So we're disturbed, very disturbed, by some of the anti-car news which seems to be coming out of America recently.
First, the pedestrianisation sorry 'pedestrianization' of Times Square and other bits of Broadway.
Then we hear of the burgeoning cycle movement in places like Minneapolis and Portland with their high number of segregated bike lanes, municipal bike racks, bike 'boulevards' (huh?) and other stuff we either don't understand or don't want to understand.
But now, and this is the worst, we noticed this on the TV:
Yes, that's Wall Street - the very name synonymous with buccaneering capital - has had one of New Yorks 'pedestrian plazas' imposed upon it over the last few weeks.
And just look what happened!!!!!
Coincidence? We don't think so...
No, it is not a coincidence. A city is not a city without cars: it reverts to bucolic idleness when people begin walking and cycling to work. Please note that Britain only became the 'workshop of the world' when railways were built and entrepreneurs arrived at their desks fresh and rested and not exhausted by tramping or pedalling from the time the sun came over the horizon. Cars are even quicker allowing our money making executives to devote more time to their daily tasks. Civilisation owes nothing to the invention of the leather sole, believe me.
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