Our Natural Way

My originaly idea was to get to 52 tips, but it’s taken me almost four years to get to 34 so I thought I’d better put it up here and let you complete the rest. Some are easier to do than others! If you can think of one, please add it to the comments.

1. Use low energy lightbulbs.

This will save you a fair amount of money over the lifetime of the bulb as they use around 1/5 of the energy of a normal bulb, and they last many times longer. The downside is they cost a lot more initially, but this is a good investment over time. Also, it saves you the time of having to replace the bulbs as often. Philips Energy-Saving Light Bulb, 11w ES Cap Stick, 5 Pack, 10 Year

2. Install a water butt.

This only really applies if you already use a hose pipe to water your vegetables / grass / flowers. A Water Butt will save the energy which is used to pump the water to your house. Should there be a hose pipe ban, this is even more essential.

3. Take your bike.

For journeys above 1 or 2 miles. This has many advantages. It’s cheaper as you’re not using any fuel. You get excercize. You’re not causing any pollution in the form of particulates (which cause asthma for example) and co2 (which contributes to global warming). Get get to speak to other people as you are cycling. You get to breathe fresh air and experience the sights and sounds around you. You are not causing much conjection on the roads. It’s far easier to park. You need to choose the right bike for yourself though.

4. Walk

Instead of taking the car. I find it incredible how many people hop into the car for even the shortest journeys. This causes all the problems described above in relation to taking the bike (pollution, lack of exercise, congestion, parking). If you walk for short journeys it increases your metabolic rate which can make you feel more awake, and move alive as well as burning calories. Something that I find really strange is how many people battle to get a parking space at the supermarket as close as possible to the door… and then later go to the gym. Get yourself a pedometer and this can really help to encourage and remind you to walk 10,000 steps a day. Why walking matters?

5. Grow your own vegetables.

People often talk about the amount of “food miles” you need to add on, when you are buying Oranges from Mexico for example. How about growing your own and reduce your “food miles” to zero. (probably not Oranges in the UK though!

Of course this has other benefits as well, such as saving you money especially if you compare the price of organic vegetables. You also know that there are no pesticides or preservatives being added and you know that the vegetables are about as fresh as you are going to get. Not to mention the satisfaction you get from growing your own, and the exercise you get from digging the patch (much more fun than going down the gym). Even just getting off your bum to water the tomatoes every night (using the water butt of course) forces you to be a little more active… and the tomatoes taste so much better than the ones from the shop.

6. Switch off your telly at night.

Also switch it off any other time it’s not being used as when left in “stand-by” it can use up to 80% of the power it would when switched on, just to keep a little red light on. This also applies to other household items such as computers. You can use a Bye Bye Standby device which allows you to remotely switch off a number of devices in the house at the same time.

7. Convert your car to run on LPG.

If you cover a fair amount of miles every year, this can easily pay for itself.

8. Buy a car which is more fuel economical.

Perhaps even a hybrid electric/petrol like the Toyota Prius.

8. Recycle

Glass, paper, aluminuim cans and foil. Plastic. Surely you do this already?

9. Get a compost bin.

Instead of throwing organic matter into the general rubbish. Add grass clippings, hair, vacuum cleaner contents, tea bags, coffee grinds, vegetable cuttings, crushed egg shells (although these tend to attract rats). Don’t add cooked food, meat/fish or the contents of your baby’s nappy or what your dog leaves behind in the garden! Ours came from the local council on a special offer for £10, but they never bothered to charge us. (hope they don’t read this!

10. Insulate your home.

Especially your loft and your walls. Also make sure there are no drafts coming in.

11. Fit a solar heating system.

12. Fix any dripping taps.

13. Take a shower instead of a bath.

14. Hang out the washing instead of using the tumble dryer.

This can be a bit more labour intensive, but leaves the clothes much fresher and the sun will also bleach whites for you if you leave them out all day.

