Londoners encouraged to calm down their hectic lifestyles as part of a new campaign
14 April 2009
LONDONERS will be encouraged to relax and take it easy as part of a new campaign to get the capital to Go Slow.
A 10-day festival to be launched this month will invite people to take a break from the capital's hectic lifestyle.
Slow Down London will give the city’s stressed-out a residents the chance to “live life in real time” and take part in a variety of events including meditation classes, a workshop in the lost art of letter writing and an organised stroll across Waterloo Bridge.
Advocates of the Go Slow movement will even be issuing “speeding tickets” to pedestrians they feel are rushing too much.
Tessa Watt, one of the event’s organisers said: “There’s a sense in a city like London that we do tend to run around like mad rabbits in a hutch.
"We want to throttle someone if they haven’t got their Oyster card out at the gate of the Tube"
“We get angry with someone ambling slowly on the pavement, and we want to throttle someone if they haven’t got their Oyster card out at the gate of the Tube. Things are a little bit out of hand.”
The campaign will also remind Londoners that they do not need to leave the city in order to relax and achieve a feeling of calm.
Watt said: “We’re not saying that people should be going slowly all the time, but stress and speed are major issues for most people in big cities.
“This is an opportunity to highlight the issue and help people create a little bit of space in their lives. It can be as simple as taking a lunch break.”
If successful the festival, which kicks off on 24 April and is supported by the Southbank Centre and the British Museum, will be rolled out in other cities across Britain.
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