On Saturday 7th June my (much) better half of ten years, Lily the Pink (Losing The Thread) and I got married. Twice actually - one legal, one Handfasting (because Pagan weddings aren't recognised over here).
I want to thank all our family and friends for being there and for giving us nice presents. I also want to particularly thank the following people:
Laurette, for being an excellent musician and leading the procession so well;
Morag, (the mysterious LRM) for a superb vegan wedding cake;
Womble, (Womble's Rants) for fabulous photography;
Cath, for being the marvellous maid of honour;
Daniel, ( The Astral Pilgrim) for being the only person who could possibly cope with being my best man.
And finally Michelle Screechowl for being our celebrant priestess and creating such a superb ceremony.
We love you all and if we've missed anybody out - please accept this heartfelt apology, my head's only just stopped spinning.
Now, onto today's subject:
PUBLIC NUDITY
That's about as big as I can get it! (ahem!)
Now is the time of the World Naked Bike Ride. All across the Northern Hemisphere (the Southerners do it in March, usually) people are stripping off their clothes, painting slogans on their naked skin and riding bicycles around highly populated cities. In the UK it has already happened in Sheffield, Southampton and York. It's due in London, Edinburgh and Cardiff soon.
For details of a ride near you please follow this link.
Manchester's ride will be on from 6pm (riding at 7pm) on Friday 13th June - meet outside the Basement Café on Lever Street. I will be there. I hope you will be too.
WHY?
Frankly, why not? Actually WNBR has a proud history starting in 2004 as a collaboration of Artists For Peace in Canada and Manifestación Ciclonudista in Spain. It quickly spread to the rest of the world and is now (I believe) the world's largest environmental protest.
So what's it for?
At base WNBR is a pro-cycling, anti-oil pollution protest. The overuse and overproduction of the private car has been instrumental in the devastating environmental disaster that our planet is going through. Spaceship earth is rapidly falling to bits because we've abused it.
The greenhouse gases that are causing the ice caps to melt are primarily due to exhaust emissions and car production.
Human activity is directly responsible for the extinction of 136 species every day. If that doesn't make you want to do something about it - after you've stopped crying - then it bloody well should.
One way is to stop using the car and start looking at alternatives, like cycling. Nobody is saying that cars should be removed altogether from the world because that would be impossible, but that there are better ways. Car pooling could immediately halve the traffic on the way to work. Walking the kids to school reduces morning congestion to a quarter of its previous level - as all drivers know who work the same hours as schools.
The message of WNBR isn't negative, though. We want to encourage cycling as a healthy, effective and fun way to get around. Here's a link to a lovely list of all the benefits of cycling, such as lower health care expenses, cardio-vascular improvements, stress-relief through exercise, much cheaper fuel and parking and a license to dress like a nutter!
Why naked?
Actually, you don't have to be naked, though most people are. It's "bare as you dare", which is a good way of encouraging fancy dress and body painting.
One of the reasons for the nudity is to highlight, in a very graphic way, just precisely how vulnerable a cyclist is on our roads. According to this report 15,000 cyclists are injured or killed on our roads every year. That's a lot. The point that WNBR is making here is twofold - firstly less cars and more bikes means less accidents and a lot less fatal ones; secondly that drivers need to be more aware of cyclists (as one naked rider had painted on his back last year, "Not Invisible Now!")
To be fair, I understand that many drivers will complain that cyclists don't follow the rules of the road and put themselves and others at risk in so doing. I agree. I hate the stupid bastards too, and if I can use WNBR to promote cycling according to the Highway Code then I will.
Although not to do with cycling, the nudity aspect of WNBR has one further message - that of body positivity. I was quite upset recently by a friend who said she would have ridden naked but she's put on a stone recently, so won't. That is not what it's about!
World Naked Bike ride is NOT a beauty contest.
Promoting body positivity is about saying to the world (especially advertisers and film-makers!) "Human beings are available in a wide range of sizes, colours and shapes - and they're all good!"
We are bombarded with images of the body beautiful, we (especially if you are female) are told that we won't be loved if we're not thin enough, we are made ashamed of ourselves for being imperfect and therefore human. Images of perfect people are used to sell us products so that we too can become equally perfect if we buy them, yet these perfect people don't even exist. They are digitally enhanced to conform to an expected image.
WNBR proves it all to be bullshit. Beauty is not in conformity, it is in diversity. And there are few species more diverse than people.
One more point to encourage nudity: There is one word I've heard again and again (and used myself) from first-time nudists. They said they found it liberating.
That is absolutely the correct word. When you are released from the need to project an image via your clothes, or to hide your imperfections behind them, then you are totally free to be yourself. It really is truly liberating.
Finally, to prove that I really do put my money where my mouth is, here's a picture from last year's ride. It was taken by a very fine gentleman known as Spinneyhead. Thanks, Ian.
Love and bare bicycles,
Seán
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