Ok, so on the way to work today I got thinking about public transportation in Rochester...and public transportation in general. It is generally my preferred way to travel. Who wouldn't want to trade in the hours of vacations driving for a seat on a train? You can sleep, read, or catch up the latest news...so why don't more people use it?
The train is one thing, it's often more expensive than driving...but with gas prices going and staying up... it looks like the prices are comparable now.
I have to admit, that I've never taken the bus in Rochester, but that is my new goal. The next time it rains, I'll hop in the bus on my way to work and see what it is all about. I can't imagine why people wouldn't want to let someone else handle their morning commute to work. I don't know about you guys, but I am rarely ready to drive a car at 7:30am...and that is late for some people!
The only reason that I can think of as to why people don't do it, is because of the quality of transport, or the quality of people on the bus. Again, I don't know, so you'll have to wait and see. The bus that I would get on runs from Park Ave to Midtown, hardly the route that murders and rapists would take... in my opinion that is.
Who knows... stay tuned, take a walk, or hop the bus and let me know what you think!
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Midtown Plaza at lunch time
I hate to admit this, but I've never actually been to Midtown Plaza. I've read all of the news stories, and letters to the editor about revamping the plaza, but for some reason I was under the impression that it was boarded up and defunct. So, you can imagine my surprise when my friend asked me if I'd go shopping with her at lunch time?!?
What I found shocked me...Midtown is a well taken care of, beautiful retail space! I spent my time wandering around a funky store called Diva, specializing in inexpensive funky shoes in flashy colors. Pictures of Marylin and Audrey graced the walls, and fantastic hats in sherbet colors floated over head. I found myself trying to make an excuse to wear a hat somewhere...what if I ever went to England, surely I would need one there?! ?
I ate lunch at Bruggers, and scrutinized the clock tower, with it's odd, but cool representations of countries around the world... I couldn't have been happier...well I could have been, and was...after I picked up a pair of shoes!
What I found shocked me...Midtown is a well taken care of, beautiful retail space! I spent my time wandering around a funky store called Diva, specializing in inexpensive funky shoes in flashy colors. Pictures of Marylin and Audrey graced the walls, and fantastic hats in sherbet colors floated over head. I found myself trying to make an excuse to wear a hat somewhere...what if I ever went to England, surely I would need one there?! ?
I ate lunch at Bruggers, and scrutinized the clock tower, with it's odd, but cool representations of countries around the world... I couldn't have been happier...well I could have been, and was...after I picked up a pair of shoes!
Friday, July 20, 2007
Good Morning
My reverent moment from yesterday was broken by the "Bonita!" "Come here baby" and various other crap yelled from behind me this morning...They remind me that men in the city have no shame, or maybe it's a lack of respect or lack of filter that comes from living a hard life, I can't be sure.
Today I tried to smile at every person that I passed on the street. It's funny how we cast our eyes downward at the approach of a stranger... I noticed that the businessmen were the ones that didn't look at me at all. Odd, I received smiles for most that came across...is arrogance that makes us pass by the same people living through our own morning routine? Maybe it's the busy lifestyle?
I tend to think it's that fear that's been taught to American children from birth, that anyone looking different than you, more ragged than you, is scary and likely to kill you. My own father is often outside, mowing the lawn with an old flannel shirt on... hair white as can be, beard growing straggly on the weekend.... Send him down Main Street and the same businessmen that see him in a suit, may not raise their eyes in greeting ...sad
Today I tried to smile at every person that I passed on the street. It's funny how we cast our eyes downward at the approach of a stranger... I noticed that the businessmen were the ones that didn't look at me at all. Odd, I received smiles for most that came across...is arrogance that makes us pass by the same people living through our own morning routine? Maybe it's the busy lifestyle?
I tend to think it's that fear that's been taught to American children from birth, that anyone looking different than you, more ragged than you, is scary and likely to kill you. My own father is often outside, mowing the lawn with an old flannel shirt on... hair white as can be, beard growing straggly on the weekend.... Send him down Main Street and the same businessmen that see him in a suit, may not raise their eyes in greeting ...sad
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Walking and watching
Walked to work today, and could almost pretend that I was living in Europe again. The city coming alive in front of me, the clean sidewalks before a day full of cast off refuse. Downtown... there's something about that word, it makes me feel glamorous and alive. It's amazing that a cold bunch of bricks and concrete can create that kind of emotion. Sometimes I think that it's the polluted air in my lungs making my brain fuzzy. But really, it's the feeling I get as the players, in their own little worlds, share the same moment. Businessmen and women toting briefcases and wearing sneakers with their three piece suits... the homeless searching for recyclables, the shopkeeper opening for the mornings trade....and the bystander, taking notice of an otherwise begin scene in Rochester's history...
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