Walk to Work Day... in Australia

The Australian government is sponsoring a Walk to Work Day on Friday October 7, which is just starting as I type this post (according to World Clock. Check out the WWD site and watch a TV ad with Australian Prime Minister (Lil') Johnny Howard exhort the country to get walking (to the tune of Dire Straits execrable "Walk of Life"), something I have trouble seeing our own President doing. Here also are the goals of WWD:

The aims of Walk to Work Day are: • To promote regular walking as a healthy activity (better physical, mental & social health) • To reduce the reliance on the private motor vehicle (reduce car-dependency) • To promote and improve the use of public transport (less traffi c) • To improve air quality by reducing unnecessary vehicle emissions (reduce global warming)

I'm going to join in today (importing a bit of Australia time to my own Pacific time zone) and walk to my office. A couple of months back, I moved out of a shared office situation with several good friends/colleagues (we're all freelancers of some ilk) that was a 20+ mile round-trip commute, and into a space on my own that's just a 5-minute bike-ride from my home. And while I miss my office pals (we still have iChat), I love the fact that I don't have to deal with such a long drive... and we're saving some serious gas (which was one of my aims).