21st Nov 2009

GREEN CLOCKHOUSE

Rosanna Cavallo, prospective Clockhouse candidate for the 2010 Local Elections, writes -

Last week-end, chatting to the people who run one of the local "corner shops", suggested offering cloth shopping bags for sale. He has to buy in the plastic bags (£14.00 per 2,000 he said) and he quite liked the idea because it would save him money. Left him thinking about it.

Have to admit it took me a while to always remember to carry a shopping bag but the habit is pretty well ingrained now.

Mid-week, travelling by train up to town, met a young person on the platform at Clockhouse station travelling with a foldaway bicycle that looked rather better than most I had seen.

Faced with an upstairs living space and nowhere to store my bike means having to carry it up and down two flights of stairs. It is too heavy for me to do this so I have had to put cycling on the back burner for now.

Don't think this is a problem just for me. I hear many people who are prepared to take up cycling instead of always using the car have the same difficulty.

The young woman said I was welcome to try lifting the bike which was supposed to be in the region of 5 to 6 kg in weight. Not bad - I could get up and down stairs with it. The real winning feature of this model was the handle bars that turned into a pulling handle which, along with a small set of additional wheels, meant the bike could be pulled around much like a suitcase on wheels. Brilliant solution!

Later in the week attended a Resources Committee meeting at the Civic Centre with the Chairman of Friends of the Studio. A meeting place like the Studio for the community would be so welcome. At the moment there is so much to go wrong but the Friends are very hopeful that there should be an arts venue for people in Clockhouse.