Surprising things you can carry on a bike

I am genetically and culturally programmed not to waste stuff. As a minimum everything can be turned into either fuel or hardcore or soup. So when, in the 70s, this characteristic was named 'recycling' I had a head start. It was pleasant to be seen as weird but ahead of the game, rather than just weird.

At one point I lived in a second floor London flat with a good view of a communal skip. I don't think the council ever had to empty it - stuff moved in and out of it at enormous speed and for a while most of my furniture came from there.

When my children were small I took up woodwork classes so while out with them I'd look out for likely bits of wood. I always had a tape-measure and screwdriver in my pocket so I could check whether wood met my needs and, if necessary, dismantle it. Our pushchair's sturdy metal shopping rack got put to good use.

As a result my children are also genetically and culturally programmed not to waste stuff and when on Monday we spotted a skip outside a loft conversion round the corner we did a mass raid for firewood for the wood-burning stove. This is very good - despite it being May we are still using the stove and are now reduced to burning garden prunings.

Anyway, today I saw there was a pallet on the skip, so I wheeled it home balanced on pedal and handlebar. Aren't bikes brilliant!

(bookstall-on-a-bike)

Hey - the idea is catching on!