Bike Lights in the Fruit Bowl

Little signs of hope: family cycling in East London

"There's a baby in there, right? Stop cycling with your baby in that f**king chair!" he shouted out the window of his sports car as I cycled (actually without a baby on this occasion) down a quiet street on my way home from work a few weeks ago.  

 

I've been sworn at a few times over the years for cycling.  "F**king weirdo" was another nice one I had whilst on my way to work one morning in suburban Birmingham.  Just because cycling was a bit, err, unusual from what I can gather (either that or my fluorescent tabard!).  I didn't quite catch which expletive I inspired from another motorist who sped across my path at some traffic lights one day.  Apparently enraged at even the slighted suggestion that I might want exercise my right of way at the junction. I felt wronged for the rest of my journey - I almost wished I had jumped a red light to justify such as outburst!

 

My experience a few weeks back reminded me of two things.  Firstly that cycling with a family in tow is rare.  I cycle around in my East London bubble feeling like I'm quite normal (for my cycling behaviour at least!).  I frequently see other cyclists with rear mounted child bike seats like ours. I'd say there are usually 5 or 6 families at our childrens' nursery using them most days - more than 10%.  Increasingly I'm seeing a range of other set ups for more than one child. Pics of three of the bikes I've spotted recently are below - one day I'll get a picture of the semi-recumbant tandem with an extra rear-mounted seat (!) that I've seen on my way to work a few times.  It makes sense really.  Apparently I live in the place with the most people regularly cycling to work in the country…people who are also referred to as the 'three-wheeled buggy brigade'. Plenty of cyclists,  plenty of small children and hey presto a burgeoning family cycling scene.  

 

 

 

 

 

Secondly the outburst reminded me that, actually, cycling in London, particularly with a family is far from ideal.  However offensive the comment from the sports car driver, it was motivated by concern for my child's safety - arguably an understandable reaction.  Plenty of people, particularly those from outside London who haven't become accustomed to the hoards of commuting cyclists, look aghast at the idea of cycling in London without children in tow.  There are plenty of places I won't cycle with my children.  I didn't, for example, take our bike trailer on a theatre trip a few weeks back, despite an annoying part closure of our local train line, because I didn't know the route well enough to be comfortable that it was safe.

 

But I still have hope.  Cycling is becoming more normal, less weirdo-like behaviour.  Yes, we need more space for family cycling in cities and yes, some people are always going to think this is crazy idea.  But I take hope from seeing lots of families enjoying cycling around the streets of Hackney. I take hope from seeing lots of people experimenting with different family bikes, and I'm sure inspiring others to do the same.  I get quite a lot of interest in our bike trailer from other parents and saw someone with the same model taking what appeared to be an inaugural spin around or local park the other day. And I take hope from the local cycle routes that I love. There are some great routes from my home to parks, to fun activities for kids and to shopping destinations all through quiet streets and off-road cycle paths.  Without these family friendly cycle routes I would not have been lucky enough to spend most of last summer cycling around listening to my children singing songs in a trailer behind me.  

 

 

Family cycling in London, and other cities, can work if we get out of the mind set of thinking it's crazy.  We need to start helping people find routes that do work for families and create a lot more so we can safely explore a bit further afield!  I guess I should play my part in that by finding time to blog a bit more!

 

Recent Saharan dust (and…ahem…transport pollution) debacle reminds me of the hopeless lack of ambition our government seems to have when it comes to rethinking how we get about our cities and protecting the health of a generation of children.  I have to take hope that people can lead where the government is failing to and show that there is another way.

 

If you're unhappy that the government thinks 2025 is an appropriate date to meet EU air quality standards in London you can send a message to the government via 38 degrees campaigning website.

 

You could also add your voice to Healthy Air UK campaign and support the brilliant London Cycle Campaign as they keep the pressure on government to create more #spaceforcycling.

 

Thank goodness the breakfast was good!

I had a plan yesterday.  We started the weekend with few plans so I'd booked myself a haircut after putting it off for months. I was last minute as ever so could only get a slightly inconvenient 1pm appointment.  I also felt compelled not to waste the opportunity for a bike ride created by the good weather.  I wasn't feeling prepared for a whole day's cycle - no pre-planned route up my sleeve - or inclined to put off the haircut any longer.  I thought, with my cunning plan, that we could get the best of both worlds.

Set out earlyish, cycle to a park a few miles away, and try out a new breakfast spot.  I'd heard good things about the breakfasts in Victoria Park and Springfield Park - both only a few miles away. After some playground fun with the girls we'd then meander back in time for my haircut.  Or I'd head back alone if the others were having so much fun they couldn't tear themselves away.  And that would leave a good chunk of afternoon to play with - pottering with the girls, perhaps a spot of DIY, finish cutting the hedge.  A dose of suburban Sundayness tempered by a mini-adventure in the morning.

It became apparent early in the bike ride that we'd had one of those mouth-disconnected-from-memory-whilst-playing-computer-game type conversations on Saturday night.  The finer points of my plan, which I'm sure had been called "a great idea", clearly hadn't sunk in.  Our exit from the house was a little bumpy, it was later than planned and there was much pedal-dragging when we finally set off.

We cycled in stoney silence for a mile or so until we both saw our exit plan at the same time - The Russet cafe.  There are few places I'd rather be if I have to admit defeat on a bike ride.  And technically, as we'd never eaten breakfast here, and it's next to a park, we were still with the plan!  

