Cycling

On occasional Sundays, I take one of the girls on the bike to a little French bakery: the ‘croissant run’. I have a Granny bike, bought in Muji in Japan ten years ago. It’s got a basket at the back, a child’s seat in front and is covered in dust from being left outside, but I love it. Today it’s A’s turn. She’s 7 now and way too big for it but we somehow squeeze her in and off we go.

I’ve cycled for as long as I can remember. Trips with mum - Patrick and I on tiny bikes - into the countryside round Chichester. Inevitably there was a Chopper: cool then, even cooler now. Cycling to school. Patrick and I messing around in a great wood off Brandy Hole Lane. Longer trips over the South Downs. At univ I had a second-hand racing bike and used to cycle the 5 miles into Brighton to do the food shopping and carry it back in panniers. I even took it to Strasbourg on my year abroad and would cycle across the Rhine to do my food shopping in Germany. But on moving to London I gave it up. Patrick had had a bad accident on his, so I took to public transport.

In Tokyo, though, I took it up again. The roads seem to be safer and people are a lot more tolerant; you can even cycle on the pavements. Bangkok, however, is tough: lethal traffic fumes, potholed roads, too hot. But I still like to go on errands and the occasional longer foray.

Now it’s trying to get A & N interested. Lumphini Park’s great for learning, but we don’t do it enough for them to be super-confident and A’s more interested in roller-blades right now. Is it a boy thing?