my community

I managed to find a copy of David Byrne's The Bicycle Diaries at my local library, and I'm glad I found it (I picked it up thanks to Barbara's review at The Bookworm Collective. You can read her review there find out what the book is about).

Ten pages into it, and it already has me thinking about my daily commute and how my method of transportation affects how I view my community. I don't know if this is the scope of the book, but it got me thinking.

I don't own a car, and I don't really want to own one either (db does have the company car on the weekends, so we do use all methods of transporation).  Mostly I take transit (bus & skytrain), I use my bike to run errands on my day off, or if I just feel like taking a bike ride, and I walk -- alot. What have I learned about my community and how it functions based on my daily walks? No surprise, but we are a car culture.

We live in a suburb of Vancouver. It's a thriving little city with lots going on. What I see as the hub of our town is a little pocket of shops, mostly independent businesses, that sit between, and is connected by two main commuter roads. It's a pedestrian friendly area, but also has lots of room for parking. You could get everything you need in this little area, and I suppose that was part of the attraction for the adjacent condo owners; everything is within walking distance.

Across the main road from this little hub, is the theatre where they hold screenings and events, the library, and the recreation centre. The inlet trail borders this area, and has paved and unpaved trails that run along the water. If you walk, bike, or run in one direction, it takes you to a nice picnic and beach area. If you do the same in the other direction it takes you to a larger park where concerts are held, a boat lauch is available, and there's even a small public pool, and a dog park. If you know your way around you can also connect to many of the trails that run up the mountainside.

Kitty-corner to the "hub" area is a new development that has been filled with more condos, and little shops in a pedestrian friendly area. It is attempting to mimic the original, older main hub; however, it doesn't have the independent businesses, but rather is a series of chain stores (Starbucks, Cobs Bread, Booster Juice) and has a feeling of something a little bit fake in its attempt to be quaint. I see this entire neighbourhood as being set up for after hours and weekend outdoor play.

If you don't live in either of these hubs you need a car. Walking is for the weekend only, or if you take the dog out. Some streets don't even have sidewalks. I live a fifteen minute walk up the hill from the hub, so while it is possible to walk to this area and get everything I need, it is a bit inconvenient as well because the hill is quite a hike. It's fairly steep so walking home with a load of groceries is not really what I want do. We save grocery shopping for the weekend, and we have our organic produce delivery that comes once a week. However, I do walk this hill almost daily to get home from work since the buses that do run up the hill are few and far between.

The road that runs up the hill is four lanes. It is a 50 km zone, but as you can probably guess no one does 50 km, it's usually closer to 70 or more if they're going downhill (db & I actually call this stretch of road "speed city raceway").  There are no houses along it, just trees, and pathways that lead to suburban pockets of homes. Whenever I cross paths with someone walking up or down, we always exchange a hello or a good morning. Once you hit the hub though, the greetings stop.

Off this main artery are lots of little side streets, most of which are tree-lined dead ends. The houses are close, but the yards are still large enough for good sized gardens, and backyards often face a greenbelt. Where I live is one of these streets. The homes are large (we rent of course) with wide driveways and double car garages. Even with the two car garages, many people park on the street because they have more than one or two cars (or there are renters who have cars, but no access to a garage. There's actually a little dispute going on about who can park where on the street. One of the neighbours gives out his own tickets if you park in front of his house (i'm not kidding). 

So my community is a commuting one. The cars file down in the morning and file home at night (have you seen Edward Scissorhands? It's like that). It is truly suburban in that respect. The community is set up to move these cars to and from work as efficiently as possible. Bikes? There are few bike lanes, so you're really you're on your own for commuting. Afterall, biking is a weekend activity reserved for the trails.

walk, run, edit

Congratulations to my mom who completed her 10k walk at the Montreal marathon! Her time was 1:54. She took 10 minutes off of her time and is very proud (as she should be)! Walk vegan walk!

This year my mom joined the walking group at her local Running Room and has met some great people who are very supportive of each other. Mom started out at the back of the pack, but now she can keep pace with them. She's come a long way in a short time. She's always been a walker. She doesn't own a car and lives in a very walkable city, but the Running Room walking is a bit different since the focus is on distance walking, pacing, hills etc (very similar to running training).

It's made a great difference in her life. So this is very cool that she's always improving and loving it.this photo is actually from the Ottawa 10 k.

***

Saturday I did go for a very early morning run with db. We ran for an hour and that was about all I wanted to do. I iced my calf post-run and felt pretty good about how it went.

db checked the marathon site to see what the cut-off date is for changing from one event to another. Apparently I can change my plans the day before the race when I'm at the running expo.

My plan? Pick up my training schedule where I left off. This means a very long run this Sunday which will give me a good idea if I can go the distance or not.

The Trail River Run is coming up (Sept 27). I'd like to do that since I had so much fun last year. It's a soft surface which is important for me right now and it's flat. So I think I should register for that event. I'm hoping db will do the 10 k event in the same race. Also, it's a 9 am start so it's fairly late as events go so I'm all for that. We also can bike there from here and there's nice facilities for changing and storing our stuff. I think I've just convinced myself to register.The route starts near Hyde Park and turns around just past Dominion and then goes along the Slough to a second turn around before heading back to Hyde Park.

***

Last night I went to my first continuing education course at SFU (Simon Fraser University). It's an editing course. I was pretty nervous wondering what in hell am I doing there, telling myself that I can leave, planning my escape, wondering if I can get my money back. I soon settled down and made it through the class introductions, and the group chit chat. I did not leave on the break. I made it through the whole class.

I did learn that I'm definitely not a copy editor (as you may have noticed from this blog). I rarely edit myself anyway. It did clarify that I am truly passionate about film story editing, but I recognize that I have to broaden my knowledge if I want to do any freelance work.

It does make for a long Monday when I work and then travel into Van city for the course. From work it's less than an hour to get there by skytrain, but coming home it's almost an hour and a half. Last night the bus driver shut the lights on the bus so I couldn't even read! Very frustrating. I think I'll take me book light with me next week.