Let's take a walk

This page started a new job this week, and hasn't really been bothered to address any critical issues. I've been enjoying a lot of the great outdoors, because for the first time in years, my place of work is close enough to my home that I can walk there.

It takes me about half an hour to get to work, which is just enough to get some real exercise. However, the thing I'm really enjoying is the sense of control. A lot of the anxiety that comes with living in Vancouver has to do with the fact it's a city not really built for cars that's surrounded by suburbs that are built that way. The streets are flooded with unnecessary cars, and a government sponsored by auto dealers and oil companies believes they have to keep it that way, so just enough transit service is provided to prevent civil unrest.

I've been released from the inexplicable waits at the bus stop, the buses that go by half-full because other riders can't figure out how to move to the back, the inane vanity ringtones of cellphones, and the gauntlet of free newspaper hawkers. Because I can go where I want (without looking for parking or filling up a gas tank), the time immediately before and after work is mine again, as opposed to my previous job, where commuting added a de facto 2 hours to my work day.

And to think it was only a few decades ago that it was like this for most people...