It was a beau­ti­ful Sunday in Wel­ling­ton today. The air was crisp and cool but the sun was bright and the first signs of spring were vis­ible. For example, as I wheeled along the water­front prom­en­ade this after­noon, a few brave young men and women were in sleeve­less tops or short shorts, anti­cip­at­ing tem­per­at­ures that must surely be a month or two away.

A prom­en­ade it cer­tainly is. I under­stand that in cer­tain for­eign parts it is the cus­tom to walk in the plaza or the esplanade every Sunday to see and be seen, and it seems that we are devel­op­ing our own prom­en­ade tra­di­tion here, albeit in a sadly under-dressed form. There were a few clothes horses amid the usu­al crowed of strollers, a gaggle of cos­play­ers, a chap in a top hat that rather suited him, but the gen­er­al impres­sion was thor­oughly cas­u­al.

I did my bit for the atmo­sphere by rid­ing my most beau­ti­ful bicycle at the slow­est pos­sible speed. It’s a game I play. I hope to con­vey max­im­um non­chal­ance on two wheels, glid­ing calmly, serenely even, not just look­ing where I’m going but look­ing around and soak­ing in the people as well as the scenery. I saw an old mate com­ing the oth­er way and I was able to briefly clasp hands without stop­ping.

My most beau­ti­ful bicycle

I’m afraid there were a lot of out-of-con­trol inline skaters and wor­ry­ingly fast cyc­lists loose in the crowd. I over­heard a man com­plain to his part­ner about wheeled vehicles as a bike voomed past a bit too close and I can­’t say I blame him. How much bet­ter it was to hear a few 100 metres on, “what a nice bike.”

I think where people are going wrong on wheels is in see­ing the Sunday after­noon water­front as a place to exer­cise. Instead, why not see it as a place to relax, chill out, watch oth­er people and provide some­thing for them to look at? The eyes of a mem­ber of the appro­pri­ate sex will not linger if you’re going faster than walk­ing pace. Leave the sweat and joy­less­ness to the jog­gers.

Ladies and gen­tle­men, we have had Slow Food. We all know the pleas­ure of slow­ing down and enjoy­ing the ride. Let me pro­pose SLOW CYCLING. There’s a time and a place: Sunday after­noon, by the water.