Commutes.
Best commute I ever had was the summer just out of high school when I was changing sprinklers for a farmer
towards the upper end of the rural valley I lived in. I'd drive 30 miles each way over traffic-free county roads and never tire
of the unbounded postcard scenery. Gas was a lot cheaper back then.
Oddest commute was during my brief business stint in Seoul. The office of my host, on the outskirts, wasn't near any subway lines, so I took a cab to work each morning. Rush hours in Seoul seems routinely more deadlocked than anything I've experienced at home. But, as maybe happens anywhere, I got used to it, and I eventually always did get to where I wanted. What I never grew accustomed to was some of the local driving idioms. Like being in the far right of six lanes of heavy rush hour traffic and making a slow speed U turn, cutting across all lanes. This seemed a fairly standard maneuver. Less common, but more alarming was making occasional use of the sidewalk as an extra traffic lane when all other lanes are at capacity.
In spite of the seeming deadlock, that Korean traffic did seem more orderly. I never saw any traffic accidents while there.
During my three weeks in Seoul, I noticed a total of only three bicycle commuters. Possibly I just wasn't looking in the right places. When in Tokyo the previous year, bicycle commuters were commonplace.
Nowadays, when home, I'm primarily a bicycle commuter. To get from my island home to the office in downtown Bellevue, takes an hour on the road and 45 minutes on the ferry into Seattle. Other that the few blocks through downtown Seattle, the ride is away from heavy traffic. Now the scenery isn't as consistently spectacular as for that long ago summer job commute. But I suppose that serves to make the good days more noteworthy.
posted at: 02:11 | path: | permanent link to this entry
All content copyright © 2004-2010 by steve hardy