Stories behind the Bug-Bugs

TALE-CATCHING

Bug-Bugs

Bug-Bugs were set up by Chris Smallwood a few years ago to provide
alternative transport that was kinder to the environment. It is a
non-profit organisation and promotes personal development in its
employees providing a training scheme and support structure which also
gives the riders maximum control over their working lives.

George was the first interviewee and was extremely lively. In his own
words, he is long in the leg, 6' 5'', fifteen stone and nicely muscled.
He used to be a racing driver and is very fit. I can personally vouch
for this having poked his bottom and found it to be rock hard. He has
short black wavy hair and a Mediterranean look to him, which is
presumably because he is half Greek. George has been a rider for four
months and his bike is number 16.

George

I've had a lot of people commenting on the niceness of my bum and I've
had quite a few pats and strokes - I don't mind, I don't even look, I
just keep on pedalling. Last night I took a couple of Norwegian ladies
to their hotel. They were about forty and very voluptuous and when I
dropped them off they gave me a big hug and a kiss and I didn't
mind.

What I like to do if the road's clear, well I clip them in first of
all, it's important that they're clipped in. It's not about chances,
it's about fun.
What I like to do is I like to pull away quite firmly, give them a good
acceleration and then they go "Whoa! It's really fast!" And that sets
it up for a bit of excitement.

On my first evening I was surprisingly busy and after two or three
hours I was hoping I wouldn't get anymore customers but then this
couple came up and asked to go to Hammersmith and I took them.
I shouldn't have really done it because when I got to Shepherds Bush
and I thought, I can't do this, I can't do it. Fortunately there were
quite a few traffic lights so I had some time to get my breath back. I
was so glad to drop them off. I was sweating so badly I had to sit tin
the back of the rickshaw for twenty minutes to calm down.

I picked up a couple, a very nice looking couple, mid to late-twenties,
very nice looking couple, they looked nice together, and they wanted to
go to a hotel in Barclay Square. I said no problem and I got there and
the guy asked if we could go round again. Now when you're doing this
job, as well as pedalling you have to use your common sense. Don't go
too fast because you'll disturb the people behind. If they want to go
fast you know; they scream and shout, "We want to go faster". But
sometimes their just quiet and when you see them talking you don't want
to go too slow because then you can hear them. So I went round the
square and got back and he asked me to go round again. Well I thought
they must want to talk so I'm just going to keep going round. So I went
round three or four times and soon he tapped me on the shoulder, so I
pulled in. And I turned around and they were both crying. I said
"What..?" And she was looking at me, the lady, and she said in this
terribly posh voice, "He's just asked me to marry him", and I didn't
know what to say, I was standing there dripping with sweat - you know.
But I asked her what she said and she replied, "I consented", and I
looked at him and he was crying too and I said I wish you all the
happiness and long life and prosperity because you're a fantastic
looking couple.

Robin

Robin is twenty and from South Africa and has just recently died his
hair light purple. He has only been working on the Bug-Bugs for a few
weeks so not really enough time to have many stories but he had just
come back from Cairo where this happened.

We were travelling in Cairo and one of the many guys that came up to us
and started talking to us took us back to his store and asked us if we
wanted a camel ride. We said we didn't want anything and decided to
leave. Just as we were walking out a guy outside asked us to come and
sit with him because, as South Africans, we were his cousins. One thing
lead to the next and before we knew it, they'd invited us to their
house just outside Cairo. We thought why not? If we'd been with the
girls they would have left straight away but it was just the two of us.
We got to this house and we were shitting ourselves, worrying about how
we were going to get back because neither of us knew where we were.
Eventually they started talking about camel rides again so after
haggling for about two hours over the ridiculous prices they were
suggesting we finally agreed so that we could get home.
We thought we were going to get two camels. We got one. There were two
of us on one camel for three hours and my god it was painful. Then we
didn't even get to see anything because instead of taking us to see
pyramids, which we were quite looking forward to, they just took us to
some ruins. We got home eventually though and it least it was better
than being tied up.

Gabrielle

Gabrielle is from Columbia and is studying English here before he goes
back to Columbia to finish his law degree. He is average height with
short brown hair deep brown eyes and a jolly personality. Rather than
the physical strain, it was his knowledge of London that made riding
hard but since then he has learnt through trial and error and now has a
much better idea.

On my first night I took two Americans who didn't know where they were
going. I didn't know either. We just tried more or less to go the right
way. I had to take them to Holland Park so I went to Marble Arch and
took the road to Knightsbridge and asked someone. He said, "Are you
crazy! That's a long way, you won't make it. So they said that's okay
and gave me thirty-five pounds. I couldn't believe it.
But then I couldn't get back. I went through Chelsea and Sloane Square
and finally got to the river. I thought if I follow the river I'll get
to London Bridge. But then I asked a cab driver and he told me the
wrong way and it was raining but it was okay because I had thirty-five
pounds.