mardi 2 décembre 2008

A Happy Union


In the 19th arrondisement of Paris you will find none other than the 'vélo et chocolat' shop. For those non-French speakers, you can probably guess from the picture that this translates as 'bike and chocolate' shop. I don't know about you, but the first thing I think of when I want to rent a bicycle is 'I wish I had some chocolate to go with this bike'...And who said that the French were close-minded and unoriginal? Whilst I'm unsure of the financial success of this particular venture, I consider bikes and chocolate to be a happy union...

A not so happy union involving bikes in Paris has come to my attention since the introduction of vélibs (city bikes). Back in July 2007, the mayor of Paris thought it would be a good idea to introduce a system of city bikes in Paris as an easy, cheap, healthy, and ecological means of getting around. I agree with him that this was a good idea, what was perhaps not so well thought out was where all of these bikes and bike riders would go? Paris streets are not the most spacious of places, and Parisian drivers are not exactly known for their consideration of others on the roads...Given a lack of bike lanes, someone had the ingenious idea of providing a safe place for cyclists to ride - the bus lane!!! That's right, in Paris the bike lane is in fact the bus lane and taxi lane - What safer place could there be to ride than alongside buses and taxi drivers? And people wonder why I haven't tried out a vélib yet...