A new found sense of freedom ...

While living in Chicago I always enjoyed riding my bike (a.k.a. "The Cadillac") around town to the markets, beach, dinner, etc.  In a city where driving isn't practical, and public transport, well stinky, riding a bike provides you with a means of travel complete with fresh air that is often much quicker than the alternatives.

It has been nearly two years now in London, and I have been hesitant to get a bike ... mainly because the arterial roads in the city are packed full of huge, scary buses that while sitting on the upper deck I have seen more than one close call with a biker.  Just getting used to being on the left side of the road took long enough to get accustomed to.

However, I am now ready.  The same desire - to get to my markets quicker and more exercise in my life - led me to the purchase of my Dutch bike!  


This large classic style frame provides just the right balance of practicality and cuteness.  While riding in Amsterdam (see blog here) my love for these bikes - with their heavy frame, covered bike chains, upright sitting style, and skirt guards - was solidified.  I still miss my rusty orange Schwinn from Chicago.


I researched online quite a bit, and honestly, the classics are VERY expensive.  With the odds being well over 50% that this bike will get stolen, I opted to get a used bike.  It is a Dutch 8-speed, rides very well, and has a cute rack on the back that has already proven to secure a bag of groceries.  Yet, it screams for a basket on the front ... waiting for the perfect one.


Turns out London is an amazing city for bikers!!  There are dozens of marked bike routes throughout the city that avoid the scary main roads and lead you down paths it seems one without a bike may never see!

The city provides free of charge awesome maps of the neighbourhoods, directing you to the most peaceful or efficient routes, depending on your need.  There are little secret routes, for bikes only and they even have biker stop lights!

I got down to the city centre in just 25 minutes (usually 45 minutes on public transport) and it looks like there is a safe route to my office.  Looking forward to this new found sense of freedom, and discovering even more hidden secrets in this intricate city.

Coldplay

There were a few things I knew about the band Coldplay ... they have some epic singles, are Brits, the lead singer married Gwyneth Paltrow, and they were playing at the Arsenal stadium in June (which is walking distance from my house).  This stacks up to a must see event.

I racked up six tickets, a crew to come along, and on a nice Spring evening in London there we were ... in the centre of the stadium watching the performance of the UK's top selling rock album of 2011.

I'm not a routine concert goer ... I mean I really do like Coldplay with their Earthy lyrics, dreamy rhythms, and perfect timing at introducing a jam session ... but, at first this was more a "been there, done that" kind of expectation.

What this turned into though was a bit more ... a push over the edge from just a music show.  It presented those moments when you look around with stars in your eyes, see your friends laughing, feel the unity of humanity, and jump up and down like you just don't care (or maybe conversely like it is just about the most important thing you could do).

There were large video screens so you could see the band, lasers, fireworks, bright colours, mad amounts of confetti, bouncing balls, lovers holding hands, and they gave every one lighted neon bracelets that blinked in perfect coordination with the beat of the music during parts of the show.  Pretty cool effects.

If you haven't heard of them, this video Yellow was one of their first, and of course they had dense yellow lighting while they played that ... girls were swooning.  Their most recent song "Paradise" was a hit, and of course "Viva la Vida" is a classic.


As if all that weren't enough, during the cliché 'pause, leave the stage, pretend the show is over' act they changed locations, moved towards the back of the stadium and literally popped out of the ground within meters of where we were standing!  It was the ultimate ... they performed their last few songs with the four of them on just a little stage right in front of us.  Nearly front row!

A friend of mine said it was a "life event".  It was etheral.  What's more, its kind of nice to know a couple guys at London City College, who played some tunes together, made it big time, married beautiful actresses and still maintained their souls.