Man in a milk float
Dan Kieran and two friends travelled across England at 15 mph in a 1950s milk float. Alex Rankin catches up with this slow traveller before his talk at Foyles on 28 April 2009.
What was the idea behind the trip?
It was based on the notion that the journey can be the reason for going somewhere in the first place. These days, there’s no real travel, it’s only movement. People jump in a wormhole at an airport and then appear on the other side of the world. If you travel somewhere slowly, you acclimatise to your destination.
Did it change your perspective on how we live in the modern world?
On a personal level, the trip changed my life in many ways. When you go in a car after being on a float, you realise how fast we have become accustomed to living; it feels like going on a rollercoaster. Deliberately slowing down has a very profound effect on you if you do it for long enough. You begin to wonder if the slow world is the real world.
Another aspect of the trip was to discover whether community spirit is still alive in this country. Charging the float was a big demand of people, but out of everyone we asked, only 2 refused. It gave us back that sense that this country is full of amiable people and not the terrifying crap that you see in the headlines.
How does this all relate to Slow Down London?
It relates to everyone that lives in a western democracy. Here, everything is about making things bigger and faster, but there is a different way of living.
I think everyone is slow at heart, but they’ve all been railroaded into this insane chaotic way of life. We’ve been told that free trade and capitalism is the way forward and everything has to grow and improve. It’s never been more obvious that that is complete nonsense. Maybe if we got all our policymakers to drive around the country in a milk float for a month they might get some depth of what this country is really like.
You currently live in Chichester. Do you find that a rural lifestyle is more conducive to slow living than the big city?
I love London and still go there quite a lot. But the problem with living in a city is that you feel like that is where everything is happening and if you’re not there, you’re missing out in some way. Moving here has made me realise that it is possible to just relax. But the city is magical too. I think there is a way to have both.
Dan Kieran gives a free talk about his experiences at Foyles bookshop on 28 April 2009.
Alex Rankin
