Early morning observations from the sage of a Dutch village, thoughtfully penned, proving much can be expressed in a minimum of words even when hailing plans by the local government for a long wished for traffic change that’s worthy of imitating. Nice!
Congratulations! I have been lobbying for car-free areas and protected bike lanes. Our new mayor promised this. It's a slow process but we are heading in that direction. Seal pups ❤
Love traffic free city centers. The Old Town in Aarau is car free - well, mostly. The buses run through it and that just doesn't make sense. Now theyare also re-designing the Bahnhofstrasse (main traffic road) to create more of a common space rather than just cars.
Love that they are making Burgh-Haamstede even more perfect for bicycles. I might have taken a very similar picture of zeehonden or well, their heads in Garderen last year. That church square looks like a perfect place for coffee.
Been thinking about the situation in the US. Last December when I was walking around NYC with a good friend I did consider what would happen if let's say Broadway (or any of the Avenues) became bike routes and maybe every 4th street as well. Some of the bike lanes there looked a bit dangerous, but I've not tried cycling in NYC. To me it felt like there was a lot less traffic than back in the 90s. And back then there definitely were no bike lanes. Maybe it's a slow process and maybe NYC is not the best place to look at, but I haven't been to the states other than NYC in the past 13 years.
Tub with floating heads of “sea dogs”: tourism tactics or just bad taste…on choice? In the environmental context, just an avoidable detail. Free traffic...of thinking. Nobody is perfect.
“A transatlantic divergence emerges; Europe's streets are reclaimed by cyclists and pedestrians, a policy in harmony with public sentiment. Unfettered by cars, European city centers often draw the admiration of American visitors, leaving me to ponder why such a revolution is a rarity in North America.”
Good question. But this change in the lifestyle and the confort of a car, although preferable, seems lengthy and difficult. On both sides of the Atlantic I see it here also, the individual independence acquired in the lateral valleys last century through the use of a car is a symbol of freedom for many !
Feeling very wordy and disgusted with American resistance to change. One might think that along with a birth certificate in this nation, every citizen is ENTITLED to a gasoline powered vehicle 🚗 to carry out road trips for fun, not necessity, just for joy riding with fumes expended everywhere. Let’s not forget the now should be antiquated AUTO RACING. There is mass transit in some cities but not nearly enough. We have too much space and distance between major cities. If trains were available on a larger scale for people and products, we would be much better off in terms of CO2 emissions. Dare I disclose that my bright red GOP brother (now absent due to differences in opinion on virtually every aspect of current events) had his own auto shop for many years where he made what fortune he has in some measure by removing the devices designed to limit CO2 emissions from the autos & trucks of his customers to “improve performance, ie driving too fast and too often). 😢
Love the transformation, now and planned. Autos with their exhaust sicken my heart and soul. I have shared before my love of the inadvertent 15 minute city of Harbor Point at the end of the former Cooper River Bridge that linked the peninsula of Charleston to the lovely Mt. Pleasant. Was for me very simple without an auto for three years in the midst of life changes. Apartment dwelling across the street from employment; strip malls with everything I could possibly require including a grocery suitable for backpacking. An old style wagon of red painted slats “The Town & Country Radio Flyer” for transporting two cats in crates to vet for routine visits. Also my trusty luggage carrier; funny story. So out of place, stopped by police for taking home a purchased TV on same! They assumed I stole it. 😁Once in a while easily rented vehicle for a monthly weekend errand run or trip to visit family; delivery and pick up by car rental service.
And the community of apartment dwellers was always a lifestyle I preferred free of responsibility for lawn and dwelling maintenance. I love my indoor gardens in big sunrooms where they thrive with a little misting. Wouldn’t you know my idyllic environment absent hurricanes was destroyed when the bridge was deemed unsafe and rerouted in a most peculiar manner for miles around my former dwelling. The old Oaks with Spanish moss drooping off everywhere made walking fascinating. And of course the multiplex movie theater for viewing new offerings where I first saw “Titanic” more than once. Had a new style bicycle but learned very well as a child to ride the simpler version with pedals for going forward or braking, could stand on the seat, do all manner of tricks but the new version with the chains and braking system; I could not adapt! Tried to reverse pedals and chain fell off every time. It found a home hanging from the deck ceiling but was not made for me sadly. Miss that also idyllic environment but the hurricanes drove me away as they will in time destroy historic Charleston with its rising tides daily; sea walls being attempted but property values declining on the old Battery as the future is evident.
🌻 🚗 🌻
So, now, how and where to stable your mechanical horsepower?
Discarded (and stolen) vehicles get shipped and sold to the poorer countries by ship loads . . .
https://theworld.org/stories/2023-05-25/90-cars-ghanas-roads-are-imported-used-cars-many-are-polluting-or-unsafe
Early morning observations from the sage of a Dutch village, thoughtfully penned, proving much can be expressed in a minimum of words even when hailing plans by the local government for a long wished for traffic change that’s worthy of imitating. Nice!
