Saturday, November 04, 2006
Today I attended a demonstration of cyclists in Athens at Pedio tou Areos park. The aim was to show strength in numbers and ride to the Ministry of Transport to demonstrate in order to allow bicycles on the Metro among other demands. I had the most wonderful time. When I started cycling around this town 6 years ago, I felt like a lone freak, dashing around in between the cars, invisible, beneath contempt. How divine to find myself riding down Mesogeion and Vasilias Sofias avenues today, in the company of at least 500 of my cycling fellows. For just that little while, the bikes owned those main streets. I have noticed before that cyclists tend to wear these big smiles and today was no exception. Even when we arrived at the Minstry of Transport no one seemed to feel at all confrontational. Everyone was having too much fun.
Riding a bicycle, for one who is physically capable of doing so, seems to be the most excellent and just solution to the transportation problem. Cyclists add no pollution to the polluted skies, make very little noise, do not travel fast enough to kill anyone or cause structural damage in case of accidents and get vast amounts of good exercise. Blood flows to the brain, a smile breaks out on the face, and one is less likely to vote for fascists or engage in genocide as the brain functions better.
I am just so pleased to see this sort of thing coming to this big retarded city. Bravo to the people who organized this thing. I hope to see more of this sort of thing. I will be there, in any case.
Here is a link to the site of these people.
and another one, in English
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