15. Use washable nappies instead of disposables.

This requires quite a lot of extra work, but has several benefits. Nappies account for a huge amount of landfill sites also your child will get toilet trained much more quickly as they will be able to feel what they have done. Lastly, the chemicals inside disposable nappies aren’t very good for your childs skin. You can also use a nappy laundry service (we did this) where they pick up, wash and drop off at your front door, for more info go to http://www.cuddlebabes.co.uk/erol.html

16. Choose products which have less packaging.

17. Take your own bags to the supermarket.

You can buy strong plastic bags which can be used many more times than the disposable ones.

18. Choose recycled products.

Such as toilet rolls, paper, greetings cards,

19. Re-use envelopes.

Just put a sticker over the top with the new address on. Especially padded Jiffy type bags.

20. Only put the amount of water in the kettle you need.

If you are making just one cup, then only put one cups worth in. Even better try a Tefal Quick Cup although I have heard mixed reviews of these. Ours broke from about 2 years ago (2008) and some people say they have improved so they don’t get scaled up so easily. You definitely need to run vinegar through it every couple of months, depending on how hard your water is. However in theory this should save a lot of energy over time.

21. Borrow books from the library.

Instead of buying them and sticking them on the shelf (sometimes unread!). They also do DVD’s, CD’s and video games. For the benefit of many under 30 year olds a “library” is a big building with lots of books in it, that you can borrow for free.

22. Rent DVD’s on-line.

Instead of buying them. LoveFilm seem to be the best value at the moment. If you sign up using this link we even get free stuff too! (which will encourage us to write more great blog posts like this one)

23. Download your music.

Instead of buying CD’s. You’ll need something like a squeezebox to play them through your HiFi though. (which is perhaps one more gadget using up power)

I have had one of these for years, and I’m thinking about getting the Squeezebox Radio soon. I can’t say enough good things about these products, they rock. You could pay a lot more for a Sonos system, but not gain much.

24. Choose products with packaging which can be recycled.

25. Sign up to Friend of the Earth newsletter.

They will send you a tip every day, Monday to Friday about how to “green your lifestyle”. See http://www.foe.co.uk/living/tips/

26. Stop Junk Mail.

Register with the Mail Preference Service to say you would not like to receive unsolicited offers through the post. See http://www.mpsonline.org.uk. You can also do the same for the telephone, to help stop getting annoying sales calls, and there is a Fax Preference Service too.

27. Give up spare time on your computer to Climate Prediction.

Go to http://www.climateprediction.net and install the BOINC screensaver to help scientists to predict the effects that we are having on the climate.

28. Install thermostic controllers onto each of your radiators.

Probably only worth doing this at the point of getting new radiators installed, but should help you to control the temperature in each room more easily and therefore only keep rooms warm that you are actually using.

29. Buy a decent dishwasher.

Rather than spending £150 on the cheapest dishwasher you can get, and then having to replace it after 2 or three years when it might go wrong, condider spending a bit more. You should look for one which is triple A rated, as this will use less energy and water. Also, if it does go wrong it’s worth spending the money getting someone out to fix it (or fixing it yourself if you are feeling really brave!). You should also make sure it has a self timer, so you can take advantage of cheap electicity in the middle of the night (which reduces peak demand during the day). Also, make sure you fill it right up before you use it.

30. Shred your bank statements and put them in your composter.

Don’t bother with a cheap one, they jam up very easily. Good old Amazon can supply you with a decent Paper Shredder.

31. Better still, switch to electronic statements and then you won’t waste any paper.

32. Use a bendy bucket to collect bath and shower water.

The Bendy Bucket should have a wide top and a couple of handles built in. You can pick these up for a few pounds. Then use that water to flush your toilets. You can also put the bucket into the shower to collect the cold water that flows while you are waiting for it to get warm. A bendy bucket is better as it’s easier to direct it into the toilet. This is also much quieter than flushing if you are worried about waking up other members of your household during the night (especially useful if you have a young baby in the house). You can also use some of this water to mop your floors with, as the floors will generally be much dirtier than your bath water. For me this works really well as we tend to bath the kids every night, but even if you only use a shower you can still fill a bucket by leaving the thing to one side while you are showering. One word of warning though, don’t deliberately leave the shower running to fill up the bucket when you wouldn’t normally as this HOT water will have used much more energy than just flushing with normal cold water. Only try to collect the water which would have gone down the plug hole anyway. You could also use this water for washing down paths, cleaning outdoor toys / climbing frame or perhaps watering your flowers (depending on what soap you use) but probably not for watering your vegetables. You could perhaps even use this for washing your car, which brings us onto…

