Monday morning...

Most of the shops open only in the afternoons on Monday. As a result, shopping trips on Monday mornings are somewhat limited and most people shop at other times. However, I needed some things from the supermarket so I went anyway.

Supermarkets in the Netherlands are always in the towns and cities, and always convenient for walking and cycling. They are not built outside cities so that they encourage people to drive to them.


Another view on another day:

As you see, it's possible to park your bike very close to the front door of the supermarket even if it's within a covered shopping centre. The video shows the same location a few months ago.

The car park isn't expensive to use, but it's certainly less convenient than this.

There are many products available to make it easier to carry shopping by bike.

I also made a video of a complete shopping trip which includes this shopping centre.

Getting to church

Sunday morning. The bells are ringing, and people are going to church.

I'm not a church-goer, but I do like to go for a bike ride on Sunday mornings. Today I cycled past a nearby church to see how the congregation got there and I took this photo.

By this church there were three cars and the bikes shown in the photo. I didn't try to count the bikes.

Another church in Assen on another day

This is the scene outside every church on every Sunday
The photo at the top of this blog post was also used on the Church Times blog.

An event in the city

Today is the cultural quarter festival.

The photo on the left shows one of the stages being set up. In the foreground you can see bikes parked already, and the yellow temporary sign showing the direction to the overflow cycle parking expected to be needed later on.

The second photo shows what met us as we approached the city centre. The road is blocked for cars, access closer to the city centre is allowed only on foot or by bike for the duration of the event.

The third photo shows the overflow cycle parking. It's on an area usually used for taxis and buses.

We went back later on for a beer and to listen to the music, followed by a very pleasant cycle back down the canal to get home...

Culture

On the left is a cutting from the local paper. There's a cycle tour this Sunday organised by the local Jazz club.

It says: "As is traditional, the new Jazzclub-Assen season will open with a cycle tour of four venues in Drenthe..."

Note that this is traditional. Normal. It's what is always done. Normal means cycling. There are an awful lot of events which just happen to also include a bike ride.

We took part in a "cultural cycle tour" a few weeks back. Unlike the Jazz tour, which is spontaneous, this was organised by the council as a promotional event. It involved riding a 30 km route, at a leisurely pace, and stopping regularly to listen to music, watch plays, a bit of tai-chi (Assen-Groningen's "theme" this year has been "Go China", so there have been a lot of Chinese influences in cultural events). Very amusing. I made a short video of the tour - including the bit where some people we'd been idly following led us off the correct route and through a wood...

There are some large events in Assen tomorrow. Not cycling events, but more cultural and music events. Live music from mid-day until midnight. Special effort will have to be made to provide enough cycle parking for the many visitors.

Rush hour

Note that captions on the video are only visible on computers, not on mobile devices.
This is a short video showing part of the rush hour traffic near our home in the suburbs of Assen.

It's like this every morning and evening. In fact, as this video is rather murky and doesn't have the 360 degree vision you need to see what is really going on in all directions at once, real life is somewhat more impressive than what you see here.

This is just one small area. There are many other busy cycling routes.

The large bridge, carrying the dual carriageway over the cycle paths, was built in order to make cyclists feel safe and so that they have direct and fast journeys. Until last year, there was a flat road junction here, and the bicycle roads were part of a direct driving route to the centre of the city. No longer. Drivers are now sent along that dual carriageway, through a few sets of traffic lights and by a detour to the centre. The direct route is for bikes.

Other, later blog posts explain a lot more about what is happens in this location and why. See also products for cycling with pets.

Walking the dog

It's legal here to walk a dog while cycling.

It's great for the dog too, as they get to go a little faster than a human's walking pace, which is like a snail's pace for a large dog.

Most of all, though, it's pleasant for people as they feel happy enough to do it.

The law seems to think that more than one dog would be difficult to control while cycling. Only one dog at a time is legal. However, I've seen people ride right through the very centre of cities here with two dogs on leads.

It's not just dogs that get to have this fun. The photo on the right shows someone leading a horse.

There's a different attitude to safety on bikes here, brought about by a much higher level of safety for cyclists than in most parts of the world. Both of these photos were taken on the cycle paths which are a large part of the reason for the very high subjective and actual safety.

There are no helmets, no fluorescent clothing, no vehicular cycling. Riding a bike here is safe without those reactions to a hostile environment. I'm not mocking those who adhere to such things presently. They can make sense in context. Back when I lived in the UK I also did all of these at different (or sometimes the same) times. I also used to think it wasn't a good idea to lead a dog by bike...

A later blog post includes a video of walking harry by bike. So also products for cycling with pets.

We sell some solutions for carrying dogs by bicycle

The first photo is of me with our dog, Harry. He also appears on youtube. Another way to transport a dog is in a bike basket. I also have a later post including a video of cycling with Harry.

Boris still has much to learn

This Boris has had a little accident. But in
time he will learn how to help vulnerable
members of society.

The photo on the left is of a billboard sign in the Netherlands which reads "Boris still has much to learn".

This is an advertisement for people to adopt a puppy as a way of donating towards training for guide dogs for the blind. In time, this Boris will learn to help vulnerable members of society.

However, there's another Boris who also seems to have much to learn so far as transport policy in London for the vulnerable is concerned. I read this morning that London is not to have a hierarchy of transport users but to just let everyone decide what to do. It's a recipe for chaos.

Cities have been civilized in The Netherlands by design, not just by letting people do what they want. What people think they want depends on the conditions they live in. By not changing those conditions, people will continue to want the same things, continue to behave in the same way.

There is already a good example of this principle in London: London has a much higher percentage of people using public transport than most of the UK because public transport works better in London than in most places. Changing the environment within which people live to make public transport a more useful option increased the number of people who took that option.

Cycling has recently grown a little in London but this happened in large part for less positive reasons (terrorism, recession, cost of other means of transport for people on low incomes). The level of cycling in London now only looks good now in comparison with how it was earlier in London. London is still well behind other European cities, and particularly behind Dutch cities, because cycling in London still only has a positive appeal to the small percentage of people who are relatively easy to attract to cycling. Even they are under pressure, as you can see by observing the amount of safety gear worn. If it is to become a real cycling city, there must be changes in infrastructure that make cycling appeal to all.

We tried to help Boris

Once you have that mass appeal cycling will flourish because people want to do it, not because they are priced out of cars through the congestion charge or scared from public transport due to terrorism.

This was the first post on this blog about Boris Johnson. There are now many more.