It only took ten months of driving to midtown at rush hour twice a week to convince me to do the math, and behold: it is the same amount of time for me to take light rail downtown as it is to sit in traffic, and it is cheaper by about $1.40 per trip. I was resisting this for a little while because of the amount of stuff I had to bring with me, but really, other than the yoga mat, it is just not that much stuff, and I don’t really need a full sized mat to teach.
As I was walking back to the light rail stop after teaching, I realized just how much I miss living in a city that is pedestrian friendly and/or appointed with good public transportation. I lived within walking distance of great stuff in college in Boston and at Penn State, and then in DC, St. Louis, and Minneapolis. Minneapolis was the best for walking – the whole downtown is connected by catwalks, eight miles of them, in fact. The cool thing about cities with major weather is that they know they have major weather, and plan accordingly. From our apartment, I had only to walk a few hundred feet before getting to a building that connected with the catwalks, and then I could get anywhere downtown. (For anyone wondering, downtown Minneapolis does feature a statue of Mary Tyler Moore tossing her beret in the air*, but the house used in the exterior shots on the show is in St. Paul.) Boston has it together as far as public transportation goes, which is a very good thing. One weekend when my parents drove up for a visit, they got lost in the city, and stopped to ask directions from a man who looked into their car and told them, “You can’t get there from here.”
This reminds me of the great accent exchange. I am convinced that Boston and Pittsburgh have some kind of R exchange going. All of the Rs that are left out of words in the greater Boston metro area are randomly inserted into the middle of words in Pittsburgh. One might start driving a ca in Back Bay, and finish their trip by warshing it in Squirrel Hill. I wonder where all of Baltimore’s mid-word Ts have gone.
So, walking, light rail: As I walked from Midtown back to the light rail, down streets I’ve driven hundreds of times, I noticed the stuff that only gets noticed while walking. When I lived in DC I knew every single store, restaurant, and office on 18th and 19th between Dupont Circle and Adams Morgan because I walked them twice a day. I miss that kind of detailed knowing of a place.
This reminds me of my favorite story about my friend Joel. One night just a month or two into my friend Joel’s relationship with his wife, Lauren, they were having dinner at a rooftop cafe on 18th street.
The aforementioned friend Joel and me at the senior prom.
Joel was sitting across from Lauren facing the street, when he saw me walk by on my way home from work. Always socially exuberant, he leaped up from his chair, started waving his arms and yelling, “Lauren! Lauren!” Lauren -his date- was terrified, but had calmed down a bit by the time I made it upstairs to say hello. It was a fun summer; Joel and I spent a lot of time together as it was the first (and only) time we lived in the same city since high school, and he was throroughly smitten by Lauren, the other Lauren, not me. Consequently, many of our conversation started with him making a statement like, “Last night I was [blank] with Lauren, the other Lauren, not you…” which was helpful, but I am pretty sure that in spite of how much I drank that summer I would have known if I was blanking with my friend Joel.
I have been kind of scattered today. Is it obvious?
Anyway, light rail, right. I love public transportation. I love walking. And I love that once the weather is milder I can even walk to the light rail station near my house and make a nice morning of it. I also love that there is a spot on the sidewalk on Preston Street where some one has spray painted “I LOVE YOU” in bright orange, and I really should have taken a picture of it today so I could post it. Oh well, Monday I’ll get it. Until then, still, love is all around.
*My mom delayed going to the hospital while she was in labor with me because she wanted to see the end of the Mary Tyler Moore show. Lest anyone claim I am impatient, I gave her plenty of time.
