“Hey Dad, I just realized those two are the first overweight people I’ve seen here” … innocently came a comment from our daughter/Personal trainer – Chloe, last week in London.In England to support Brahm’s entry in the Commonwealth Games, it made sense to spend an extra week in London. Keeping pace with Chloe and Brahm’s 25,000 steps a day in the 37-degree heat was a challenge in itself, as they naturally wanted to see and do ‘everything’. But we’d stopped at a 700-year-old pub for a coffee when the ‘overweight’ comment was made.While rushing about over the next few days I began to ponder about what Chloe had said and had a sudden insight. Most of the millions of people around us were travelling from A to B on ‘The Tube’ (the complex underground railway system). Very few owned a car and allot of the cars that did exist were electric. Contrary to expected, there was no visible pollution. And the populous could be seen everywhere speedily walking to their next destination.They walk hurriedly to the underground, down the stairs and onto a train. Minutes later, walking again, up-stairs and on to their rendezvous.Hence, from an outsider’s point-of-view, there is no doubt that the surprise bi-product of providing a well-organized rapid rail system is, everyone gets slim and lean from all of the quick walking. And the pollution from cars gradually disappears! Whether Auckland has the population to justify similar, we don’t know. The longest time we would wait for a tube-train in London was five minutes, the average was just 2 minutes!
