Getting around in Ottawa...

[fajrdrako]

Walked to work today. Got here ten minutes late; not bad; I suspected as I left home that I should have been leaving fifteen minutes earlier. Altogether, it took about sixty-five minutes. I'm walking so much more slowly than I used to. And there's all that snow to slow me down.

It was rather invigorating. Pleasant, but too bad I couldn't follow it with a nap.

The news, no surprise to anyone, is that the striking bus drivers rejected the City's offer of a contract and there's no end to the strike in sight.

I find it's given me a new lease, psychologically. I don't need no stinkin' buses! We can cope! Badly, maybe. It's exhausting and inconvenient, diastrously so for some, but that is (or should be) on the conscience of the Strikers and the City, who are so caught up in their own battle they don't care what happens otherwise.

But once the sidewalks and streets are ploughed, and as long as it isn't -40C frostbite weather, I can endure. Walking last night gave me a sense of freedom, and relieved some of the stress I've been feeling.

I hope I don't have to walk to the hospital from the theatre this evening - it would take at least two hours, likely more. But I can if I have to.

Comments

[idiotgrrl.livejournal.com]

Yes! Marvelous!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Exercise at last.

I had this clever plan: I thought that in the cold winter months I'd use the exercise bike, treadmill and eliptical machine in the basement to keep in shape. Except that in December they closed the exercise room for renovations. So I've been getting no exercise.

Yes, I could do yoga in my apartment. Or Pilates. I have the dvds. Am I doing it? No.

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

Applause. I have always admired the idea of being able to walk to work ... this is where that tactic *really* pays off.

Sigh. I wish I could say the same. I was planning to go to a rally at noon today to support the strikers ... but the taxi fare is a bit much, I'm down with a cold and the dishes need to be done. :-/

I hope other people find my Open Letter to my City Councillor (http://community.livejournal.com/octranspo/484973.html) useful.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Enjoy your dishwashing!

I don't feel particularly supportive of the drivers, who are as stubborn as the City.

[sollersuk.livejournal.com]

When there were public transport strikes in London some years back, a lot of people bought bicycles (and a good number of them carried on using them afterwards). Is that an option or are the traffic and roads unsuitable?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Normally a lot of people in Ottawa have bicycles, and use them. And many more would use them while the strike is on. We have lots of bike paths and downtown roads designated with bicycle lanes.

Unfortunately, the snowfall over the past month has been so heavy that bicycles are unfeasible and dangerous. I saw one poor man trying to cycle in the snowstorm on Wednesday: he was sitting on the seat trying to push the bicyle along with one foot, like a scooter. One couldn't call it cycling! After a while he got off and just walked his bike. That was much faster.

So it's the combination of heavy snow and transit strike that is making the city crawl, and difficult to get around in. Pedestrians are using the Transitway - the roads created just for the buses - as are cyclists, when the snow melts enough to use them.

I'm thinking of snowshoes as an aid and help. Skis wouldn't be so good becuase, walking to work, I have too many streets to cross, to many areas without enough snow, even if I skied along the edge of the canal. Skating would nice, but I'm sadly not quite capable of skating that distance.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

As I was trying to clean some of the ice off my car early this morning (well, it was early for me -- 8:30), three ladies from up the road came walking by for their exercise, and we exchanged pleasantries. I said, "Isn't it a beautiful day?" and it is, flurries and low clouds and twenty degrees F and all. I love it like this.

You walk and are mighty! Buses be darned. Exercise is all good.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Your weather sounds a bit like our weather, though yours is probably coming our way. We were sunny today. Nice to see, for a change. We've had days and days of snow.

I walk and I'm mighty but right now my hips are protesting and want to rest. That's okay. The first step to getting back into shape, right?

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Ack! What an adorable illo of PC Gwen!! Makes a person want to hug her and write more of that Gwen/Tosh story (it's still there...).

I twinge in empathy for your hips. Certain postures of yoga would help gently strengthen all the many muscles and ligaments and joints there, no? Please, please tell me you're already doing that! Hugs to you, too.

The cold is hitting us, now: zero F by Friday, I hear. Yikes. I'll be home with my kitties, making vegetable soup.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

What an adorable illo of PC Gwen!!

Isn't it cute? Yes, so very huggable, in a wet Welsh sort of way.

and write more of that Gwen/Tosh story (it's still there...)

Yes, please. I would really, really, really like that.

I twinge in empathy for your hips.

They thank you, tiredly.

Certain postures of yoga would help gently strengthen all the many muscles and ligaments and joints there, no? Please, please tell me you're already doing that!

I should be. I will. Just another thing to find time for - ! But necessary. Yes. Tonight!

I'll be home with my kitties, making vegetable soup.

I made potato-leek soup yesterday. It's lovely.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Isn't it cute? Yes, so very huggable, in a wet Welsh sort of way.

Well, I'm Welsh, and I've been wet in my day (feet, today, thanks to all the nasty slush out there)... so, yeah, it's all good.

re Gwen/Tosh:
Yes, please. I would really, really, really like that.

Heh. It is all good! I will focus on that in the coming days.

Re yoga and aching hips... okay, what you need, clearly, is some postures that can be done in bed. Or in a hot shower, just before going to bed. snicker

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<i>Isn't it cute? Yes, so very huggable, in a wet Welsh sort of way.</i>

Well, I'm Welsh, and I've been wet in my day (feet, today, thanks to all the nasty slush out there)... so, yeah, it's all good.

re Gwen/Tosh:
<i>Yes, please. I would really, really, really like that.</i>

Heh. It <i>is</i> all good! I will focus on that in the coming days.

Re yoga and aching hips... okay, what you need, clearly, is some postures that can be done in bed. Or in a hot shower, just before going to bed. snicker

<i> <I'll be home with my kitties, making vegetable soup.>

I made potato-leek soup yesterday. It's lovely.</i>

I would like to learn how to make that. So many people say it's good. Today, I have wrested certain things from the wilds of the local grocery stores, and am soon on my way home to make that very same vegetable soup that I didn't make that other night (that night, I made chicken and noodles): beef soup meat with plenty of tasty marrowbones, organic celery, locally-grown cabbage, onions... already have the potatoes, carrots, corn, and peas. It will bubble away all evening as I ponder Gwen and Toshiko and how I can get them in bed together. Or on the rug together. It's all good.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Today I made chicken-vegetable stir-fry with rice. Kind of nice, making me wonder why I don't do stir-fires more often. No good reason comes to mind.