Last week I picked up a discarded copy of The Times left on a train. Rifling through the pages I was heartened to read the headline: ‘Transport experts have seen the future, and it’s got pedals’.

Ben Webster, the paper’s transport correspondent writes that, according to a government report, ‘the right to travel when and where we please will be eroded over the next 50 years as the shortage of cheap oil and environmental concerns force us to lead more local lives.’

The article goes on to say that ‘in the bleakest scenario,’ (though it sounds pretty bright to me) ‘an acute oil shortage and lack of affordable alternative energy source trigger a global depression. Economies collapse as businesses can no longer afford to move goods and people. People survive in increasingly isolated communities that have to learn to become self-sufficient, with most journeys made by bicycle or horse.’

In that case, I don’t mind saying I’m quite looking forward to 2055 myself. I’ve just got to make sure I live that long. And the sooner we wave goodbye to all those unnecessary car journeys, the higher my chances of survival will be.