Careful and Carless

The other day, Lauren and I were looking up hotels in Mesa, for when we will be visiting in December. We found one that was 3.7 miles from where my Grandmother lives, and our first thought, when seeing was 'that's not too far'. Our California minds had kicked in - 3.7 miles was nothing when we lived in California. My 7-8 mile commute to work every day was considered very short by many standards.

On Sunday, Lauren and I went to visit her colleague who lives in Pencaitland. According to Google Maps, the village is about 14 miles from where we live. I didn't really look forward to the journey. My Edinburgh mind was working when I thought this - 14 miles, I thought; that's SO far.

My commute to work in Edinburgh is about 1/10th of what was in California -  0.7-0.8 miles. This change of scale changes the way you think about getting around.

A couple of weeks ago, we decided to use a Hotel coupon we had, for a hotel that was less than 15 miles from our flat. We said we would get away for the weekend; get out of the city. 15 miles is about the distance from where we lived in Mountain View to down town San Jose. I NEVER would have considered going to San Jose to 'get away' from home. I would have thought, why am I staying so close to home?

Not having a car really changes how I do just about everything involving getting around. You have to think about how long it will take to walk the two miles to go to the kitchen store to look for a waffle maker. How you have to dress because you don't know if it's going to rain or not. How you don't really consider trying to wait out the rain when you're on the other side of town and have to walk for 30-45 minutes to get home. How you have to make sure that you head out early enough that you can walk back home before it gets dark (which is going to be an hour earlier next week). Over the weekend, when looking for said waffle maker, I told myself I had to leave home by 3, if I wanted to be home before dark. I also had to carry my umbrella and several layers of clothing that went on and off and on and off several times during the waffle maker excursion (which was fruitless by the way, but that's another blog). That sort of thought would have never occurred to me, living in the United States.

I make a point of only going to the grocery store after work, and not doing anything else - the weight of the groceries, plus the walk home, plus the darkness, leads to this kind of thinking. In Mountain View, I regularly made a trip to Costco, Safeway, Trader Joe's, and the Milk Pail; in one go (a total distance of 4.5 miles). I often walk 4.5 miles in a day in Edinburgh, but I wouldn't be able to carry very much. I would assume it would take a big part of the day to walk the 4.5 miles and to go to 4 different stores in the process would be crazy.

When we went to Pencaitland, we had to take a bus that comes once an hour. I burned my arm in the process of rushing to make Pumpkin Bread to take with us. The bread was still very hot as we ran out of the door to the bus stop. On the way back from Pencaitland, we again rushed to catch the hourly bus back home. The idea of a leisurely Sunday visiting people doesn't quite sound the same when you throw in rushing to catch a bus, with a burn on your arm.

The view on my walk to work

A car would have made the trip to Pencaitland easier, but I wouldn't want a car as a part of my life right now. I like my 0.7-0.8 mile commute. I like the beauty of the city one can only see while moving at a walker's pace. I like seeing the people of the city on my walks about town; it gives the city more of a sense of community, and more character. I like not having to spend the equivalent of 2-3 months of our mortgage on car costs per year.

I even like having to be careful about managing my time and the stuff I carry around with me, as I get around town carlessly.