This year’s Tweed Run event in London saw 400 immaculately dressed cyclists gallivanting about the city, soaking up the sunshine and stopping for tea at regular intervals.

I’d love to do something like this, though I think argyll sweaters and multiple tweed layers will be more the order of the day than this:

Which projects to try next?

Already we’re brainstorming which projects to tackle after we’ve finished the Kids Bushcraft, Reinvention Sewing Lounge and Bit Better pilot projects, and we’re thinking bicycles.

Malcolm’s keen on doing a bicycle repair workshop while I’d like to combine it with refurbishing and adding personal style so you absolutely love to get on your bike.

I’m particularly interested in sewing my own panniers and testing out alternatives to toxic waterproof chemicals in all those plastic-coated panniers.

It’s gorgeous outside today, so I’m off for a leisurely cycle down the road to take in the blue sky, cows grazing alongside their calves and the sweet scent of wildflowers on the breeze…

Sure, we can give you a lift!

Why’s the bus service so bad?

Over a cup of tea, Malcolm heard the story from James Stockan, our councillor for Stromness and Hoy areas, while chatting about Touchwood’s mission of doing green living in a fun way. When Malcolm mentioned the latest one on hitchhiking, James said (I’m paraphrasing here):

“Know why the bus service is so poor? It’s because years ago, people used to stand waiting for the bus and invariably a fellow islander would stop to offer a lift, so no one was left for the bus to take.”

How about that. Giving a lift to someone used to be commonplace.

I like to imagine little old ladies standing at the bus stop waiting when another one comes along and offers her a lift. They chat on the side of the road, maybe one offers a helping hand into the car and away they go.

Giving a lift to someone is a chance to catch up on news, perhaps even to make a new acquaintance. You never know who you might run into.

Just think who you might meet, giving a lift

We could do with more getting to know each other too

Even here, we could do with getting to know each other better. There are 16,000 of us or so on the Mainland (Orkney’s main island) and while I’m sure there are many who know quite a few people, we don’t actually all know each other. What’s more, I also know a lot of people who moved away because they didn’t feel connected to the community, like they were part of things.

Something like half the population isn’t from Orkney originally, so that’s a lot of people moving in and trying to get to know their neighbours and where things are.

How much nicer would it be if you just moved in, walked down the road, stuck your thumb out and struck up a conversation with someone you’d never met; you got the insider tip on the best butcher, where to get a kitchen table cheaply, and where to find the tastiest espresso?

Think that might make you feel more welcome? More a part of the community?

It could work in big communities, too

Now I imagine doing this in larger communities, cities even. Think of the opportunities for increasing community spirit, a sense of connectedness to one’s neighbours.

One thing stopping people is fear. Maybe another is just not thinking about it.

It’s important to show it can be done, safely and enjoyably, and that’s why I’d like to see it work here on Orkney. We’re ridiculously safe here and we’ve already got a bit of a tradition of it — now it’s time to reintroduce it!

What needs to happen to make it work

As for fear, the perception of risk is disproportionate to the reality. Nevertheless, Malcolm is working on fail-safe measure to ensure modern carsharing is safe (more on that in future posts).

James says he used to always stop for someone, but the reason he doesn’t stop anymore is because there are a lot more cars on the road now and with few laybys, he’d be holding people up if he stopped.

We could largely deal with that problem by doing a bit of awareness-raising on the radio and in the paper to remind people of this tradition and encourage them to at least be patient when someone in front of you stops for 30 seconds to offer a lift.

Or we could even invest in a couple of laybys in the busiest areas, like heading out of Kirkwall and Stromness.

The point is, I guess I’d been thinking of this hitchhiking thing as a kind of new-fangled thing, and here it turns out (like just about every other green idea) people were doing this long before my generation popped up. Nice to know, really.