Focus on RNE, exercise 5, page 158.0:00
Welcome to this week's edition of the Stars Go Green, where we feature a famous person every week who is doing something to help the environment.0:08
This week's guest is fashion designer Brandon Wells.0:17
Brandon, welcome to the show.0:21
Brandon, you've been living and working in London for eight years now and you travel everywhere by bicycle.0:24
Have you always ridden a bike in London?0:30
When I first came here, I wouldn't have dreamed of cycling in the centre.0:34
It was far too dangerous, mainly because of the heavy traffic.0:38
But you also had to deal with the exhaust fumes.0:42
I can remember watching the cycle couriers weaving their way through the fumes.0:45
They looked like surgeons with their face masks on.0:50
So how did you get around the city in those days?0:53
I didn't drive a car then and I couldn't afford a taxi.0:57
Of course, if you're really in a hurry, you take the underground, but I never use the Tube and still don't.1:00
I'm terrified of being stuck inside a tunnel.1:07
It happened to a friend of mine once.1:10
He said it was a terrifying experience.1:12
And how long did your bus journeys to and from work take?1:15
But then they introduced the congestion charge, you know, where you pay a charge to bring your car into the city centre.1:20
And my travel time was halved.1:27
It definitely succeeded in deterring motorists, even though you'd think car park fees would already have done that.1:29
Well, after a few months of going to work by bus, I noticed there were far more cyclists in the centre.1:36
Or maybe it just appeared that way because there were fewer cars around.1:42
So at what point did you change from bus to bicycle?1:46
I saw that cycling had definitely become a safer option.1:49
I started to count how many cyclists I spotted on each journey.1:53
Then when I reached 300, I promised to buy myself a bike.1:57
It was a month or two before that happened, but by that time there was a network of cycle paths as well.2:02
How did it feel the first time you rode your new bike to work?2:09
I remember being nervous in case I got hit in the traffic.2:13
I wasn't sure how long the journey would take, so I allowed an hour.2:16
In the end, I was 20 minutes late that morning.2:20
The boss wasn't very happy, I can tell you.2:24
It wasn't the distance I misjudged, it was my lack of fitness.2:26
You're very fit now, though.2:30
How did you manage it?2:32
Well, I hadn't done any serious cycling for years.2:34
I'd had a bike as a teenager.2:37
But I only used it at weekends, visiting friends in the neighborhood.2:39
Now I was attempting to cycle 10 miles a day.2:43
My muscles were so sore at the beginning that I decided to catch the bus one day and cycle the next.2:47
Gradually, I was able to give up the bus.2:53
What do you think is the biggest benefit of riding a bike?2:56
There's no doubt that it saves you time when you want to get somewhere in town quickly.3:00
But the really great thing is the improvement in my health.3:04
I really noticed it swimming last summer.3:08
I could swim for hours without getting tired.3:10
In fact, I'm in better shape now than I was 10 years ago.3:13
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