My cousin H lives in Brussels with two adorable and fabulous girlies and a couple of months ago she decided to get a bike. Lady C her oldest girly (four/five), soon decided she too wanted a bicycle, it's pink because Lady C believes everything should be.
H decided to use the method of giving Lady C a pedalless bike first to help her learn to balance before moving onto a bike with no stabilisers. It worked a treat and she is now a spreading the message of pink on two wheels across the city.
I say across the city because it transpires that Brussels is car-free one Sunday a month so that people can cycle freely. Yes, that's right:
The whole city goes car free one day a month!
Now I know Brussels is smaller than London but am I the only one who thinks it's utterly fabulous and something all European cities should be looking at as a model of good practice? Lady C and H pedal round everywhere whenever the day is on and both love it. It's a lovely, not to say healthy, way of having a family day out and means that Lady C can learn about the road in safety ready for when she gets older.
Vive la Brussels!
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Having recently been to Brussels and walked across almost the entire city in about an hour, I can quite safely confirm it is not as a big as London... however, I think a car-free day per month is a smashing idea and I really hope that Boris 'cycle-friendly' Johnson is seriously considering it, at least for the centre of London (west end/city, etc), if not for the entire metropolitan area. I can imagine one or two Laaanderners getting quite upset about that sort of closure.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, there'd be riots if they attempted full shutdown, but if Brussels can manage the whole city, surely London could make more of an effort and try partial closures or something. Especially if they're serious about making London as cycle-friendly as darling BoJo would like.
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