[lit-ideas] Re: Speaking of ...

  • From: JimKandJulieB@xxxxxxx
  • To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 22:07:18 EST

Pragmatics, Eric.  (this is a reply to a very old post on a very old  thread 
but I've been w/out internet service for a couple weeks and am going  through 
backlogs of e-mail....can't resist responding to this....).  I'm no  stranger 
to walking -- walking a couple miles to the store and back -- for  a  few days 
(after a bad car accident in which the car was totaled and I  had little 
choice) -- with a neck brace and 5 broken ribs in the 100 degree  sweltering MO 
summer.
 
I've changed my own front brakes successfully (no, don't even ....it wasn't  
connected to the car wreck -- different car), turned my washing machine upside 
 down and removed the motor and transmission housing and replaced a coupler I 
 didn't even know existed.  It runs well to this day.  
 
I've done pretty hefty hauling and lifting and moving for a 5'2" 100 pound  
female.  *However* -- it is currently near zero today; there is 17" of snow  
and ice some of which after a week has been plowed onto shoulders and 
sidewalks, 
 and I needed groceries.  To walk to the store and carry back 4 large, heavy  
sacks of groceries would have been nothing less than stupid.  Most times I  
go to the grocery I have several bags.  I've experimented with various  types 
of back-packs and so forth.  Frankly, in "normal" weather (which MO  really 
doesn't have),  figuring out how to carry a load from the store is  the most 
problematic thing about not using a car.  The next closest things  I must go to 
routinely are downtown (at least 2 hours walk each way) and the far  side of 
(what is admittedly a small city) an 8 to 10 hour walk each way.   This is not 
realistic.  I do use a bike from time to time, but  again.....  And how does a 
woman who works in a professional setting arrive  at her office after walking 
or biking 2 hours in business clothing and  heels?
 
There are lots of areas in this country, I believe, where not having a car  
is entirely impractical.  NY isn't one of them, as my brother learned very  
quickly after he moved from this city to NY City.  We don't have paths and  L's 
and everything you need on every corner.  I *have* considered a horse  & buggy 
('specially when expensive auto repairs are needed)....
 
Julie Krueger
being practical (and boy do I get long-winded when I get  practical)

========Original  Message========     Subj: [lit-ideas] Re: Speaking of ...  
Date: 11/23/2006 5:07:53 P.M. Central Standard Time  From: 
_eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)   To: 
_lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
(mailto:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx)   Sent on:    
>>Whether I shop there [Hell-Mart] or not  won't make any 
difference to the economy at all.


That may be why  you're so grouchy and pessimistic ... the 
disconnect between what you know  and what you do. Of course, 
I've adapted to not having a car. If someone  were to give me 
a car, I'd be delivering my sermon from a different  text.

Happy Thanksgiving by the  way.

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