33. Wash your car with a bucket and sponge instead of going through the local car wash.

A car wash uses a huge amount of water. Even the very best ones will use about 30 gallons of water, whereas you can wash a car yourself with about 3 gallons. Realistically a car wash which doesn’t recycle the water will use 60 or 70 gallons of water. You also get some free exercise and get to spend some time outdoors in the sunshine

34. Fit a wood burner and a back boiler.

Burn wood or other biomass fuels and fit a back boiler to warm up your hot water (or perhaps your radiators?).

The biggest Snakes and Ladders in the world ! Well not quite that big, but big enough for the kids to be the counters on the board.

The children really enjoyed the project which took several hours of planning. Mollie did most of the work, and enjoyed the planning side of things. Once they had setup the initial board with all the squares, she then replicated this on a small scale on her pad to plan out the ’snakes’ and the ‘ladders’. Once complete she copied this over to the big board, and all the children then helped with numbering the squares and colouring in on the board.

When they had finished they really did spend a lot of the day playing with it, and it folds up nicely behind the sofa for another day.

Steve and the children planted these seeds only a few weeks ago, and now look! We have beautiful flower seedlings. They really have come through well; so quickly. We normally spend a lot of money on flower plants for the containers and hanging baskets. This year we will not need to buy any!

We have also seeded some salad leaves which are doing well, and Mollie and I will plant these out into grow bags next week and move them into the greenhouse. Everything is in the porch at the moment and it’s a bit of a squash and a squeeze.

I have got lots of seeds to plant; broad-beans, chillies, lettuce, cabbages and this year I am going to plant the early peas into pots and make little plug plants to put out when it’s warmer, rather than sowing directly.

We are really going to have to work hard in the garden on Sunday, as the raised beds need lots of attention. Lets pray for good weather

This is a profoundly important book and, if to be believed, will make you radically rethink the amount and type of television that you watch and the amount you allow your children to watch.

I can see many people who read this book, or reviews of this book will simply ignore the evidence and dismiss the findings as sensational and scaremongering but this would be a serious mistake. Throughout the book there are full references to peer reviewed scientific papers which back up the findings. Many of these findings are truly shocking, such as the direct links to suicide rates, teenage pregnancy, violent crime, obesity, ADHD and alcohol consumption. However, we really do not want to be told that we should be doing less of our favourite pastime. We think that television is enjoyable and relaxing and please don’t bother telling us any differently.

The problem with choosing not to do something like watching television is that there is not really any powerful lobby who are going to try and convince you it’s generally a pretty bad thing for you to be doing. It’s not really in anyone else’s commercial interest for you to watch less TV. The BBC and PBS, two of the largest public service broadcasters in the world, would like you to watch more and more; they are measured by viewing figures. Likewise, Sky TV would like you to watch more advertisements as this is how they make money. It would probably come as no surprise that you will not read many stories about the detrimental effects of television in The Sun or The Times as these are owned by Rupert Murdock’s News Corporation, but perhaps more surprising is the BBC are actively suppressing these findings and dismissing them. When they are published at all, they often quote “experts” who are willing to argue the other way; however these so called experts are often quoted, in large fonts, who downplay the effects. After a small amount of digging, the experts turn out to be unattributed or in one case simply “Alan Montegue from Aylesbury”. These quotations are pulled out in large blue boxes on the BBC website, with giant quotation marks surrounding them. Personally I naively assumed the BBC would maintain a certain degree of impartiality, but this seems not to be the case.

