New Set Of Wheels

It was suggested I have a go on Mike's scooter. It's unmotorised. You punt yourself along with one foot- as I did on my little wooden scooter when I was a child- and glide over the ground at the speed of Usain Bolt- only with minimum effort. I rode it up hill, I rode it down hill (their street slopes like the street in Ridley Scott's Hovis ad), I rode it on the level...

And now I've acquired one for myself. 

The thing you have to look out for is potholes and uneven paving. Small wheels can't cope with the sudden change in level. They stall- and the rider stops gliding and flies. The model I've bought (same as Mike's) has the largest wheels on the market.

Ailz has a hospital appointment this morning. She'll be going up in the motorised wheel chair- and I'll be scooting along beside her...

Exchange

 I want to start up a book exchange at the Meeting House.

A book and media exchange. 

I'll put some books on a table with a notice that says something like

HELP YOURSELF TO WHAT YOU FANCY

DONATE WHAT YOU NO LONGER NEED.

I think of it as a teeny-tiny experiment in doing without money.

Money is a convenience but also an instrument of control. It distances us from our neighbours- especially if it's not evenly distributed. Money has been appropriate to the world we're emerging from but may not be as appropriate to the world we're moving toward. I'd like us to start getting used to managing without it.

There are other kinds of currency- skills, talents, wisdom, knowledge- and it's not hard to imagine a society in which everyone pools what they have and takes what they need without having to shuffle coins, notes or digits on a screen. I grow cabbages, you have computing skills, she makes clothes, he's good with children. In a community that's large enough- but not too large- there should be present all the goods and talents a community requires to thrive. It's how tribal societies work. It's how Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek universe works as well...