:00:00. > :00:00.the council issuing a warning to some residents in Aberdeen city to
:00:00. > :00:00.prepare for possible flooding and leave their homes. More on that
:00:00. > :00:00.coming up. Now on BBC News, it's time
:00:00. > :00:00.for Meet the Author. She takes part in long-distance
:00:00. > :00:13.endurance races and she spent six It is called What Goes Around
:00:14. > :00:21.and it is the story of those years she spent as a courier but also
:00:22. > :00:24.a sometimes lyrical book about London, about the camaraderie
:00:25. > :00:26.and culture of cyclists, about being an outsider, about love,
:00:27. > :00:49.about gender, about weather. Emily Chappell, being a cycle
:00:50. > :00:53.courier is physically gruelling. It doesn't, judging by your book,
:00:54. > :01:01.make a lot of money, I think the best answer
:01:02. > :01:07.is it is a bit like an addiction. You get this immense joy
:01:08. > :01:10.and excitement from cycling all day and I think it has a chemical effect
:01:11. > :01:14.on your body and when you get in in the evening you have this
:01:15. > :01:18.blissful exhaustion and the meal you eat, your beans on toast,
:01:19. > :01:21.is the best beans on toast you have ever tasted, your bed is the most
:01:22. > :01:24.comfortable bed in the world. Then if you try to stop you suddenly
:01:25. > :01:29.realise the world seems I think that's maybe the reason
:01:30. > :01:35.people keep going with it and do it What is it specifically
:01:36. > :01:44.about couriering that takes it One thing that occurred to me
:01:45. > :01:50.while I was writing the book is part of the satisfaction of couriering
:01:51. > :01:52.is you are on a mission It might be, take this envelope
:01:53. > :01:58.to the City, but there is this sense of, you have a task,
:01:59. > :02:06.and it is a task you can manage, track of the objective,
:02:07. > :02:08.but then you are on the bike and you have to find a way
:02:09. > :02:11.there and you have to go fast and you have the end in sight
:02:12. > :02:15.and you tick off that job, Your job is made up of this series
:02:16. > :02:20.of challenging but ultimately Let us get one thing out
:02:21. > :02:25.of the way early on. As a pedestrian in London I find
:02:26. > :02:30.cyclists sometimes terrifying even when they are stopping at the red
:02:31. > :02:33.lights and not cycling I think of them as kind of reckless
:02:34. > :02:40.and actually rather dangerous. Can it be reckless
:02:41. > :02:45.and dangerous? As a cyclist I have identical fears
:02:46. > :02:52.of pedestrians and I pride myself on being a law-abiding cyclist
:02:53. > :02:55.and I know not all of them are, but every day I would be terrified
:02:56. > :02:58.several times a day by somebody wandering out into the road
:02:59. > :03:01.while looking at their phone or crossing against the lights
:03:02. > :03:04.or stepping out in front of me. You fear you might crash into them,
:03:05. > :03:17.they might knock you off. Everybody needs to be
:03:18. > :03:19.paying more attention. This is a book that is very
:03:20. > :03:21.good on the particular It is more than that but you're very
:03:22. > :03:26.good on describing the camaraderie of cyclists, things like the jargon,
:03:27. > :03:28.words like track stand I am still not entirely clear
:03:29. > :03:38.what it is. There are two major differences
:03:39. > :03:40.with a fixie. One is that it does not have any
:03:41. > :03:44.gears, so if you imagine a normal bike, take the gears of,
:03:45. > :03:46.you only have one gear. But then what actually gives
:03:47. > :03:53.you an advantage is that also On a normal bike if you stop
:03:54. > :03:58.pedalling you just coast, the pedals On a fixie the pedals keep moving
:03:59. > :04:03.and if you are foolish enough to stop pedalling the bike will stop
:04:04. > :04:10.but what you can also do is monitor your speed and moderate
:04:11. > :04:13.it by pedalling faster or slower or easing back a bit,
:04:14. > :04:15.so you're much more connected to the bike and it actually makes it
:04:16. > :04:20.easier because once the bike is rolling the pedals go
:04:21. > :04:23.round of their own accord There is a community
:04:24. > :04:26.of cycle couriers. Partly I suspect because demand
:04:27. > :04:31.for couriering documents and artwork and so on around in this digital age
:04:32. > :04:34.is much reduced. One of the things you talk
:04:35. > :04:38.about in the book is a sense of nostalgia that all cycle couriers
:04:39. > :04:41.seem to have for a lost past. I believe it does, but I think
:04:42. > :04:46.it will look different There are still a lot
:04:47. > :04:52.of you could say traditional cycle couriers that we all imagine,
:04:53. > :04:55.but there are also a lot of people doing food delivery,
:04:56. > :04:57.people riding cargo bikes, like these large bikes that can
:04:58. > :05:00.carry enormous quantities of stuff. The impression I get is that a lot
:05:01. > :05:07.of them are rather shy, people with tremendous energy,
:05:08. > :05:12.but often slight outsiders. Outsiders is probably the best way
:05:13. > :05:16.you could generalise, because one thing I have been amazed
:05:17. > :05:19.by is how incredibly diverse I think often people end up
:05:20. > :05:28.being a courier because they do not quite fit in anywhere else
:05:29. > :05:30.and it is a job that lets Is that how you see yourself and how
:05:31. > :05:35.you became a courier? I never seriously thought
:05:36. > :05:38.I would get another job I never actually thought
:05:39. > :05:43.I would make it into academia. Then quite cheesily I found myself
:05:44. > :05:51.whilst being a courier. I had always, since I was a child,
:05:52. > :05:55.wanted to be a writer I did not really think
:05:56. > :05:58.I would make it. I thought, I will be an academic
:05:59. > :06:01.and that will be that sort of thing. Then I turned my back on all that
:06:02. > :06:05.and I became a cycle courier You are not merely a cycle courier
:06:06. > :06:13.but you are, not a professional cyclist, but someone who has cycled
:06:14. > :06:19.from London to Tokyo, for which you deserve a degree
:06:20. > :06:23.of respect, you have cycled You now take part in endurance
:06:24. > :06:31.cycle races, days long. Is this your addiction
:06:32. > :06:37.working itself out? I think that is possibly me just
:06:38. > :06:42.chasing a bigger and bigger hit. I had this slight fear
:06:43. > :06:45.when I was a courier that that was it and I was at the height
:06:46. > :06:48.of my youth and beauty and after that I was going to have
:06:49. > :06:52.to find a real job and probably just sit at a desk and develop a bad back
:06:53. > :06:55.and a spare tyre and look What actually happened was I felt
:06:56. > :07:01.I have to find something I think the hit you get
:07:02. > :07:07.from cycling, it gives you this energy but you keep having
:07:08. > :07:10.to feed the energy. Cycling is so interesting
:07:11. > :07:13.because there are so many different If you get bored of one sort you can
:07:14. > :07:22.move sideways into In terms of how far I can cycle
:07:23. > :07:34.in a day I could probably In terms of how long
:07:35. > :07:38.I plan to keep going, There are a lot of people
:07:39. > :07:44.who still do, and it is really exciting knowing I have
:07:45. > :07:46.that much ahead of me. Emily Chapple, thank
:07:47. > :08:02.you very much indeed. Stay with us for the top stories but
:08:03. > :08:09.now, a look at the weather forecast... Good evening. It has
:08:10. > :08:10.been another day of persistent wet weather in north-eastern Scotland