Sigman goes on the describe the huge number of hours that the average person spends watching TV, or simply having the TV switched on in the background and the number of TVs we seem to have in our living rooms, bedrooms and childrens’ bedrooms. The most shocking aspect is the effect on young children, such as ADHD, where children’s attention spans are becoming shorter. This has serious implications for they way they learn at school and behave in life. The reason that I started reading this book is because my two year old son started watching “In the Night Garden”, and after a couple of weeks he started to park himself in front of the television two hours before the program was about to start. Once the program finished and the TV was turned off, he would start screaming and demanding more. We looked up this behaviour on several discussion forums, and were really surprised by the amount of people having similar experience and were directed to this book. Since that day, we have not let our children watch any TV and the difference has been remarkable. My five year old is suddenly much better behaved and is learning much better at school. The teachers have commented on this, and we have not told them about the change at home.

The reason that television is so addictive to our brains is explained in simple terms, again backed up by scientific studies and the reasons that inertia keeps us watching more and more TV are also explained. This can cause us to stay up far later than we would otherwise, and to get worse quality sleep during the night. We are naturally attracted to fast moving images, which has happened because this has been a useful survival mechanism during our evolution. This is what initially grabs our attention, and inertia is what keeps us watching for longer. Inertia is a useful learning tool for children as they will naturally keep listening to something, such as parents talking, long after they have lost the thread of a conversation, but they will still be picking up useful vocabulary and social awareness. Television rewards our brains in these primitive ways, but does not bestow the benefits.

Have you ever noticed how mesmerising television can be? You walk into a bar or someone’s house and there is a television screen in the background and you quickly find yourself watching, even if something is not particularly interesting. This effect has been noted by prison authorities who deliberately allow inmates to watch plenty of TV as it keeps them subdued. ‘It’s the best control mechanism you can think of.’, says the General Secretary of the Prison Governor’s Association. The underlying reasons for this are explained at the level of brain chemistry and hypnosis. Scary stuff indeed.

In Fiji with the introduction of television the number of young females who made themselves vomit to control their weight soared from zero in 1995 to 11 per cent following the introduction of television. In the UK, it has been estimated that a truly staggering 41,000 women die each year from anorexia.

Sigman explains rationally, and in a very readable style how the effects of television are literally killing us. At times his wit is a little quirky, and a few of the assumptions are questionable but these examples are rare. This is a must read book for our generation and you should order a copy straight away, or reserve one from your local library. Go and do it now, I’ll wait. You can order from here Remotely Controlled: How Television is Damaging Our Lives Once you’ve read this you’ll probably want to buy a copy for all your friends, especially if they have children.

Lose weight, help the environment, save money, happier children – too good to be true ? No! You too can have this, read on

Why not dust off the old bike and get the kids cycling to school? It’s not exactly a new ‘thing’, we all did it when I went to school (which wasn’t that long ago!).

We decided that with my daughter at middle school which is about 1.5miles that she could easily cope with cycling this distance. I could then carry on up the road with my two boys in a trailer to drop off one to his primary school. So the round trip for me is about 7 miles. Just think if I can do this twice a day, 14 miles!

Most of the time (so far) the weather has been good, and you really do feel great when you get back in the mornings. It washes away grumpiness and you feel inspired and energetic for the day.

For my daughter it has made a big difference, you can read more of the effects of cycling and children here at http://www.bikeforall.net/content/teachers.php

The main benefits for me are:-

Children (who are cycling) are more alert and able to concentrate, happy

Now I have been doing it a few weeks, I can really notice the difference in my fitness levels and all those extra pounds of baby blubber are starting to come off. It has also been lovely to see that I have inspired others to start doing it too. It really is fantastic, it’s free, it makes me happy because I am losing weight, the boys are so happy in the trailer and play the whole way, my daughter is ‘more alive’ and ready to learn at school, but also when I get home I get so much more done as I have blown away the ‘mistiness’ en route.

Don’t get me wrong I am not doing it for 5 days; I aim to do for at least 3 days of the week. And of course there will be days when it is chucking it down and I just wouldn’t put anyone through that as it would have the opposite effect. But even through the winter there will more days than not that we can cycle in, just with several layers on.

Some essential equipment is:-

There are several trailers out there to choose from, and I will do a review shortly for you to help you with this big decision! I can assure you the right trailer makes all the difference. Of course the bike is a huge thing too; please refer to our other blog entry on Dutch bikes to help you with this.

