Posted on February 11, 2010 by Liviu in Green, Life
There is one thing you can’t miss, if you ever come to Holland, and that thing or things, better said, are bicycles. There are bikes everywhere, on every street corner, before every pub and especially in front of every train station.
Above – the biggest bicycle parking in Holland, in Amsterdam, Look at the platforms on the right of the picture – those are all bicycles,
Yes, my dear reader, the crazy Dutch people and bikes go together like peanut butter and jelly. For me it’s impossible to think about Holland and not to think about bicycles. It’s such a specific and wonderful thing. I, for one, would kill a few people (I have a list somewhere) to see the same thing in Bucharest, it just makes sense.
Above – My banged-up Gazelle bike in the Veluwe national park
Therefore meet my not-in-such-a-good-shape-but-still-wonderful-typical-Dutch bike with the help of which I have travelled many roads, mostly to work and back, that is. I love this bike, mostly because the wheals still turn. And I love the bike lanes the crazy Dutch have put everywhere and I love that you can ride you bike everywhere. I love bikes.
Above – Check the wooden baskets on the bike, there is a young crazy Dutch inside. Picture taken last year in Amsterdam
And the Dutch love their bikes too. And you can see some weird contraptions which, for some reason, are still called bicycles. Bikes with big wooden baskets for carrying the young members of the family, bikes with smaller baskets for carrying groceries, other stuff and occasionally a dog or two (I’ve seen a dog in a bicycle basket with my own two eyes), bikes with some sort of a second, smaller bicycle attached to them, bikes with some sort of a one-wheeled trailer, tandem bikes, bikes with a small gas engine, bikes with an eclectic engine, big bikes, small bikes, all kind of bikes, there is something for everybody.
There is one thing you should keep on mind when thinking about Holland – it rains, a lot, I mean like a lot. Or, let me put it this way. When I see the sun for me it’s almost a party. It’s that bad. Therefore the crazy Dutch had to develop some crazy way to ride their bikes when it rains, or, with other words, daily. I’ve noticed 3 approaches to this:
The “Umbrella” method: keep one hand on the handle and with the other balance the umbrella and pray the wind doesn’t blow too hard. My least favorite method due to it’s inefficiency as it’s uncomfortable and usually the wind blows, so you get wet anyway but you also punish yourself with a grueling balancing act
The method called “Don’t care and just let the rain do it’s job, after all, a little water never killed nobody, right?”. Wrong! People who say this (Simon) probably forgot about a little thing called pneumonia – which involves getting very sick and becoming very familiar with your own bodily fluids. And you wouldn’t believe how many people use this method. Sure, it’s convenient, but it still sucks to get wet all the way to your underpants and a little further.
The “Rain pants” method: make use of a rain coat plus the fabulous invention of rain paints. This is my favorite method and I gladly use it. To use it you have to put any drop of pride you might have away and dress to something that resembles a clown with baggy pants or some sort of lost poncho-wearing Mexican on a bike. But it works!
I can go on for hours and hours about the Dutch and their bikes, it’s such a Dutch thing and I love it so much. Therefore tomorrow I’ll hop on my very Dutch and somewhat shaky Gazelle bike and hit the road and while pedaling up and down I’ll be watching those crazy Dutch. Read on.
P.S. Unrelated to the Dutch but related to bicycles I included a clip about driver awareness when it comes to cyclists.
Posted on January 10, 2010 by Liviu in Green, Life
During the winter holidays I’ve started reading “In Praise of Slow: How a Worldwide Movement Is Challenging the Cult of Speed” * by Carl Honore. The book itself is well written but not a masterpiece. The ideas Carl talks about are most likely not new to you (slow food, slow cities and so on). But it’s still an interesting read and something I would recommend for everybody to take a look at. There are many little things that you can take away from it.
Among the ones that stuck in my mind is something that has nothing to do with the subject of the book. It’s actually a fact. Here it goes. Have you ever thought why many battles or duels were held at sunrise, in the not-so-distant history of mankind? Well, if you think about it, when you have no clock you need some common, distinguishable moment of the day. And sunrise is one such moment. Cool fact, isn’t it?
Somewhat related to this is the idea that clocks can be oppressive. There is a story in the book about a fellow who became obsessed with his very precise clock. And this fellow calmed down a little when he changed that clock to an old wind-up clock. Armed with this small revelation I turned with the face to the wall a couple of clocks, in my house, that were really aggressive with their bright red numbers. And you know what? It has some effect. I always know the time but the red devilish glow of the clocks doesn’t haunt me so much anymore. Try it yourself! Put away some of the clocks you look at all the time and see what happens.
*The book has an Amazon affiliate link. So if you buy the book through the link in this post I’ll actually make my first cents with this blog .
THE Hour is getting nearer and nearer, and I’m talking about the Earth Hour. The 28th of March 2009, at 20:30, when you should switch off you lights as a sign that show you give a damn about the blue ball you leave on (talking about Earth). You’ve all heard about Global Warming and seen Al Gore preach about what you can do.
Maybe you switch off your light when you leave the room, turn off the water when you brush your teeth, care about whales that commit suicide. But now you can show you care!
What if you really don’t give a crap? What if you would rather go and watch that game on TV and drink beer an shout and kick and so on? Well, my friend, than you are in luck! If you are a guy, this is the perfect chance to pretend to be sensible and give the love of your life a romantic candle-light diner, and maybe you’ll even get lucky. Sounds better then getting pissed off because those overpaid primadonas we call football players lose again, doesen’t it? It doesen’t matter you could care less about the lights, or Willy the penguin, you score double points with one go: romantic dinner + being sensible.
