I’m not sure if Amsterdam is as well known as Beijing for it’s bikes but it must be pretty close. You can’t spend a moment in Amsterdam and miss the bikes. I mean that literally, they are lethal. In the hierachy of transport, bikes rule, trams come a close second, followed by cars then pedestrians. You have to have your wits about you constantly or else some speedy local or stoner tourist will take your ass down (mopeds that go under 50kmh can also ride in the bike paths just to add to the fun).
Everyone rides bikes here and they look damned cool doing it too. It's that sort of laid back Euro way that I haven’t yet mastered. They just pootle around chatting with their mates standing on the back, carrying a bunch of flowers, trailing their dog or ferrying the kids.
To honour this new appreciation for bikes and the fact that they keep popping up in the style pages of every magazine I seem to flip through at the moment, I thought I would put up a few that I would love to ride around town on. (The reality of what I will eventually be riding is at the bottom...)
A hot pink folding Brompton - around £800. Cute as a button.
Missoni for Target (which originally sold for US $400 and one then re-sold on ebay for $1200). Nuts.
This Hollander bike from Made i LOVE (my sister has one, well jell) it's also a steal at £199. Also just go to the MADE website anyway because it's awesome.
Old School Califonia Cruiser anyone? (US$199) I'm definitely not cool enough to pull this off.
Then, as I said, the sad reality. Sigh. This is what all the kids get around town in, yes it's a sort of wheel barrow. (Actually they are pretty cool. But maybe not until you have multiple kids)...
SO with just the one kid (and when I stop being such a wuss) the little Wolf and I will be going around with one of these bad boys on the front of an average Joe bike. Pretty neat. His little fat feet will just hang in the front while we ride through the park in the sun amongst the tulips. (Yeah I know that's neeeever gonna happen).
One of my loyal followers - (thanks Mum) - just kidding, jeez have some faith. Anyway, like I was saying, one of my millions of followers asked me to add music to my blog because I have made her a few mix cds in the past and she is always needing suggestions for some new tuuuuuunes. That, and obviously my taste in music is amazing.
So just a quickie here, I’ve got three songs/artists to share that I have recently heard and loved (and then three that I've stolen from elsewhere).
Firstly, my friend Josh has formed a band called TheBlackWhite (below). Have a look at their facebook page here and have a listen here.
Second up is this guy called Jake Bugg. My friend played a song of his to me the other day and I lurved it. He’s sort of folksy, country, almost a bit rockabilly. He played the BBC introducing stage at Glastonbury in 2011 and is only 18. Wowzers. He sounds like he should be from another decade, his voice is awesome, sort of Johnny Cash, just brill. Anyway have a listen.
Lastly is David Greenep. Here he is singing Song to the Siren by Tim Buckley. He’s actually a part of a band called Six Toes but I think his voice is in particular is beautiful hence a video just of him.
Now to the songs that I have stolen directly from GOOP - Gwyneth Paltrow's blog which I actually really like (she gets a lot of stick for it for posting about ridiculous things only the super rich could do/afford). Anyway, she has really good taste in music. Her latest post included these three songs which I think are all great so I'm taking directly from her...
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