Some essential products we have selected to help with cycling:-

So, if you are reading this as an expectant parent you may be wondering what all the fuss is about. Believe me, once you’ve experienced a crying baby keeping you awake through the night you’ll want to do everything you can to get them to sleep through the night. Or sleep through most of the night at least. Print this out, and stick it on the nursery wall and you’ll be grateful once the inevitable wailing starts.

Of course you can’t avoid all sleepless nights, and at certain stages in a child’s development such as when they are teething or just ill with a bad cold there is going to be very little you can do. But you don’t want this to become the norm, and the little things that you can do will make a big difference.

1. Get some blackout blinds. It will help you enormously if your child’s bedroom is completely dark for most of the night. This is especially important during the summer months when it might not get dark until 11pm. Get a plug in night light too though, or you’ll be tripping over everything.
2. Stick with a regular routine. This will be something like 6:30 bath, 7pm story, 7:15 cuddles and rocking, 7:30 bed. And you should read a story every night to your child, for many reasons (this will be a future article).
3. Put them down to sleep when they are tired, but not completely asleep. If you rock them to sleep and then put them down in the cot they will find it confusing should they wake up in the middle of the night and this will upset them. Wait until they are almost asleep in your arms and then put them down. That way baby will learn to settle themselves to sleep rather than learning this is something you need to do for them. Very important.
4. 5…10…15… Leave them for longer periods each time. This is probably the most important single thing that you can do, and will make a huge difference. It’s also one of the most difficult as it’s only natural to want to comfort a crying baby, but this really works! If you go and pick up your child after a couple of minutes crying they will quickly learn that this is the best way to get attention from mummy and daddy. You need to leave it longer each time between visits, and then only give them a quick cuddle and a rock and some comforting words and then leave them alone. So memorize this or even better write a note and stick it on your nursery door. “5…10…15…”
5. Keep the environment boring. If they should wake up in the middle of the night then do not feel tempted to play games, sing songs, read stories or worst of all watch TV. Again, they will learn very quickly that this is a fun time and will be eager to get your attention, which they know how to do only too well (crying, wailing and screaming in case you hadn’t guessed).
6. Don’t change nappies. This may seem a little strange, but don’t change their nappy in the middle of the night unless perhaps if they have nappy rash. This cold air and washing will only make them fully awake, and very difficult to get back off to sleep again. If they seem like they are going to drift back off again, and you detect an odd smell, save it until the morning! Of course change their nappy before they go to bed, and if they are screaming and wide awake then you’ve not got much to loose (apart from your sanity).
7. Share the work load. Your partner should take an equal share in the trips to the nursery to settle baby, unless you are breastfeeding.
8. Breast feed. This is a great way of getting them to sleep, as they will feel comforted and full.
9. Don’t rush to put them into a seperate nursery. Many people seem to think that a 4 month old baby needs to be put into a seperate nursery, but this can only make things difficult. If you are still breastfeeding then it’s the easiest thing in the world to let them sleep in the bed with you and let them latch on in the middle of the night for a feed and then go back to sleep again. Here is a good book which takes this idea one step further Three in a Bed: The Benefits of Sleeping with Your Baby
10. Use an aroma stone. When they have a cold you can burn a few drops of essential oils such as tea tree which helps to unblock the sinus or chamomile, which really helps to calm them. Personally I don’t feel safe using candles and an oil burner during the night, as candles are nowadays the biggest cause of household fires (it used to be chip pans). A plug in aroma stone is quite expensive, but well worth it in the long run and for peace of mind. Aroma Stone – electric vapouriser
11. Try not to be too quiet. If you try to creep around in the evenings your child will get used to this and then every little noise will wake them up. Just make the normal amount of noise and strangely this will make things easier.
12. Stay calm. This one can be quite tough. When you have a baby who’s determined to scream the roof off, it can be easier said than done. But your child will pick up on your emotions and if you are stressed then this will make things worse. Try some “rescue remedy” which does actually seem to work although I’m never sure if this is phychosematic. Good for baby or yourself.
13. Get the NCT Book of sleep, which has many more tips along the same lines as this article.
14. Tire them out. Get baby to crawl, climb, run around, dance or do whatever they need to do so they are quite whacked out… just not right before bed.
15. Feed them. This one is probably totally obvious to most people, but very easy to forget that perhaps they only had a few spoonfulls at dinner time. Full children are happier children. On the other hand, if they have recently had a big feed they might get colic and need to get some burps out before they will sleep.
16. Keep the afternoon nap. When baby gets to around one and a half years old, it might seem like time to drop the afternoon nap. You might be thinking that this will make them sleep longer in the night, but in fact it has the opposite effect as they are more irritable at bed time and therefore find it more difficult to sleep. Drop the nap when it seems baby doesn’t need it any more, probably around two and a half.
17. Don’t believe any of this! You need to find what works for you, and you might find that all of the above is nonsense in your environment. That’s great. Whatever works for you is the right thing, and stick with that.

