Introducing the Bakfiets

I don’t have inspiration for anything right now, at least not for anything upbeat, which it is time for after a few rants. But here’s an amazing woman in Portland who cycles around six kids in a bakfiets. (Yep, apparently they’ve adopted the Dutch word. So much better than apartheid!)

Most of those kiddos would be cycling on their own by now in Holland, but I wouldn’t let my kid cycle in American traffic either. But to then get a bakfiets instead of a minivan? Wow! That takes guts, and a hell of a lot of muscle!

Crazy Teen Driving : The Dutch Version

In early summer of my senior year of high school in Bilthoven, the Netherlands, I cycled from Eemnes to my school (about a 45-minute bike ride) when the weather was nice. Otherwise I would take the bus and the train.

Top Ten Things I Miss About Holland

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  photo: Autumn Arnold, Peanut Cheese

  Not worrying about money, or getting fired, or getting sick, or not being able to retire, or how to pay for the kids’ colleges.

• Having all my friends within visiting distance.
• Having seven weeks paid vacation plus vacation pay (like a thirteenth month’s salary).
• Going to the doctor or hospital without my wallet.
• Walking around the Saturday market and buying big, beautiful bunches of flowers that last for weeks and only cost a few euros.
• Traveling by train. Relaxing and looking out the window with a cup of Earl Grey tea instead of sitting in traffic.
• Taking the ferry to England and hitchhiking to the Cairngorms or the Lake District or wherever, and hiking around, camping in the wild.
• Cycling for the purpose of getting somewhere.
• Sleeping with the windows open (scorpions would crawl in if I did that here).
• Watching a decent documentary on TV without having to subscribe to HBO.