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something I am grateful for today
Aug. 1st, 2017 11:44 amsatori - and the recognition that it ain't all a bed of cherries
Aug. 1st, 2017
flash of insight
Aug. 1st, 2017 11:51 am During the drive to the office this morning, I suddenly found myself thinking:
I am not my habits.
And from there went into a string of realizations/messages from within myself:
I am not my choices.
I am not my thoughts.
I am not my fears.
I am not my desires.
And I felt a brief rush of freedom... which I wanted to preserve here.
I am not my habits.
And from there went into a string of realizations/messages from within myself:
I am not my choices.
I am not my thoughts.
I am not my fears.
I am not my desires.
And I felt a brief rush of freedom... which I wanted to preserve here.
UK musings
Aug. 1st, 2017 02:35 pmI've decided to start recording some of my thoughts and feelings regarding our recent UK sojourn, to preserve them and make them easier to share if need be.
One thing I noticed, in both Greenwich and particularly in York, is how the environment seems designed for human beings.
The streets and sidewalks are narrow and curved. Shopping appears geared for foot traffic far more than for drivers. I saw a [small] number of parking garages but don't remember seeing any parking lots. Everything you need is within reasonable walking distance [I did A LOT more walking than usual when I was there, ended up losing four pounds over three weeks]. I came to really enjoy the freedom of not needing to (or being able to) drive. Streets blocked off for the use of "pedestrians only" are commonplace. It might sound cramped to some, but it didn't strike me that way -- the sense of coziness is all-pervasive. I loved it; I felt like I fit in, like I belonged.
When we returned home, and were leaving the airport in Toronto, I was struck by the strangeness of places I have seen many times over many years. The huge sprawling roadways, buildings staggered far apart with no rationale I could see, the space between them wasted: not available for anyone's use, not crafted to provide green space -- it looked deliberately left desolate.
Even the views from the plane of the English countryside versus the farmlands outside Toronto provided a contrast: England looking organic, curvilinear, compact, green, rolling... Canada a wide flat grid huge beyond all human need, brown and struggling.
And now that I'm home, I keep noticing little ways that the people are constrained to make more allowances for the cars, the waste, the unyielding inorganic strictures of my surroundings... can you tell that I miss England?
One thing I noticed, in both Greenwich and particularly in York, is how the environment seems designed for human beings.
The streets and sidewalks are narrow and curved. Shopping appears geared for foot traffic far more than for drivers. I saw a [small] number of parking garages but don't remember seeing any parking lots. Everything you need is within reasonable walking distance [I did A LOT more walking than usual when I was there, ended up losing four pounds over three weeks]. I came to really enjoy the freedom of not needing to (or being able to) drive. Streets blocked off for the use of "pedestrians only" are commonplace. It might sound cramped to some, but it didn't strike me that way -- the sense of coziness is all-pervasive. I loved it; I felt like I fit in, like I belonged.
When we returned home, and were leaving the airport in Toronto, I was struck by the strangeness of places I have seen many times over many years. The huge sprawling roadways, buildings staggered far apart with no rationale I could see, the space between them wasted: not available for anyone's use, not crafted to provide green space -- it looked deliberately left desolate.
Even the views from the plane of the English countryside versus the farmlands outside Toronto provided a contrast: England looking organic, curvilinear, compact, green, rolling... Canada a wide flat grid huge beyond all human need, brown and struggling.
And now that I'm home, I keep noticing little ways that the people are constrained to make more allowances for the cars, the waste, the unyielding inorganic strictures of my surroundings... can you tell that I miss England?