Some children are just lousy sleepers and others sleep like angels and of course different children will have different ways of reacting to all of this, and you need to adapt your strategy to cope. But strategy is a good word to describe this.  It’s something you should take seriously, as loosing your regular sleep for more than a few days is a kind of torture. Really. It can make a vast difference to your sanity, your relationship and your quality of life.

What works for you? Add to the comments section below.

You are probably riding around on the wrong kind of bike. Either that or you have the wrong kind of bike sitting in your garage never being used. This is because most people seem to have mountain bikes when we live in one of the least mountainous countries in the world. If you’ve already got a mountain bike or a racing bike or a BMX or whatever, and you are actually using it regularly then you should probably stop reading right now. Move along, nothing to see here.

Don’t get me wrong. I love mountain biking, and I think it’s a great sport. But you shouldn’t get sport muddled up with the need to get from one place to another, and being able to leave the car at home. If you want to go from 1/2 a mile to 15 miles or so, then a bike is the perfect way to get you where you are going. You get free exercize. You get fresh air. It doesn’t cost you anything in fuel. You can pretty much always find somewhere to park. It makes you feel stress free and relaxed by the time you get there. Although you might want to save that 15 mile trip until after you’ve had a few practice runs first.

The problem is though, if you try the same thing on a mountain bike you’ve got several things working against you. Firstly your back is bent all the time, and may start to ache quite badly after just a couple of miles. Your wrists are bent at an awkward angle. The tyres are much too nobbly. The tyres are much too fat. Perhaps you’ve not got enough pressure in the tyres which makes this even worse

Does any of this matter really anyway? I think it does a lot, because once you get to ride a Dutch style utility bike it becomes a completely different experience. You are sitting upright with your back straight. Your arms are almost straight which means, strangely, you can put in a lot more effort with your legs. Try using a rowing machine with your arms bent and then with your arms straight and you’ll see what I mean. After a few strokes with bent arms the muscles in your forearms and your triceps get tired out. They just aren’t designed to cope with this kind of strain. With your arms straight it means you can really “put your back into it” although this actually puts less strain on your back. It’s more about your sholders.

This is very hard to explain in words, but it really makes such a vast difference so it’s something I want to shout about. The problem is, none of the bike manufacturers will tell you this because they want to sell you a mountain bike for seven hundred pounds or much more… which you’ll probably only use a few times. Of course, if you want to go belting through the forest, jumping over logs and popping wheelies then forget a dutch style bike. If you must get up to such silliness, and I mean silliness as a good thing, then get both!

Other benefits are that Dutch bikes come with decent mudguards, which stop the rain and mud splashing all over your back and in your face. A big benefit if you live in the UK. They usually come with hub brakes, which work pretty well in the wet. With normal rim brakes they spend the first couple of turns drying out the wet before you get much braking at all. You usually only get, wait for it, three gears! This is really all you need, especially of you live in a really flat part of the country like East Anglia. I really have never needed more than three gears. You often have a rack on the back, or a basket on the front which is really handy if you just need to pop down the local shops for a few bits. Assuming your local shop isn’t so local that you might as well just walk.

Oh and don’t forget the seat, which is a great deal more comfortable.

If you are not willing to take the plunge, then please take the simple step of changing your tyres for ones which are as slick as you can possibly find.

