[FairfieldLife] RE: Public Transportation
I would ride the Richland-Fairfield metro line, except it runs right underneath our house, without stopping. ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com wrote: Anyway, that's just what I felt like rapping about this evening. What about the rest of you? We've got posters here from all over the world. When you're at home, wherever that is, do you tend to drive or take advantage of public transportation? If the latter, are any of you weird enough to appreciate it the way I do?
[FairfieldLife] RE: Public Transportation
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com wrote: So I'm sitting here in this cafe that promised Wifi and didn't deliver, wondering what I can write about, and I discover that my mind is still savoring my bus ride here to Place d'Italie. It was FUN. I got a seat, which is nice, and then I just kicked back watching the people on the bus with me. They were neat. They made me smile. In the US, they would have tended to be mostly lower class. Cars and car-dependent city designs have ensured that most of the middle class have cars. And the upper crust wouldn't be caught dead on a city bus or a subway. Here, it's not like that, except at the very top of the upper class. I've seen well-dressed, obviously well-to-do people on the Metros and buses. Heck, I've seen famous people on the Metros and buses. So you get a wide range -- from poor to lower class to middle class to the occasional upper class person, all getting across Paris via public transportation. There's a lot of Paris to have to get across. This is not a small city. And even if you have a car, on most routes you can get there faster on public transportation. Also, *when* you get there, you don't have to worry about finding a place to park your car. Parking spaces in Paris are so rare as to be increasingly considered mythical. So it's a no-brainer here -- if you have an important business meeting or a romantic date across town and you want to get there on time -- to decide whether you should drive your car or take public transportation. You just hop on the Metro. They're very reliable, and they'll get you there on time. I've never had a car when living in Paris, and don't see the need of having one now. Back home in the Netherlands, I have a car but it has sat unused for months now. Public transportation is just so much more convenient, and in the long run, cheaper. But those are just the pragmatic reasons for preferring public transportation, at least in Europe. The more important reason for me is that it's more FUN. I am endlessly fascinated by people, of every class, so riding the buses and trains and Metros that constitute public transportation in France and the Netherlands provides me with a never-ending canvas of great people to watch. The buses and Metros of Paris are like a genetic and cultural frog in a blender. Given the number of immigrants in the past few decades, Paris today looks like Casablanca did when I was growing up there. The faces I see are a mix of French and North African, with growing numbers of black Africans, Muslims from places other than North Africa, and Asians. Paris is a cultural zoo. Add to that the cross-class nature of Paris public transit, and you've got a zoo worth savoring. I sometimes feel as if I should be sitting there with a container of popcorn in my lap, it's so much like a movie. You learn so much. There are still young people in the world who get up and give their seats to an older person. There are street toughs whose style is to look like they're ready to kill you, but who leap across a Metro car to block the subway doors closing on a hapless fellow commuter. There are remarkable acts of both kindness (common) and rudeness (rare). There are occasional dramas, and even the occasional cops-and-robbers flick as some pickpocket runs down the Metro platform, pursued by the gendarmes. These are straight out of early Truffaut movies, so much so that I find myself looking around to discover where the cameras are placed. And there are the *visuals* of the Metro, ferchrissakes. Some of the Metro stops are nothing short of stunning, architecturally, even the now-aging ones. For examples of that, rent Amelie and watch it again. Jeunet's shots of the Metro stations and train stations of Paris are jaw-droppingly beautiful. Yes, they're color-enhanced, but IMO that's just him presenting the visuals of Paris to others the way *he* sees them. All glow-y, full of light, full of life. I see them the same way. Although my Day Job may from time to time get boring, my commutes to and from work never do. I've only seen a couple of movies in the theater since I've been working here, and part of the reason is that I sit through two movies every day on the way to and from work. I don't need to pay 10 Euros or more to see one in a theater. Although I do occasionally miss the popcorn; there are dismayingly few popcorn vendors in the Paris Metro system. Anyway, that's just what I felt like rapping about this evening. What about the rest of you? We've got posters here from all over the world. When you're at home, wherever that is, do you tend to drive or take advantage of public transportation? If the latter, are any of you weird enough to appreciate it the way I do? Pretty much any European city demands one take public transport - it's the only way to get anywhere. NYC is the one other place in the US
