The cost of speed
Until we replace driving with biking and walking along familiar environs, we cannot know the sensory experience missed. Speed dramatically reduces the quality of the path. In fact, speed makes the quality of the path irrelevant.
Only on bike or foot do we notice the unique and ever-changing sights, sounds, smells, and stories that go completely unnoticed at higher speeds and separated by a contained environment. Quality of experience is inversely related to speed of experience. This is high praise for walking neighborhoods, of which we have a handful in the region on the coast south of Lake Erie. And questionable praise for sub and exburbs where the value of destinations trump the value of journeys.
July 7th, 2007 14:03
I walked back home from downtown one sunny afternoon alone with my camera. About 6 miles. I bought a take-out cold beer as I started out.
I met and conversed with person after person. At a bus stop, in front of a store, waiting on a bench, a runner crossing the bridge. I got great “interviews”, inspiring photos, and when I got home I had had a more enjoyable and entertaining and engaging time than if I had been to the movies , theater or any commercial venue.
Next walk I’m going to do a movie - short takes of everyone I meet. Turn the usual equation on its head…
July 7th, 2007 14:22
That is a great story Jeff. Many people go to films to meet characters half the size of people along normal routes. And their stories are just as amazing folk tales.