Nice to see a couple of comments on the blog. I'm going to stick a picture of me and the kids on the bike - unfortunately my camera broke last summer and I've had to rely on my mate Chris's camera phone so it'll probably be a bit blurry.
I've just got back from a family wedding in Hartford. The only way we could afford to get over was by flying. It's nice to see my relatives but I sometimes think is all the good I do by cycling every day wiped out by flying over to London? I know that you can offset the carbon emissions by paying to have trees planted or something, but to be honest we couldn't even afford the flights - even though they were on Easyjet.
So with a family like ours, with my parents and two brothers all living at opposite ends of the country what options do I have? If we go by car, we'd probably be driving for over 400 miles and using a ferry aswell. We could use train and ferry I suppose, but its difficult with 2 kids and a lot of luggage. And we couldn't do the whole trip in one weekend.
It would have been easier if we'd all stayed where we grew up but life's never that simple.
But then I see Moby (supposedly an environmentalist) giving an interview for EasyJets inflight magazine, and Sting (supposedly an environmentalist) swanning about on the last Concorde flight swigging champagne, and I think maybe I'm not that bad after all.
Monday, March 28, 2005
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As well as giving up car ownership, I've also given up air travel. I'll never have a clean sheet in terms of CO2, however much I cycle, as I spent many years jetting around the world on business.
Until last year we'd never been overseas as a family. It's a wonderful country we live in and there is more to do and enjoy than you can manage in a single lifetime.
But last year I decided the girls should encounter Abroad. After all, I'd spent much of my childhood being taken all over the globe by adventerous (if not CO2 aware) parents. The answer was the train to the South of France; it took about the same door-to-door time and costs were comparable with easyjet. But it was a hundred times more relaxing and enjoyable for all concerned.
For mainland UK travel, the train has served me well over the past year; travelling with and without family as far South as Cornwall, as far West as Wales and as far North as Newcastle. In most cases rail has been more flexible than flying and certainly more relaxing.
I suppose the equation changes once you have to cross the sea. That would be a real test of envronmental commitment and depth of pocket.
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