Congratulations! I have been lobbying for car-free areas and protected bike lanes. Our new mayor promised this. It's a slow process but we are heading in that direction. Seal pups ❤
Love traffic free city centers. The Old Town in Aarau is car free - well, mostly. The buses run through it and that just doesn't make sense. Now theyare also re-designing the Bahnhofstrasse (main traffic road) to create more of a common space rather than just cars.
Love that they are making Burgh-Haamstede even more perfect for bicycles. I might have taken a very similar picture of zeehonden or well, their heads in Garderen last year. That church square looks like a perfect place for coffee.
Been thinking about the situation in the US. Last December when I was walking around NYC with a good friend I did consider what would happen if let's say Broadway (or any of the Avenues) became bike routes and maybe every 4th street as well. Some of the bike lanes there looked a bit dangerous, but I've not tried cycling in NYC. To me it felt like there was a lot less traffic than back in the 90s. And back then there definitely were no bike lanes. Maybe it's a slow process and maybe NYC is not the best place to look at, but I haven't been to the states other than NYC in the past 13 years.
Tub with floating heads of “sea dogs”: tourism tactics or just bad taste…on choice? In the environmental context, just an avoidable detail. Free traffic...of thinking. Nobody is perfect.
“A transatlantic divergence emerges; Europe's streets are reclaimed by cyclists and pedestrians, a policy in harmony with public sentiment. Unfettered by cars, European city centers often draw the admiration of American visitors, leaving me to ponder why such a revolution is a rarity in North America.”
Good question. But this change in the lifestyle and the confort of a car, although preferable, seems lengthy and difficult. On both sides of the Atlantic I see it here also, the individual independence acquired in the lateral valleys last century through the use of a car is a symbol of freedom for many !
Change in habits is more or less happening.
Feeling very wordy and disgusted with American resistance to change. One might think that along with a birth certificate in this nation, every citizen is ENTITLED to a gasoline powered vehicle 🚗 to carry out road trips for fun, not necessity, just for joy riding with fumes expended everywhere. Let’s not forget the now should be antiquated AUTO RACING. There is mass transit in some cities but not nearly enough. We have too much space and distance between major cities. If trains were available on a larger scale for people and products, we would be much better off in terms of CO2 emissions. Dare I disclose that my bright red GOP brother (now absent due to differences in opinion on virtually every aspect of current events) had his own auto shop for many years where he made what fortune he has in some measure by removing the devices designed to limit CO2 emissions from the autos & trucks of his customers to “improve performance, ie driving too fast and too often). 😢
Love the transformation, now and planned. Autos with their exhaust sicken my heart and soul. I have shared before my love of the inadvertent 15 minute city of Harbor Point at the end of the former Cooper River Bridge that linked the peninsula of Charleston to the lovely Mt. Pleasant. Was for me very simple without an auto for three years in the midst of life changes. Apartment dwelling across the street from employment; strip malls with everything I could possibly require including a grocery suitable for backpacking. An old style wagon of red painted slats “The Town & Country Radio Flyer” for transporting two cats in crates to vet for routine visits. Also my trusty luggage carrier; funny story. So out of place, stopped by police for taking home a purchased TV on same! They assumed I stole it. 😁Once in a while easily rented vehicle for a monthly weekend errand run or trip to visit family; delivery and pick up by car rental service.
And the community of apartment dwellers was always a lifestyle I preferred free of responsibility for lawn and dwelling maintenance. I love my indoor gardens in big sunrooms where they thrive with a little misting. Wouldn’t you know my idyllic environment absent hurricanes was destroyed when the bridge was deemed unsafe and rerouted in a most peculiar manner for miles around my former dwelling. The old Oaks with Spanish moss drooping off everywhere made walking fascinating. And of course the multiplex movie theater for viewing new offerings where I first saw “Titanic” more than once. Had a new style bicycle but learned very well as a child to ride the simpler version with pedals for going forward or braking, could stand on the seat, do all manner of tricks but the new version with the chains and braking system; I could not adapt! Tried to reverse pedals and chain fell off every time. It found a home hanging from the deck ceiling but was not made for me sadly. Miss that also idyllic environment but the hurricanes drove me away as they will in time destroy historic Charleston with its rising tides daily; sea walls being attempted but property values declining on the old Battery as the future is evident.
🌻 🚗 🌻
Here is an additional link on were the lost cars go . . .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVz6g39ffts - National Geographic investigates series
Mariana follows a smuggling route of cars stolen from the U.S. to shipping containers bound for West Africa, where the demand is skyrocketing