As you would be aware, City of Port Philip and Kingston have already commenced the 12 month trial of ‘No Stopping’ zones along Beach Rd as a measure to increase cyclist safety.

Bayside council is having a meeting tomorrow night at which there is a proposal that they too join these other councils and approve a trial for a ‘No Stopping’ zone along Route 33 (Beach Rd). There is a group of residents who are highly organised, highly vocal and highly against this ‘No Stopping’ zone so we need to get a large number of supporters of the ‘No Stopping’ zone to attend and speak in favour of the proposal.

You can speak for 3 minutes but something as simple as “I support the recommendation and urge council to proceed with the trial” would be fine too! Please follow the link below to register your request to be heard. This has to be done by 11:00am Tuesday 31st…. so don’t delay – do it now while you remember!!

http://www.bayside.vic.gov.au/councilmeetings_request_to_be_heard.htm

Once here, you need to enter your name and other details – for the “in relation to Item No” field, please put item number 10.2;  for the “in relation to” description field, please put ‘Route 33 Beach Rd No Stopping Zone’. 

Remember, I can’t benefit from this important safety measure – if you want it, turn up and speak in support of it!

I am about to make some changes to my rehabilitation routine after spending a little over 12 months as an outpatient at the Epworth hospital rehabilitation centre. I am about to leave them to spend some more time making the physical abilities that I have developed to be more functional. My main aim over the next few months will be to see if I can drive. I am dreaming of being able to walk out of my front door, get myself in the car, put my seatbelt on and drive somewhere. Once I’m there, I will need to be able to take the seatbelt off, get out of the car and walk to my destination.

To celebrate what I have achieved during my time at the Epworth Hospital I have put a video together. Many people have assisted me get to this point, so I hope this video shows what they have helped me to achieve.

Enjoy,

Mike.

For those who are interested, the segment that was originally to be shown tonight (Monday, 2 August) at 7 PM on Channel 10 will now be shown tomorrow night (Tuesday, 3 August). You will have to look out for it again, sorry!

I have now placed a link to the article that was aired on You Tube. You can find this link on the Cycle Safety page of this website.

Cheers,

Mike.

A lot has happened since my last post including a trip to Japan with some photos I will post shortly, a trip to Sydney and the Hunter Valley for a cousin’s wedding, and a trip to Brisbane to visit my brother where everyone but Monica, Ashley and myself got violently sick! We have bought a new house, some progress has been made on the No Stopping Zone in the Bayside Council area, and we have a female Prime Minister (for now at least)! It has been a good six weeks to try and do things with this body that does not work. The trip to Japan was with friends who are fabulously helpful and at times I was even an asset to have around. Needless to say in the last six weeks we have done enough travel for five-year-old Ashley to now be a silver frequent-flyer! She is very proud of her card and baggage tags.

On Monday evening (2 August) on the 7 PM project show on Channel 10 there will be a story about bicycle registration. It should be an interesting story showing the views of both motorists and cyclists with regard to this issue and I was also interviewed for it. My argument is a little different and I hope it informs the viewers of what registration really means here in Australia. Registration is basically insurance and an administration cost; roads and associated infrastructure is actually paid for through taxes. My argument is not for or against registering cyclists but it is for making the insurance that registration offers available to cyclists. My circumstances, now being a quadriplegic, have highlighted this issue during my experience over the last two years. Tune in if you are interested.
On a recreational front, here are some photos of a recent ride we did together as a family. It was Ashley’s idea to wear the matching shirts!

Days like this are few and far between at this time of year in Melbourne, but the facility provided to ride along the beach path here in Melbourne is second to none. It is a wonderful thing we can do together involving taking Ash to the park as we reach our turnaround point where there is a lovely cafe to have a bite to eat and a play. Things are certainly not great, and the pain levels that I’m dealing with are immense, but days like this are to be treasured.

Cheers,

Mike.

For those of you who would like an entertainment book, a friend of ours is organising it again for use over the next 12 months. These books are fabulous to give you discounts at restaurants, fun parks and anything to do with entertainment in your local area. If you would like one, you can download the order form from this entertainment book link and return it to the details provided in the order form.

Enjoy,

Mike.

The newspaper article related to the petition that we prepared and submitted appears in the Bayside Leader and other Leader newspapers today. Please feel free to have your say on this issue by following this link: http://bayside-leader.whereilive.com.au/news/story/clearway-petition-push-on/.  There are sure to be many inflamed comments from the other side of the fence on this issue so it is important to represent what the majority has clearly shown with the 2300 signatures that we collected.

Cheers,

Mike.