I've heard that peddling is more efficient if you are sitting down. Why do I start peddling standing up when I am going up a hill? This feels a lot easier to me!
Dan, Lewes

The mind boggles as to what you would be peddling while going up a hill. Surely you could find a pitch on a flat piece of ground and set up there.

Most shop traders I know spend a lot of time standing. Acquaintances of mine who have been or are currently employed in the retail sector tend to favour practical shoes and complain about having been on their feet all day. I have visions of you sitting in some sort of wheeled contraption resembling a bath chair, pushing a carefully modified shopping trolley piled with wares ahead of you. Do you sell pies, perhaps? Jellied eels? Sausages on sticks or some form of processed meat pattie inveigled between two halves of a soft bread roll by artful application of a spatula?

Either way I see no advantage in sitting down at all, as generally one finds it easier to call attention to oneself and deal with speculative clientele when standing. Sitting down when peddling should be reserved for antiquarian bookstore owners who can be parted from their goods only by passing a test; sales staff from jewellery emporiums, who otherwise would put you at risk of fainting and hitting your head on a display case when they tell you the price; and Avon ladies. It is preferred by those dreadful purveyors of dubious spiritual wares, who sit you in a corner, identify a point of emotional vulnerability, then go in for the kill with a sympathetic hand on the arm. I always keep salesmen standing, and on no account would I let one of the travelling variety through the door. It stops them becoming too comfortable and keeps them focused on getting to the point. There is a difference between efficiency and employable power. Standing up is less efficient in terms of gain for given amount of exertion while offering greater leverage for applying torque. Short, hard sells are best conducted standing but long, steady efforts are best conducted sitting down.

* * *

Did Bob Holness play saxophone on the popular music hit 'Baker Street'?
Martyn, London

The performer of this particular solo was Raphael Ravenscroft, a Scottish saxophonist with a most glorious name who currently resides in England, although I am not sure whether he is still in Exeter or is now living in London. He was apparently paid £27 for the performance. There is a picture of him on his MySpace page, here. Any readers seeing him on the street should sprint up to him, screech to a stop in a suitably dramatic and stylish fashion, and tell him he has been mentioned in the hallowed pages of CityCycling. I'm sure that will make his day. It will certainly make a change from asking him to sign a copy of The Complete Saxophone Player.

The comedian Stuart Maconie has claimed responsibility for starting the rumour that "I'll have a P please" Bob Holness played for Rafferty, but so has Tommie Boyd and Mr Ravenscroft himself. Either way I think it is enough that Mr Holness was the true second James Bond, without propagating the myth that he is also the player of one of the most famous saxophone solos of all time.

.madam raven