Rolling along

It was grey and breezy when I left this morning, but the rain held off long enough for me to take a leisurely detour on the way home, bypass the inevitably bottlenecked traffic in the centre of York and cycle past the Knavesmire on one of the last peaceful days before the latest race meeting begins.

The aged trees, lush grass and scattering blossom has a much better effect on the soul than jostling cars, and the prospect of being squashed by a bendy bus. York is pretty good to its cyclists, but there are certain stretches of road that must be avoided. The population and traffic keep increasing, but the city and roads can only grow so far. Some of the smaller roads, like Gillygate, have become main traffic routes and are simply not wide enough to accomodate a bus on either side without squashing some poor bugger up against the kerb.

As I freewheeled down Bishopthorpe Rd I remembered why I love living in York. It doesn't have that massive sense of corporate encroachment that can be so overwhelming in big cities like Leeds or London - or my native Sheffield, renowned for it's depressingly grey centre for so long. If it were a Quality Street, what a disappointment it would have been. A good job that some areas of the Steel City have gotten a lot less depressing in recent years - like the Peace Gardens, or theatre district.

You're never far from old bits of wall in York; at this time of year much of it is hugged by a sloping green hill, overshadowed by lush green trees. The council seem to have a policy of not cutting all the grass, which is fine for the butterflies, crickets, birds and insects that make a wildlife garden out of the overgrown patch. All the wildlife brings character and life to the whole city, as well as a smile to my face.