What we like to call a comfortable 60 inches!

Hello Team!

It’s been some time since our last blog and for that we only have apologies… however.. we have got an awful lot done!!

We have, or will have very shortly, an office and workshop, a company bank account, a coporate image (logo) and a whole host of other stuff. We’ve been good though and taken lots of photos on the way so we can keep you posted. Probably best to begin the weekend before last..

As you know Ben and I are busy chaps, we both have hectic jobs and lifestyles which lead us all over and enable us to do lots of cool things with lots of cool people. It does however make setting up a business together mighty hard, there are forms we have to fill in together, people to meet together and plenty of things to do. This means that we work to dedicated job sheets which we draw up when we can. These always go to pot and are hugely jeopardised by crack pot ideas. Most things though work out alright.

So the weekend before last Ben and I both managed to get together to do a final anaylis of rights of way, we spent a morning with a tape measure checking the things the cabs will fit through and the things they wont fit through. We did however get slightly way layed as Hereford is in flood. Well, we had to ride through the flood didn’t we! Some people had not been so lucky, one chap even got his camper van stuck in three feet of water and lots of trees had come down! We had lots of fun though, on the bikes. The cabs need a four foot gap to fit through and we found a couple of places that they wouldn’t fit but nothing to jeopardise our plans. What we came to look for was something called- the perfect 60- a 60 inch gap, more than enough to take at speed!
Our journey took us all over Hereford and we stopped for lunch in a pub. Where Jo met us and gave us a present for the cabs- fleecy blankets! So you all have Jo to thank when your tucked up and cosy on the back of the Pedicabs! Jo left us and we bumped into Rob had a beer and mulled things over. Things were feeling good!!

I know I always say it but this project has amazed me, the love people have for it, the fun it brings to people we tell about it and the thought in ourselves that people are going to really enjoy using the Pedicabs. For some time we have been looking at a solution for the storage and office locations of Hereford Pedicabs, you may remember in a previous blogs our thought about converting a shipping container? You may also remember a contact at Bulmers.. a one Mr Ben Botwright? Well after a combination of perseverance, velvet tounges , enthusiasm and Bulmers being a bunch of damn nice guys Hereford Pedicabs managed to secure a meeting. So off I went to have a chat to see if they could help us.

Ben Botwright, the project engineering manager and Richard Heathcote, sustainable development manager, spent some time listening to the presentation and chatting about what we need, then something amazing happened. They not only made a proposition, they asked what Hfd Pedicabs needed. Well I didn’t hold back and as a result of them listening and the mutal benefit for all involved we now have lots of great things!

Bulmers agreed to donate a shipping container, help us kit it out with office equipment, place it on part of their site near a cycle path, run electricity in to it, provide our signage and help us with a million and one other things, and all for FREE! WHAT A RESULT, THANK YOU BULMERS!!!Then I got to see the container, and a beauty she was (she’ll be yellow soon). After that a little tour of Bulmers and a chance to meet a few of the guys that will be helping out move the container and all. So there we had it, everything from our initial list of objectives achieved and all because of what we like to call positive association, we all have something to gain from this initiative and that’s what a lot of its about for us. People seeing that they can do their bit and that by doing that bit they have the right to feel good about themselves!

So we are in an amazing place, we are just waiting for the cabs to arrive, that’s a little story in itself (in a bit, be patient). We have everything in place, licensing, an office, storage, a company and now… even a logo!

There are a few other things to add. We are waiting for our bank account to come through, until then we cant put any money in, which means we cant pay for anything which means that the Pedicabs are waiting half finished for our deposit to arrive! This is the frustrating bit, we have the money, we have the infrastructure, we almost have the Pedicabs! We just don’t have the bank!! AAAGGGHH

But other things keep us going, like the folk at
Howies who are going to be helping us with our uniform so its all eco friendly (and its lovely kit!), like the folk at Bulmers, who believe in what we are doing, like all the people at the council who took time to listen and help, like all of the people who laugh and listen to what we have to say in the pub on the street and at meetings, like the people who comment on the blog, people like you, yes you mr or mrs reader. It’s people like you who are keeping this going, who continue to reinforce in us we are doing the right thing. Without you it just wouldn’t be as much fun!! So please keep watching the blog. We think we’ll have the cabs running in March! So we will be having a launch party, you are all of course invited! In the mean time, you all keep being you and we’ll keep on doing our best to get this show well and truly ON THE ROAD!!