If this is your first time reading this blog I recommend you start with the first one .
** Disclaimer – I’m probably a lot crazier than most people as I tend to walk/bike all over the place and distances don’t really phase me. As such, many things I find common and easy to do could very likely be tough and inconvenient for others. This is clearly not a “how to” for going car-less but rather “how I” manage to do it .**
Alright so a few days in and I realize I may have been a little too energetic to walk “everywhere”. My short 7 km round trip walk for a work visit ended up giving me a nice blister on my “ring” toe. Now I walk with my toes crunched and a slight hobble to keep the toes from rubbing more. I’m sure that my feet will get used to it soon enough (they have to). I have no choice in the matter as walking is now my main mode of transportation. Add in the fact that my bus visit for later in the day ended up getting me there a few minutes early which awarded me the great opportunity to stand on the sidewalk in front of the house while I waited for the home owner to arrive. Luckily they were home and I didn’t have to do my stalker impersonation.
After the visit was over I had a couple options. I could wait for the bus and take the long ride as it continued its loop before finally going in the direction I wanted or just hoof it back home. Of course my impatience won out and I decided to hoof it and headed home doing the Quasimodo shuffle. My plan was to stop into the Service Ontario location so I could return my no longer needed car plates and get some money back for my registration. I got there before they closed and waited in line for 10 minutes only to realize I actually needed to bring the plates there. Aw, crap! After failing that attempt at combining my job/life I decided to skip the rest of my planned errands and headed home.
Now because I didn’t bring my plates I have to make another walk/bus trip over to the mall to return the plates. The only problem is I didn’t want to spend another hour commuting for something that should already be accomplished!! Ack!!!! If only I had a car to quickly return back there and get this over with. It’s very annoying to have to retread the same path twice and especially if you’re walking it!
I have noticed a bonus to this commuting time increase. I used to have the habit of heading down to Intercity and see what cool movies or gadgets FutureShop had in stock or what new books the book store had. I never went there with a real intention to purchase but in the end I usually got something. Now I start to think about that trip and I start working it out. Ok take this bus to meet up with another bus or skip both of those buses and walk 2 blocks to catch a different bus and then go there. And when do those buses arrive to which stop? After spending some time with the bus route maps I’ve worked out it’s about 35 minutes. Then I arrive at the stores walk around for a bit maybe buy something then wait around for the bus home 5 minutes in the cold or longer if I get distracted and miss it. That’s another 35 minutes home... ug too much time wasted I won’t even bother. Time is money and I don’t want to spend my money and waste my time shopping for impulse items that I don’t even want.
Woot! That solves the problem of impulse shopping. It’s no longer impulsive anymore. Now I just have to kick that online shopping habit.
Until next time!
Deke
Page last updated on Wednesday, March 02, 2011
