I don’t own a car. Nor do I have access to one for work at the moment which – it turns out – makes event management rather challenging.

But I was determined to make it work.

Last week I had two events to manage. One tiny one and one large one. The tiny one involved a ‘high tea’ and I was training our admin team. Being that admin – in any organisation – tend to arrange the catering, it seemed wrong for me to conduct training for them and have them arrange their own catering.

So being the domestic goddess that I am, I baked cupcakes for them! Mini ones. One batch of chocolate and one batch of strawberry. They turned out amazing!

Problem was, I love riding my bike to and from work and I un-love public transport, so the test was on – the test to see if 30 cupcakes would survive the journey on the back of Sheldon or if they would bounce around and get all smashed up and completely ruined.

I hoped for the best, but was truly prepared for it to end in tears.

Twa darrrrr!!!

Perfect.

So now I reckon I can officially call myself an eco-electric-domestic goddess. You can’t tell me that doesn’t make me totally irresistible? Surely this will now break my 8 1/2 year spell of singledom?

The big event was a bigger challenge. I needed to buy gifts for an awards night so I figured it would be quicker to ride from South Brisbane where I work across the Go Between Bridge and along Coronation Drive rather than to the City. And I was right. It was such a quick trip. And for bicycles the bridge is free! :p

This work shopping excursion was Friday and one of the gifts involved an easter bunny egg. I managed to squeeze all the gifts into the pannier bags. Everything was bulging. Unfortunately the easter bunny didn’t make it home in one piece. It didn’t survive Friday night pub adventures at West End, I’m afraid. So I had to pop back on the bike on Saturday to replace the easter egg. This time I treated it with the respect it deserved. Actually I treated the first crumbled one with respect as well. That is, I ate it. So it was a win for everyone really. 🙂

My bicycle courier work wasn’t over, however! A trip to Officeworks on Saturday morning to do some printing was required! All these things that were once so much easier and quicker with a car. And drier. I had no choice but to go. My big event was Saturday night. A deadline is a deadline and no car means no car. So I hopped on the bike, I put on my raincoat and trundled along the bumpy Ipswich Road footpath to Officeworks in the rain. I did my printing and then piled the printing in the pannier bags and put the cute little yellow pannier coat on top.

I am so proud of Sheldon this week. He was reliable, well behaved and we enjoyed a few train trips home to avoid the rain and to avoid a flat battery. I was even treated with a free muffin from Queensland Rail. One of the station masters said I was definitely allowed one as I’d burn it off. Whatevers!

I don’t recommend all event managers ditching their cars and going the bicycle courier route, but I am so proud to have gone down the track of prioritising ethical and physical fitness this week. It’s such a good feeling.

And I really don’t reckon it’d have been that much quicker using a car and, even if it was, I wouldn’t have had time for any exercise whatsoever and would’ve felt miserable and urgh. The incidental exercise (and the joy of riverside bikeways) makes one’s working day way more enjoyable than the four walls of a vehicle.