(no subject)

[cabbitzilla]

Kitties are successfully fed, in spite of Johan and Grey's apparently coordinated attempt to distract and destroy the big person with the can of food in their hand. One shot between my legs from left to right, the other from right to left, and my startled reaction had me on the kitchen counter brandishing my cane as ALL the kitties looked at me like I was insane. *rolls eyes* Both perpetrators shot for the basement steps and I slid down of the counter... I think they thought they were gonna get beaned, but they didn't stay long enough to hear me laughing at myself.

Nerves of steel. Yep, I've still got 'em. I keep 'em in a jar on the mantle...

Anyway, everyone (including me) got fed and nobody got hurt, so in the end it's just another thing to snicker at myself about. :p

I netted a nice flurry of activity with my last post; nice to know so many folks are paying attention. [/preening]

There's an interesting serial discussion going on over in bradhicks's journal about the 660' Rule, city architecture, and the rising cost of fuel. Most of the research he cites are things I've actually seen in action in my travels; I have distinct memories of leaving the Scarboro Faire campgrounds alone on foot, because nobody wanted to walk to the store with me. We're not talking ten miles up hill, here, it was a 4.2 mile round trip, the weather was clear, and it was a measley 72degrees out. I also know how heavily I have relied on having a vehicle of my own down through the years. Nowadays I've enough injuries and ailments to warrant it, but that has -not- always been true. Granted, there're going to be exceptions to any 'rule' or 'generalization', but for the most part it's an accurate portrayal. Some of the folks who've friended me are quite spry and fit, so they wouldn't fit the equation. A few more are on their way -to- spry and fit, and regularly make a conscious effort to put more work into it. But if I look around at the folk I know locally, the bulk of them won't even go see a movie somewhere that's more than a half hour from their home... whining about driving time and full parking lots abounds. I'm quite aware of how property prices and rent drop dramatically as you get away from the 'accessible' areas; the more difficult areas often get the 'slum' stigmata applied to them as people attempt to justify the unconscious laziness. In both the main piece and the comments that follow, various alternatives are cussed and discussed, but thus far none are without side effects that wouldn't be considered negative. I'm finding it interesting to read, and figured some of the rest of you might as well.

Other than that it's been delightfully quiet. I'm likely to be crashing early tonight, since I've got a morning appointment for physical therapy. Megan and I compared notes and discovered that we both had an errand to run to the same end of the same shopping center... JoAnn's Fabrics is right next to CompUSA... so we'll get that done after. I can hit the apartment from there and set up the next batch of downloads and burn out my bookmark lists so I can sift them down here, and then I'll be back.

This has be an irregularly scheduled message from Goliath-1. In the event of an emergency, citizens are encouraged to run about like madmen screaming and wailing about how unfair life.... what? Oh, sorry. Wrong channel. Ooops. Um... bye!

Comments

[wibbble]

Of course, when we get ourselves together in time, we walk ~7-10 minutes to a bus stop in the mornings.

Not because it's the closet stop, but because we can get a better seat on the bus we'll end up sitting on, and get into work slightly earlier so we have time to sit and eat breakfast.

People in this city regularly walk a lot longer than 660 feet/2.5 minutes. There's loads of people who cycle everywhere, too. And while this city doesn't see massive extremes of temperature, it does get hot enough to sweat and cold enough to ice; and it's built on hills (so, yes, you can end up going uphill both ways); and the majority of it was built long before cars, so the roads are extremely scary.

Most major roads here have a 'green lane', where during the day, Monday to Saturday, only buses, taxis and cycles are allowed. Lots of roads have cycle lanes (sometimes even in addition to the green lane), and most traffic lights in busy areas have a special red zone for cycles to stop in so they don't get crushed by other vehicles.

The commuter trains that run between Edinburgh and Glasgow have bicycle racks in them, and all the stations have lockers for storing bikes. (Lots of places of work have lockers, too.)

Parking in Edinburgh is a nightmare, so you just don't bring your car into work unless you absolutely, positively, have to.

I think it's very telling that in those articles, and the comments, he's very careful to talk about 'Americans'. There was one off-hand comment about Singapore, and another about Dickensian London, but nothing about the realities of modern living in a European city. European cities aren't like American cities - this '660 foot rule' doesn't seem to be anywhere near as important.

Rather than just declaring the future to be the automobile, wouldn't it be more useful of this guy to maybe look at what makes Americans different from Europeans (and probably the rest of the world), and see how that could be changed?

[elisabeth.livejournal.com]

The esteemed Mister Hicks seems to be very good at the role of devil's advocate. I'm never quite certain where he himself stands on the issues at hand. I do see that he feels (as I do) that unless someone takes the plunge and gets folk aggitated to the point they'll actually -think- about it, that the entire matter will get swept under the collective rug of unconsciousness and -nothing- will ever change.

Most of the discussion for this stuff is focused on the US, yes... because that's where the problem is. But if you simply start off with the premise of why Americans are different from Europeans, I can absolutely guarantee you'd get nowhere. Put someone on the defensive, give them even the slightest hint that they're under 'attack', and they dig in and refuse to move no matter -how- absurd the position may be. But if you open it from the side, choose a specific off the beaten path issue, and then let the discussion evolve into the larger questions, it'll a) get farther, b) have less chance of pushing someone into a do or die mentality, and c) be far more likely to remain in the people's conscious mind. The next time they do a jaunt that could've been walked with no more hassle, they may well remember the conversation.

In effect, I think he -is- pursuing the 'what makes Americans different from Europeans' issue... he's simply doing so from an oblique.