If you like to have a drink or two, and bike is a great way of getting to the pub or a casual restaurant and no one has to be Bob for the evening. You’ll also have burned off a few calories, so you won’t have to feel guilty about that chocolate fudge cake. You also get free air conditioning, as the faster you go the more air you get blown at you to cool you down.

As all the statistics seem to indicate that we’re becoming a nation of fatties, it would probably be a good idea for the government to encourage more of us to take to the bike as a means of getting around. This would not solve the obesity problem with a single stroke, but would make a very good start. They have done some great work on the National Cycle Network (www.sustrans.org) and I’m lucky enough to have a route running 100m from my front door, but really more needs to be done. If more people start to use these cycle tracks then more of them are likely to be built. Perhaps even the next government will take up the reins of this project, as David Cameron seems to be a fan of the bike (although most of us don’t have an entourage of official cars to carry ones paperwork). According to Sustrans, obesity is predicted to cost the NHS £50 billion by the year 2050. You’d think the government would pay a bit more attention to cycling, which could play a big part in tackling the obesity problem.

Of course we should all be aware of our carbon emissions, when taking the car around; and taking the bike instead makes you carbon neutral for the journey. It also means you are generating less pollution locally, so not choking up the air in your neighborhood. Amazingly around half our daily car journeys are less than three miles long. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-car. I just think the car has its place, and that does not include short journeys. If you are taking your 4×4 to drop of a few magazines at the recycling bank which is 1/4 mile from your front door then something is seriously wrong.

Another often overlooked benefit to cycling is the social aspect. According to Sustrans, “… in neighborhoods that are conducive to pedestrians and cyclists, people are more likely to know their neighbors, participate in their community, trust others and be more socially engaged.” In other words you are much more likely to actually meet your neighbors and speak to them, instead of just a quick smile or a wave as you pass in the car. This makes a huge difference to social cohesion, possibly because you get to spend those extra few minutes getting to know people a little better. This in turn can make your neighborhood a much more pleasant place to live, as local problems tend to get discussed and sorted out amicably.

As you can see, taking the bike more often can make a massive difference to the way we all live our lives apart from the obvious fitness benefits. As with any exercize your muscles will ache a bit for the first few days as well as your bum, but once this passes you’ll never look back. Another great benefit is you get to use the bus lane and fly past all the cars stuck in traffic in the rush hour. So, what’s stopping you? Get out there now and find yourself a Dutch bicycle!

If you’ve got young kids or you want to pick up a decent amount of shopping then you should get yourself a trailer. These can be a pain to fit onto a Dutch bike, but it’s well worth it. Let’s be realistic though, you’re not going to fit a weekly shop for a family of 4 in one of these and still be able to actually move. Another useful addition is a tag-a-long if you have a 4-6 year old who’s not confident enough to ride on the road using their own bike.

Once you’ve been converted, you might even want to start campaigning your local government to design new housing estates with cycling as a priority. Put plenty of cycle parking in town centres and train stations. Modify roads to favour the cyclist. Give you real tax breaks for choosing to take your bike (although you can claim 20p per mile business expense, which is pretty good, but is never really going to amount to much). Supermarkets should think about designing their car parks with bikes in mind, and give priority parking spaces. Old disused railway lines should be converted into cycle paths. And cycle paths should be maintained often with weeds removed, dead leaves cleared away, and even gritted in the icy winter. If you want to get help with the cost of buying your bike the government has partnered up with several companies such as cycle scheme, which will help you to buy your bike tax free (http://www.cyclescheme.co.uk) under the Cycle to Work initiative.

A good place to start to look for a Dutch Utility bike is eBay but watch out for sites which sell cheaper new ones though as these are often from China and can go very rusty even in the first year. Alternatively try a site like www.dutchbikeshop.co.uk who sell Batavus cycles, which have a really good reputation. We have one of these at home, and it’s a brilliant bike. Even better take the boat over to the Netherlands and you’ll probably pick yourself up a decent second hand bike for well under £100. A bike like this will probably last half a lifetime or more, and doesn’t really take much looking after. Just don’t go in September when all the students have gone back to school and stripped all the shops of most of their stock. Also, steer away from Amsterdam and find a bike shop in one of the small towns or villages. Happy cycling!