ECON­O­MY IN TOI­LET, GREEKS FLOCK TO BICY­CLES
via Reuters

Greece has been the undis­put­ed world leader in how not to run an econ­o­my over the last few years, and Greeks have paid for it hard, with unem­ploy­ment at 20 per­cent and dire straits through­out the land. But there’s a sil­ver lin­ing: The num­ber of cars on the road has fall­en by 40 per­cent in each of the last two years, and bike use is boom­ing. That would be cool any­where, but it’s espe­cial­ly note­wor­thy in Greece. “We’ve never had a bike cul­ture in Greece,” said one new con­vert. “Some­times I’ll leave my local street mar­ket on my bike, loaded with bags of toma­toes, and peo­ple will stop and wave at me.” Last year, some 200,000 bikes were sold, a 25 per­cent jump, and in Athens, which has almost no bike infra­struc­ture, the mayor is talk­ing about devel­op­ing a bike-sharing pro­gram.

“Learn to ride a bicycle. You will not regret it if you live.” ~ Mark Twain