If you are a chick, than just hint to Prince Charming that he could do something romantic. It will probably work. If you already wanted to turn off the lights, than I can only say that you made a wise choice, my friend!
As a disclaimer – maybe you read my previous post about this and it may seem that I’m joking about it, but I’m not. I’ve been a true believer in nature preservation long before the whole Global Warming thing was a blockbuster. It comes natural to me, an my brothers and my parents. It seems logical not to poop where you eat, in a sort of way. Yes, I will turn off the lights tomorow. But this is just a small drop in the ocean. I try to do something for this planet every day. And this is not because I’m generous human being, it’s because I’m a selfish bastard and I would hate to have to go skiing inside a shopping mall in 20 years.
So be selfish and choose right my friends!
By the way I challenge you to come up with other good reasons to turn off the lights on the 28th of March 2009 at 20:30 for 60 minutes!
All right, so Earth Hour is closing quickly on us. If you don’t know what Earth Hour is than you should find out. Check Eart Hour’s website here.
The idea is simple. on the 28th of March 2009, at 8:30 PM just switch off your lights for 60 minutes aka 1 hour. Do that and you show you give a damn. That’s the idea.
I will do it and I’m for all this kind of things, but I don’t really see the grand finaly of this. I understand that it’s a way to draw attention but hey, let me tell you a secret: if people are ignorant asses than you can bet whatever you want that they will be so touched by this that will actually drink another beer in honor of the Earth Hour.
I hope I’m wrong, but I really don’t see it people doing it at a massive scale. Look at their own videos. Except for Sydney, in major cities very few domestic lights were actually turned off. Another thing that bugs me is what’s the point? It’s a one time thing. You won’t save Flufy the polar bear and Squeeze the blue wail with 60 minutes, once a year. And yes, I get the idea that it’s a sign for the leaders and for all humanity. But I think that we do more by switching off the light when leaving the room, everyday.
And one more cynical ignorant and negative remark – I will laugh my ass off if people here in Bucharest really turn the lights off on a massive enough scale and because of complete coordination with the power companies everything will go BOOM.
But all these behind, it may not look like, but this blog and me and I hope that every one of those 5 people that wonder by chance on it will support this. There are many good reasons to do it and it will be fun!
Scriam saptamana trecuta de campanie de reciclare a mobilelor. Si cum ziceam atunci ca maine ma duc sa vad daca e pe bune sau nu, maine a si trecut si a ajuns o zi din saptamana trecuta. Dar una peste alta, azi mi-am rupt ceva timp si m-am dus la cel mai apropiat sediu Vodafone, cu punguta cu telefoane si vre-o 4 baterii vechi + un incarcator de masina vechi si vre-o 2 din astea obisnuite. Ajung eu acolo, si caut vestita cutie, ca asa scrie pe site. Caut si n-o vad. Asa ca stau pana se elibereaza cineva. Dupa 10 minute de cautat cutii si asteptat, reusesc sa ma bag in seama si sa zic ca am si eu punguta sus mentionata si intreb naiv, deja fara speranta – “Campania cu reciclatul mai e valabila”? Spre uimirea mea totala raspunsul a fost “DA”. “Cate mobile aveti?”, sunt eu intrebat – “2″, raspund eu. Si asa ca mi se pun in brate 2 foi de hartie (aka formulare) sa le completez. Pe foi scria cam asa: subsemantul X-ulescu, declar ca imi iau gandul de la aparatele pe care le las lor. Si aparatul e marca XYZ si modelul ZYX si cu codul IMEI (daca va intrebati ce e ala, vedeti ca tebuie sa desfaceti mobilul, si sub baterie e un cod de vre-o 15 cifre, e ala e). Si asta de 2 ori. 10 minute mai tarziu, si dupa o copie de buletin facuta, ca tebuie si aia, am lasat eu victorios punguta cu de toate, in sfarsit la o tanti, care nu semana a cutie de colectat mobile. Intreb cu speranta in glas “asta e tot?”, mi se raspunde ferm si jovial, ca de, era sfarsitul programului, “da”, si plec eu fericit acasa, fara sa mai intreb de cadouri sau alte dracii… Pe foaia completata zicea si ceva de un cadou pentru fiecare mobil, dar ei sa fie sanatosi, cu brelocul lor cu tot.
Si uite asa, YO-pot sa stau 30 de minute si sa completez 2 formulare ca sa dau o punguta cu mobile si accesorii la reciclat. Dar ma intreb oare cati au atata rabdare? Si mai ales, unde naiba e cosul ala unde trebuie sa le lasi si sa pleci… Mai tot e bine, inceputul e greu, greu rau…
Posted on October 15, 2008 by Liviu in Gadgets, Green
Se pare ca s-a relansat campania de reciclat mobile vechi la Vodafone. Baietii de la reciclam.ro (si bine faceti, as adauga) sustin ei acolo ca din martie 2007 e campania. Dar de, in martie 2008 m-am dus la Vodafone cu o punguta de telefoane vechi si mi-au zis ceva de genul – haha, pai de cateva luni nu se mai colecteaza, ca nu stiu ce s-a intamplat cu firma care le colecta haha. Sa speram ca acum ii tine mai mult. Maine ma infintez cu punguta iar la ei, sa vad daca e pe bune sau nu. Reciclam, reciclam
” * by Carl Honore. The book itself is well written but not a masterpiece. The ideas Carl talks about are most likely not new to you (slow food, slow cities and so on). But it’s still an interesting read and something I would recommend for everybody to take a look at. There are many little things that you can take away from it.
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