Text 18050, 103 rader
Skriven 2008-12-18 11:12:23 av Glen Jamieson
     Kommentar till en text av Carol Shenkenberger
Ärende: AUXILLARY PICNICS 81218
===============================
 -=> Quoting Carol Shenkenberger to Glen Jamieson <=-

 > Apart from you and MLoo, have any other Echo people ever done that?
 CS> Dont know.  Be interesting to find out!

I have raised this point of living without cars, as Echo folk are
getting older, and some are likely to face the prospect in the
foreseeable future of not being able to drive, so would have to
consider what alternatives are available, and where.
 
 CS> Grin, I can understand.  In my area, you do see a bit more walking
 CS> right near me and in fine weather, some of us are known to walk up to
 CS> Harris Teeters will a cart of some sort (like my pull cart) or bicycle
 CS> ride with a backpack and baskets to there.  Don walks to Walmart in
 CS> good weather (his arthritis doesnt take well to doing that when it's
 CS> cold so he takes a cab then). 

Yeah, I understand the bit about Arthur reacting to cold weather. I try
to avoid that by flying North in the coldest time of the year.  Then I
can still get my "use it or lose it" exercise.  Quite a few people
around here ride bicycles, but as the designated bicycle tracks do not
connect everywhere the accident rate is fairly high.  Some others use
electric scooters.

 > would expect that in USA there would be sufficient numbers of
 > non-driving residents - aged, disabled, children - living nearby to
 > justify the existence of such shops.

 CS> There are in parts of it.  Just have to be in the right part. 
 CS> Somehow, we got to be a place where 'mega shops' got popular and many
 CS> mom-n-pop sorts of grocery or stores went away.  Not all of them mind
 CS> you, but plenty of folks here may not have anything other than a 7-11
 CS> in walking distance or may not even have that.  Lets add that quite a
 CS> few here have medical issues which preclude distance walking but if
 CS> they think of habits before that, they may fall better in line with
 CS> what you are used to, and i got used to. 

Perhaps there are areas where non-driving people and small shops have
come together to form an old-style community?  If so, I haven't seen
them in USA.

 > Without public transport or assistance from friends or relatives how do
 > such people live?  Once upon a time, 100 or more years ago, there
 > probably were such small shops; what has happened to them, and why?

 CS> People who live _in_ cities may have that too, but some of us live in
 CS> the residental areas away from the shops.  Being as Don doesnt drive, I
 CS> selected our house with that in mind so he does have some things he can
 CS> easily walk to (7-11 type places, 2 within 300 yards etc).  I'd have to
 CS> actually measure the mall but it's suitable at a 30 min walk or so. 
 CS> Walmart is about a 20 min walk (15 if walking fast).  Laundry cleaners
 CS> is next to 7-11.  Other direction has a grocery store and several small
 CS> stores (bar even and there are 3 bars within 2 miles of us but Don's
 CS> favorite is about 4 miles so uses a cab).  Liquor store even by the big
 CS> grocery. 

That is halfway reasonable.  It is better to have a purpose in walking
than just for the exercise, and then having to drive to get supplies,
etc.  If you take the dog with you, you have 3 reasons for your walk.

 CS> Although I use the car to get to and from work (20 miles each way),
 CS> larger grocery trips or ones to Asian Grocery (5-6 miles?), and Doc
 CS> visits, if it wasnt for work, I could dispense with the car and use a
 CS> cab for the few times I need to go past walking distance.  It would
 CS> probably be cheaper to use a cab if work wasnt added in as I'd not need
 CS> the cost of the car or the cost of insurance.

You are lucky to have cheap cabs.  I don't suppose there are buses or
trains, or you would have mentioned them?  What will you do when you
retire, so don't have the excuse of work to keep the car - borrow your
daughter's? :)

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.05
 
      Title: Drive-In Nut Burger II
 Categories: Ground beef, Burgers, Restaurants, Weird
      Yield: 1 Servings
 
      1    Grilled hamburger patty
      1    Bun
           Chunky peanut butter or any
           -nut butter
           Lettuce
           Tomato slices
           Russian dressing
 
  Assemble.
  
  * From a popular drive-in in the 1930's. Both recipes were reported
  to have been from the popular haunt. Most readers contended that this
  was the real thing.
  
  FROM: Uncle Dirty Dave's Archives    Posted on: FIDO's Cooking Echoes
  
  From: Michael Loo                     Date: 10-02-07
 
MMMMM
 

___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 [NR]

--- FLAME v2.0/b
 * Origin: Braintap BBS Adelaide Australia (3:800/449)