I have a bike! It’s called St. James.

My friend Colin has a foldable bike that he does not use at the moment, so he was so generous to lend it to me for my time here in Melbourne.

Colin is a man with many talents – he’s the one who got us into Shandong MaMa, and designed her logo, too.

I rode St. James back through the CBD, along a park and into Fitzroy at night.

I made it in one piece, even though my brain dictated me to go into the wrong way at every crossing. I have to concentrate all the time to remember Australia drives LEFT.

LEFT. LEFT. LEFT. It’s like a mantra to me.

So in the next weeks I will be mobile, at least for the smaller routes, it really speeds up things and you get to know the city so much better….

You need a helmet in Australia. Sensible precaution. Even if I feel that traffic here is pretty civilized.

However the helmet is a serious hurdle to the successful introduction of city rental bikes like in Paris or Brussels. There’s not much spontaneity possible if you need a helmet.

Some people leave the helmets on the bikes when they give it back. If enough people do this, the helmet issue might just solve itself…