Report: Oct 24, 2010
Since we decided to pass on buying a car for now we've been mastering the bus schedule in order to get acquainted with our local area. At first I had a really hard time thinking we would not own a car. I've been driving since I was 16, legally that is. I haven't been on a bus unless it was a scheduled tour guide or visiting my brother in San Francisco. Even then he always liked it when I drove so he could take a break from the bus. Another reason is I LOVE to drive. I've logged more miles across America than most folks I know. I'm the driver when my girlfriends and I needed an evening out. I would drive the long way home through the vineyards since it was so beautiful. I feel driving is a privilege, not a right. I payed for my vehicle, insurance and maintenance. But it was more than that for me. I remember that feeling of riding my bike to and from school and driving was that freedom to the tenth power. So how would I feel being confined to a municipal schedule? Could I do all I wanted to do and still feel...well...that same sense of freedom?
I asked myself why my dislike of riding the bus was so profound. I believe it was due in part to it being so inefficient in my previous area. It would take up to two hours to cross town and that was if I made the connector bus. I also have an extreme dislike of the homeless so stopping in the transit mall and having to deal with panhandlers would set my nerves on edge just thinking about it.
Haligonians have changed my outlook on public transportation. Goose and I both purchased monthly bus passes at $70 each and have figured out how to get everywhere within the greater Halifax region. So many folks ride the bus here and their pick up times are so frequent missing a bus is pretty darn difficult. Our building has a bus stop right out front so I take twenty steps and we're good to go. I've met some nice people who are full of knowledge and eager to make sure we enjoy the area. Don't get me wrong, there have been some nut jobs too. I will say that Canadians are so good natured that when someone tried to give me grief one day while riding the bus I told him where to shove it (actual response censored for underage readers) and almost everyone around me gasped in shock. Hmmm, guess I'll need to watch what I say in public from now on.
Hopefully my friends and family will see my transition and be happy that I'm content to be a passenger. I do like being able to just watch the outside world roll by while someone else stresses over the moron that just cut him off. Will I be able to live without a vehicle forever? Not a chance. But for now it helps me see the area and all its splendor at a really low rate. Plus it's doing wonders for my spirit, walking everywhere is helping me appreciate all the things that I zipped past while focused on the road.
Eagle Out
No comments:
Post a Comment