Welcome to North Carolina, Bob <chuckling>. Unfortunately as towns
expand people tend to live far from the downtown areas. The malls are
usually closer, at least time wise, to where they do live. The downtown
areas tend to be where the very poor live and they do not have the money
to support a thriving business area, so the downtown areas become slums,
or if you are lucky tourist attractions.
Here in Boone the local bus service is run by the university. Last year
when this gas crunch started the town made a deal with the university
where you could ride free. It used to be free for students but cost
non-students a buck each way which was more than gas to drive into town
used to cost. Unfortunately for me it is two miles to the nearest bus
stop and that over a heavily traveled narrow mountain road with no
shoulders. Day before yesterday I did some reconnoitering and discovered
that there is a way across private property that would allow me to avoid
the worse section of that road, on foot but not with the bicycle.
Unfortunately it is also mostly in the flood plain and boggy when it
rains. However it will allow me to trade time-expense for gas-expense
occasionally. luckily I seem to be doing much better this year, and can
actually walk a couple of miles now. I figure that way it is a two hour
trip into town, driving it is 10 minutes. However, one does what one has
to do to get by.
Also trashy food is far cheaper than good food. Interestingly I just
went by the local hunger collation and got a loaf of bread. What is
interesting is that I could not afford that loaf of bread if I was
buying it in the store, because it is one of the expensive healthy
brands. It is interesting to find out from experience how the poor live.
My therapist however tells me that I am far better at managing my money
than most of her clients, so it is not actually a fair comparison.
graywolf
http://www.graywolfphoto.com
http://webpages.charter.net/graywolf
"Idiot Proof" <==> "Expert Proof"
-----------------------------------
Bob W wrote:
I forgot to add that there were an enormous number of very unhealthy-looking
people in this town. From what I gather, much of this is attributable to the
poor quality of the food available in these malls, and fact that people use
their cars so much. Clearly some of these people were aware of their poor
health because the town included a pleasant-looking walking track amongst
some trees, where people went to walk round and round in circles in their
leisure pants. Of course, they drove there.
--
Cheers,
Bob
-----Original Message-----
From: Bob W [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: 28 April 2006 20:12
To: '[email protected]'
Subject: RE: Local Gas Prices
Unfortunately in 99% of the US today an automobile is a
necessity not
a luxury.
that's because your society (and towns) have been built on an
assumption of car ownership and cheap fuel. I once stayed in
a small town in North Carolina which had a very beautiful
town centre, built on a human scale and containing at least
the potential for every kind of store you could want, within
easy walking distance of each other. It was not that far from
the main residential areas. I imagine it worked perfectly
well before widespread ownership of cars. I imagine it could
work perfectly well if people largely abandon their cars.
However, the town centre was practically a desert. The
shopping had all transferred to vile and enormous chains in
malls stretched out along the freeway out of town. Using
these absolutely demanded that you have a car. The car
brought these into being, and only the car keeps them alive,
but they are, frankly, horrible places. Things are similar in
many parts of the UK.
--
Cheers,
Bob
