quote:

Originally posted by Palmira:
I think cycling is the answer - shoudlve dropped my pushbike off at the motorcycle dealer yesteday, then it wouldve been there for me to ride home!

If you really want to be green, and enjoy your life, then own an SUV, a sports car (my ideal would be a Range Rover and an SL 55 AMG), and a pushbike. Use the cars for going out and about on evenings or weekends, driving along the motorway doing good MPG, and use the pushbike around town. Perfect.

And it would solve britains obesity problem at the same time as reducing the bus-jams on our roads.

Palmira,

I could not agree with you more and last year I decided to take up cycling at the tender age of 52 and one of the national cycling mags did a 2 page spread on me at Christmas Velo Vision . This was no easy feat as a childhood op left me with a slight balance problem but the solution came in the form of a what is known as a tadpole Trisalu (click on the thumbprint at the bottom). from Bauer in Germany. I had seen loads of Germans cycling everywhere on a variety of cycles: on two and three wheel recumbents and adult trikes with either two wheels in front (tadpole) or two in back (delta). I even saw a fellow as fast as the wind using a handcycle . The basic attitude here in Germany is that everyone should cycle no matter what their physical circumstances. They also have spent money both here and in Holland on magnificent cycle paths and we can go almost anywhere on a cycle. We even bought a cycle trailer to take the doggies with us. I do about 60 miles a week on the cycle and rarely use the car.

Too bad the politicians would not put our money where their mouth is and give us good cycle paths in England. With poor public transit and little in the way of cycle paths they force the public into our cars .

If people cycled more it would do away with much of the congestion problem and I think a lot of objections to what people drive would fall by the wayside.

As to the Euro, I would go for it. People in the UK regularly get ripped off right, left and centre on everything from food to cars to hotel rooms. If we all used the Euro we could compare prices properly. The pound keeps prices of just about everything high.

Avro in Bruggen

avro, that is to be applauded! When i took up competitive cycling in my early teens, i got very fit very quickly and used to enter time-trials, road races & criteriums all over. Cycling is a very popular sport in Argentina and North America alike, and i found a strong following in the UK! France seems to be the center of racing cycling for Europe though, it really is a national sport & instead of football the back pages of the French tabloids report on Cycling which i think is superb!

No wonder there are no fat people in France.

I do love to cycle, even now i dont compete anymore.

Good for you getting a bike at 52, which is still young! My dad was about 50 when i took up cycling in my early teens. He showed a huge interest in my cycling, and enjoyed helping me build bikes from a frame & components. He decided to build a bike for himself and take up cycling. After 4 years he had become a very fast time-trialist (10 mile club time trial in 23 minutes) and took part in alot of 100-mile road events. He had been in the Army when younger and rowed, played rugby and squash , so was quite strong but had never been a cyclist. He cycled competitively until he was around 58, by which time he was chairman of a very well known road racing club. Cycling is part of me and part of my youth which i like to cling onto, those days as a racing cyclist were fantastic and unrepeatable.

But the government are missing an opportunity to get people on their bikes, keep fit, reduce congestion and emissions.

Reason: it doesnt make them money, and theyre not jealous of bikes.

My girlfriend cycles from here to work each day, which is in Town. Its around 7 miles each way, 14 mile total. Its a lovely journey, down by the river & through Hyde Park. She keeps fit & looks beautiful as a result.

So i stand by my theory - this public transport nonsense is a left-wing, communist idea to shove everyone into the poverty bracket and intrude into our freedom & liberties. I do not care a stuff about the idiots in Parliament, I shall be owning my V8 engined luxury cars, and they will do less damage to the environment than black cabs & buses which belch fumes.

Its an envy tax. The idiots should have spent longer working & less time on the picket lines or off sick on benefit in the 70s, then they too could afford to drive a nice, clean, new car.

They will tax my cars, but they wont take into account that we cycle, which is good for us and the environment.

Surveillance-obsessed, nannying, police-state, communist morons. Get a proper job.

Not so sure re cycle lanes - our council have put them all over the place but they are hardly used - I feel the problem is that the town I live in is full of hills which rather puts people off! Holland and Northern Germany are a different proposition and have wide expanses of reletvely flat land - also they have more space either side of the road for the lanes - one thing that is noticably absent in mainland europe are roadside hedges!

With regard to the Euro - I tend to agree - the only people who benefit from us not being in the Euro are the Bankers and their lackies, the Politicians.

Euro etc in terms of monetary union isnt so much a problem, (although i dont agree with joining it because we are an island and not part of Europe) but what I do NOT want to see is that grinning idiot Tony sign us up to the EU corrupt superstate which will rip us off for huge taxes to fund their own end and dump all of europe's unwanted rubbish on our tiny island.

Britain because of the nature of its economy and geography needs to remain independent.

Oh and by the way Tony, you and that potty imbecile who is in charge of Tower Hamlets who is scrapping Guy Fawkes night in favour of some nonsensical Bengal Tiger event can stick it all and your emissions up your bottoms.

I am taking the weekend off and enjoying a huge social event involving a MASSIVE bonfire which will billow tons of acrid smoke into the sky, and i shall enjoy cigars too.

So stick that in your exhaust pipe & catalyse it.

quote:

Originally posted by Palmira:
Euro etc in terms of monetary union isnt so much a problem, (although i dont agree with joining it because we are an island and not part of Europe) but what I do NOT want to see is that grinning idiot Tony sign us up to the EU corrupt superstate which will rip us off for huge taxes to fund their own end and dump all of europe's unwanted rubbish on our tiny island.

Britain because of the nature of its economy and geography needs to remain independent.

We are an island, but also we are part of Europe. I think you'll find that if we cut ourselves off from Europe then we would soon be in serious trouble - the days of the Empire and Britannia ruling the waves have long gone! Though I do tend to agree with regard to the "super state".

Thats the point though B308 - it is the corruption that is bad and we shoudlnt entertain.

It isnt a case of recreating the empire, its more defending ourselves against being robbed blind by not only Tony but the lefties in Brussels too who dictate a banana must only be bent in a certain place & other such potty nonsense. They will tax us till we bleed, invent nonsense legislation & dump their rubbish on us yet take our good things.

Labour is a socialist dictatorship, but the EU is an even bigger, even more wasteful dictatorship. Beware!

land of hope and glory, mother of the........

Palmy, take a trip to Brixton or Southall.

Seems the skip has already been emptied.

quote:

Originally posted by b308:

quote:

Originally posted by Palmira:
Euro etc in terms of monetary union isnt so much a problem, (although i dont agree with joining it because we are an island and not part of Europe) but what I do NOT want to see is that grinning idiot Tony sign us up to the EU corrupt superstate which will rip us off for huge taxes to fund their own end and dump all of europe's unwanted rubbish on our tiny island.

Britain because of the nature of its economy and geography needs to remain independent.

We are an island, but also we are part of Europe. I think you'll find that if we cut ourselves off from Europe then we would soon be in serious trouble - the days of the Empire and Britannia ruling the waves have long gone! Though I do tend to agree with regard to the "super state".

I agree B308. Goes back to what i was saying on the other thread about needing Europe but we should have been in there from the outset and led its development rather than begging to get in when we needed and joining in a poor condition.