Re: [FairfieldLife] RE: Public Transportation
Sometimes I wonder how people get by. It's all we can do just to drive to the local Safeway and pack in enough food to last a week for a large family, and we have a Chevy van! So, let's say you're married and have two or three children. How are you going to get to the store - on foot or on the bus - how you gonna pack it in? If you've got a large family, I guess you could use backpacks or a tote bags, but that's going way too much work for me, just to get a snack or two. How much does it take to feed two or three teenage boys these days? Go figure. Well, I guess if you're a single, all you need to eat is a few bananas for breakfast, and you can eat a slice of pizza at a sidewalk cafe for dinner. LoL! On 10/12/2013 8:53 AM, awoelfleba...@yahoo.com wrote: ---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, fairfieldlife@yahoogroups.com wrote: So I'm sitting here in this cafe that promised Wifi and didn't deliver, wondering what I can write about, and I discover that my mind is still savoring my bus ride here to Place d'Italie. It was FUN. I got a seat, which is nice, and then I just kicked back watching the people on the bus with me. They were neat. They made me smile. In the US, they would have tended to be mostly lower class. Cars and car-dependent city designs have ensured that most of the middle class have cars. And the upper crust wouldn't be caught dead on a city bus or a subway. Here, it's not like that, except at the very top of the upper class. I've seen well-dressed, obviously well-to-do people on the Metros and buses. Heck, I've seen famous people on the Metros and buses. So you get a wide range -- from poor to lower class to middle class to the occasional upper class person, all getting across Paris via public transportation. There's a lot of Paris to have to get across. This is not a small city. And even if you have a car, on most routes you can get there faster on public transportation. Also, *when* you get there, you don't have to worry about finding a place to park your car. Parking spaces in Paris are so rare as to be increasingly considered mythical. So it's a no-brainer here -- if you have an important business meeting or a romantic date across town and you want to get there on time -- to decide whether you should drive your car or take public transportation. You just hop on the Metro. They're very reliable, and they'll get you there on time. I've never had a car when living in Paris, and don't see the need of having one now. Back home in the Netherlands, I have a car but it has sat unused for months now. Public transportation is just so much more convenient, and in the long run, cheaper. But those are just the pragmatic reasons for preferring public transportation, at least in Europe. The more important reason for me is that it's more FUN. I am endlessly fascinated by people, of every class, so riding the buses and trains and Metros that constitute public transportation in France and the Netherlands provides me with a never-ending canvas of great people to watch. The buses and Metros of Paris are like a genetic and cultural frog in a blender. Given the number of immigrants in the past few decades, Paris today looks like Casablanca did when I was growing up there. The faces I see are a mix of French and North African, with growing numbers of black Africans, Muslims from places other than North Africa, and Asians. Paris is a cultural zoo. Add to that the cross-class nature of Paris public transit, and you've got a zoo worth savoring. I sometimes feel as if I should be sitting there with a container of popcorn in my lap, it's so much like a movie. You learn so much. There are still young people in the world who get up and give their seats to an older person. There are street toughs whose style is to look like they're ready to kill you, but who leap across a Metro car to block the subway doors closing on a hapless fellow commuter. There are remarkable acts of both kindness (common) and rudeness (rare). There are occasional dramas, and even the occasional cops-and-robbers flick as some pickpocket runs down the Metro platform, pursued by the gendarmes. These are straight out of early Truffaut movies, so much so that I find myself looking around to discover where the cameras are placed. And there are the *visuals* of the Metro, ferchrissakes. Some of the Metro stops are nothing short of stunning, architecturally, even the now-aging ones. For examples of that, rent Amelie and watch it again. Jeunet's shots of the Metro stations and train stations of Paris are jaw-droppingly beautiful. Yes, they're color-enhanced, but IMO that's just him presenting the visuals of Paris to others the way *he* sees them. All glow-y, full of light, full of life. I see them the same way. Although my Day Job may from time to time get boring, my commutes to and from work never do. I've only seen a couple of movies in the theater since I've been working here, and part of the reason is that I sit
