Before I write anything else, I want to just blurt out what an interesting thing happened today as I arrived to work.

Next to the building I work at a new bike was put on the bike rack, where I usually put mine. That, by itself is not very interesting at all as lately I am not the only one using a bike for going to work, but the bike was a Dutch-made one, Gazelle, which I have never seen in the US before, all new, with a full chain enclosure, fenders, even a skirt protector, three speeds and a wheel lock, that is my favorite kind of lock, which my bike also has and which is not so easy to get around here, in fact I had to bring it over from Europe (from the Netherlands of course 🙂 to be able to sport it on my bike.

My first thought was, ‘Whoa, who does this bike belong to, and where is it from?’ – a hard question, as in the building I work there are several small businesses and some apartments, clients come to see lawyers, and it sounds like there is also a day-care center here, and an environmental organization. Then I though, how speedily people’s preferences around bikes — and with that, the bike selection in shops — have been changing. It does make me happy when I see a practical, weather resistant and sturdy bike, that will last for decades, popping out of nowhere.

Back to the movie. As you can see from our calendar on the events page, the Pioneer Valley Transition Towns Film Festival is happening next Friday evening, and ten short movies will be shown out of all the 18 that were sent in.

I don’t know which ten, but I asked a friend to film me building a bamboo bicycle trailer, which he did, and the result of his editing he sent in by the September 28th deadline.

Well, don’t worry, if they don’t show my little movie, here is a link: Building a Bamboo Bicycle Trailer.

If you can’t quite follow how to do it, monitor this space: I have done a workshop on this already, that I will repeat as it got such strong interest, and I will announce when this happens.