Car-Free: Diary of an Idealist - Entry # 6 or so...

Haven't done an update of this for awhile...

1) My bikes are not winter-ready. (Shoemaker's wife is shoeless... ... Though to be fair, the shoemaker's wife may not quite be ready to wear shoes in the winter...)

2) The bus still makes me want to vomit. (Why do they keep the buses sooo hot in the winter? You wait for the bus in polar Ottawa temps, until you look like a Jackson Pollack painting from being spattered as thoughtful cars splash past you. The bus arrives. You step off the curb into a freezing puddle up to your ankle, because it looks like ice but is really a pit of freezing slush. You gratefully get on the bus, layered in scarf, toque, gloves, long underwear, fleece, puffy jacket, earmuffs, mitts, etc etc etc, and then you are thrown into a vat of boiling hot stuffy air - you struggle with your layers, accidentally elbowing old ladies in your panic to wrench off your hat before you faint, you choke yourself with your scarf attempting to rip it off before you throw up from heat exhaustion. You hold your seventy-two bits of winter stuff in your hand, trying not to drop any of it into the muddy swamp that is the bus floor. You hold your breath trying not to vomit for the duration of the trip. Fan self with mitts. Finally you get to your stop, squeeze your way off the bus, sweating, winter clothing trailing behind you, and stumble half-naked back into antarctica, throwing your winter bits haphazardly back on your body before your eyelashes freeze to your eyebrows or before your face stays that way.)

3) Transit fares are $3.00 in Ottawa - outrageous. (It's a more reasonable $1.85 if you are organized enough to pre-purchase bus tickets.)

4) Vrtucar still actually kicks ass luckily... No problems. So nice to have a well-maintained and full-of-gas car at the ready, only when needed (usually around once per week). Still no real problems with bookings.

5) I've been walking a lot as well, which is very nice. We have definitely reduced our footprint with this choice, and I'm happy about that.

First Car-free Diary Entry is here if you're new...

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