I managed to haul out of a nearby skip today enough good quality wood to make my bike shed. When I worked out that it belonged to the restaurant being refurbished on the corner I went in to check they didn't mind (I knew that of course they wouldn't as it left them more room for disposing of stuff). It just so happened that the first person I met was the man behind the new  restaurant, Mario. It turned out that he already knew where I live as he'd watched me measure the wood, pile it on the pavement then carry it back to my front garden.

He asked me what I thought about the local 'low traffic neighbourhood' scheme which, to the fury of many traders and drivers, the council has just made permanent. Mario told me that it has badly damaged one of his other businesses but unlike a lot of the intractable head-to-heads that happen about this locally, this led to a good conversation about cars, traffic and climate. We came to an agreement that it was impossible to put in place a new system all at once to make it possible for people to get out of their cars and use cheap, reliable, quick buses - because there can't be cheap, reliable, quick buses while the roads are clogged by cars.

When I told him that I aim to cycle and walk rather than drive or fly mainly for the sake of his generation rather than mine, he told me I was making him scared. That's not a very helpful first step - we will have to talk more.

Black and white in colour 282