risk. In fact, you’re probably sitting comfortably in front of your computer or mobile phone reading this and completely disregarding the fact that sitting for prolonged times will cause serious diseases, shorten your life and eventually kill you. Will you stop you from sitting? Nah, didn’t think so.

Tragedies and accidents, unfortunately, are newsworthy and paint a stark picture of an activity that brings joy, ease and exhilarating happiness to many. The mundane daily ride may not a story that makes the front page. The routine is not news, but it doesn’t mean it’s completely boring.

Just it’s not a page turner it doesn’t diminish the impact of this daily dose of happiness which people experience when they swap their bicycle.

So, how do we find a balance between acknowledging the perils and sharing the good stuff? How can we make positivity part of how we talk about riding a bicycle? Exploring the many facets of the culture of riding a bicycle in Australia is certainly a way to do it.