How you can retire early if you ride a bicycle

I attended a talk last night by Dr Paul Tranter on the concept of "Effective Speed". It was one of those total lightbulb experiences. After a bout of insomnia the night before (1 hour of sleep - thanks a lot, Sleep Gods!) and a whole day at work I was pretty fried when I went into the talk after a day at work, but I came out absolutely buzzing! The talk finally gave me proof of some things which I've always thought were true but never had any evidence for: namely that riding a bicycle around is way smart!

One of the most exciting prospects from the talk was that riding a bicycle instead of owning a car means that you could work less - maybe cut back to 4 days a week or retire a few years earlier. Same goes for catching a bus or a train - in many contexts public transport is also "faster" in real terms than going by car. OK, well it isn't quite that simple, but it's not all that complicated either.

The Oregon coast

Basically, Dr Tranter illustrated that the belief that driving a car saves us time is, in many cases, a fallacy. In fact, cars are one of the least time-effective modes of transport, because although the time it takes you to go from A to B might be shorter than other modes of transport, in order to undertake that journey you have to go to work for x hours in order to pay for the cost of owning and running the car. So "effective speed" takes a holistic approach to calculating the true costs of transport. If you choose a mode of transport which costs less money, although it might take a little longer to get from A to B, you don't have to work as many hours to pay for it (or you can spend the money on other things to improve your quality of life - e.g. Koigu knitting yarn ;-))

To his credit Dr Tranter was not a car-basher. He presented a really balanced argument and included several forms of transport in his analysis - e.g. car, train, bus, bicycle. His website has some references to some academic papers he has written on the subject (one 2008 paper is being posted later today apparently). There is also an older Australian Greenhouse Office paper on the subject online.

Holiday blog paralysis and a shock about socks

Hello all! Got back from our holiday to the UK and France today and would really like to blog about some of it but am a bit overwhelmed about where to start. After three weeks of visiting people and places in Wales and London and three weeks of eating, drinking and cycling in France there's a lot to say and too many photos to deal with whilst suffering jetlag! I'll work my way though them slowly over the coming weeks in themed blog entries. I've already thought of a few good themes for France: 1. entrees; 2. main courses; 3. desserts. I'm serious! Here's a preview to make sure you come back!


Careful! Drool is really hard to get out of a keyboard, you know.

For now, because I can't decide where to start with all the rest, I'll retreat to the safe blogging ground of craft. Here is some my work that now lives in the UK.



I made these Nancy Bush 'New England' socks during my North-American sock frenzy of 2005. The yarn is Koigu, don't you know. It was my first lace knitting project and worked from a chart, which drove me a bit mental at the time (in a good way) and was knitted primarily in a sunny central Illinois backyard and on a wonderful 43-hour-ish train journey from Chicago to Seattle. I have such wonderful memories of these socks and I think they are probably my favourite project ever. Big call, eh? They represent a perfect confluence of high quality yarn, an excellent pattern and, most of all, the wonderful memories of the summer I spent with my friend Sarah and her family in Illinois. In short, these socks mean happiness to me, I guess.


Anyway, 2005 was the only year I achieved a long-held goal of making all my Christmas presents and these socks were given to a relative in North Wales with whom we stayed on our trip. It was an interesting experience to catch up with this beloved project. Not only did I get to take belated photos, but I also got to find out a bit about their lives. I've got mixed feelings about whether that is a good thing or not because the news was somewhat shocking.

Are you ready? Brace yourself.

They have become gardening socks and are worn inside gum boots.

Are you all still there? I think I heard the gasps from here.

I tried hard not to let my horror show when I heard this news but I don't think I was successful. Some time during the recipient's perfectly logical explanation of how these socks are too thick for her regular shoes but the perfect weight for her gum boots, I managed to close my gaping mouth. On the positive side, I take comfort in the fact that the sock-owner is the tidiest person I know. Walking into her house is enough to make me feel like an class-A scruff. So I have no doubt that her gum boots are the most pristine gum boots you'd ever find. I'd be lying if I said I didn't care that these socks aren't being displayed in public from time to time, but I am happy that they are being used and enjoyed. Much better than if they were left forgotten at the back of a drawer. I'm sure I am remembered every time these socks are worn and that is nice. That is enough. It makes me reflect on the importance we place on the visual - it's just one aspect of our craft but is it the most important? Possibly not.