We both agreed it was one of the best breakfasts we've ever had - my 'Veggie Pippin' tasted much better than it looks in the picture below!  Our waitress was so lovely too. She negotiated a lack of jam situation with little L (to go with her wholesome looking banana pancakes) with incredible skill!  The place is really well set up for kids.  They have a slightly separate area with sofas and a really good stash of toys, colouring stuff, tiny chairs and proper high chairs, a kids menu of similar food to the main menu and a few trusty packets of squeezy, organic fruit if it's one of those days!

After a few more miles pedalling and a bit more wind through our hair the breakfast might have tasted even better.  Perhaps we'll pop-in on the way back from a morning ride sometime. 

So the breakfast was a resounding success, the playground action was OK, I did manage to get a haircut, and we fitted in a good bit of pottering.  And the bike ride?  I'll mark that one down as recognaissance for the local child-friendly cafes and parks cycling route I have forming in my head.

I have fallen in love with this great Hackney Cafe Crawl poster that was on sale at the Russet - as soon as I can figure out where to put it I'll be nipping back on my bike to get one...and I might just find room for another breakfast too.

 

Mummy, can I feed the worms?

Finally, a  few frost free weeks!  I am really, really enjoying the sunshine.  It's much, much more relaxing spending time outdoors with the girls when it's not freezing cold or tipping it down with rain.   And so we've finally started thinking about growing things again.  Our estate is modest - a large raised bed around the edge of our patio garden and a small (about the size of a single bed) plot in the grounds of a local climbing centre - but I intend to make the most of our tiny taste of rural life in the city!

Through the long winter our resident worms remind us that, one day the sun will shine and we'll be able to get growing, whiling away the hours with dirt between our fingers.  We invested in a wormery a couple of years ago.  It seemed ridiculous to be sending our vegetable scraps off to be composted by the local council, only to then find it a big hassle to find, and transport, the bags of peat-free compost we wanted for growing a few veggies.  Making our own compost makes a lot of sense practically and is a great environmental education tool.  I had no idea it would be such a hit with little M.  She loves it.  

Little M often asks "Mummy, can I feed the worms" please.  We bought a 'Worm Cafe' kit complete with some 'worm treat' to keep the worms healthy.  It really captured her imagination and she has developed a near obsession for dishing out the worm treat.  She'll happily sit tearing up egg boxes for them and always reminds me to save some scraps for the worms when we're cooking together.  The first time a nursery pal came around for a play-date she was proudly taken outside to help feed the worms.  Let's not dwell so much on the time that little M threatened to feed Dee Dee Dragon, little L's favourite toy, to the worms in a moment of  sibbling jealously!

Despite little M's enthusiam, our worms have been a tiny bit neglected, hidden behind kitchen remnants and builders rubble during our refurbishment work last autumn and then just on the receiving end the horribly long winter we've just had.  But quite a lot of them are still working away so we had a lovely crop of compost ready to harvest to give the veggies we've been planting this week a good start.  Little M was delighted to dig out a carrier bag full to take up to the mini-plot, pretty pleased with the results of all her months of feeding the worms.

The girls and I spent a lovely day this week pottering around the garden and (after a slightly fraught trip to the garden centre) finally getting a few things planted in our mini-plot.  It felt idyllic.  We shared a picnic in the sunshine and had fun spotting tadpoles in the wildlife pond that's tucked away in a hidden corner.  Two over-excited small children and a pond left no hands free for snapping a picture - little L really wanted to dive in and was wrigglier than the tadpoles - but I have a picture etched in my mind of four tiny hands reaching to touch the tadpoles with the sun glinting on the water.

The only things left living in the plot were a couple of strawberry plants and a few forgotten onions.  One onion provide a welcome decoy for an enthusiastic little L who spent long enough dipping it in and out of the watering can for little M and I to get a few plants and seeds into their new homes. We've got plenty of seeds left to get going at home - great entertainment for a spare half hour on a weekday.  Little L wants to be outside all the time.  I don't blame her - you can see in her face how excited she is by her first ever experiences of independent exploring in the sunshine.  I think we'll be spending lots of time in our very modest 'garden' this summer.  Kids instinctively know what the good things in life are!

Little signs of hope: Playing out

I really like where I live.  One reason, amongst many, is that kids do play out in the streets - as much as they can on roads in a major city!  There are usually kids skate boarding in quiet streets, playing cricket in the garage block at local estates, and plenty of little people scooting or pushing various wheeled items up and down the pavements.  Being Hackney, there are plenty of youths around too with varying demeanours from street-wise to menacing but it's not uncommon to walk past a group of them and get a comment like "Aaw! Cute baby!" or some other comment that reminds you not to judge on appearances alone.

If we're honest though playing out in the streets properly can be challenging and dangerous so it was great to see some local people take the initiative last weekend and organise a 'playing out event'.  I only saw the signs on on Tuesday so was a bit behind the curve!  Great idea though and looks like people had fun - there were chalk drawings all along the street.

I wonder if the event was inspired by Sustrans' latest Free Range Kids campaign.  I read about this here.  I've been aware of Sustrans' brilliant work for many years, and drawn on their work in various work projects when I was a sustainable school travel advisor and in my current job, but must admit this one slipped past me - have been a bit to pre-occupied by life at home to start looking for campaigns to get involved in.  Making cities walkable and cyclable for families is so important for so many reasons - good on yer Sustrans for playing your part!