I’ve driven a lot this week--- a trip to Georgetown, DE and another one to Dover on top of the normal going back and forth to work and running errands… I tanked up 3 times! The cheapest gas was found in Dover at $3.55 per gallon. The price of gas elsewhere has been hovering around $3.69-3.70. While my European family might think this is not very expensive compared to what they have to pay, let me just remind everyone that distances in the USA are farther apart, we don’t have a public transportation infrastructure, have no bicycle paths to use to get from point A to point B, nor do we have walkways that allow us to walk to a store that’s a half mile distant. So Americans drive… and drive… and drive. It’s rather insane!
I am convinced that all that driving creates an isolation of sorts—after all, many people driving are the only human beings in the car!
Ironically, I am a driver—I enjoy driving by myself and just having some high quality “think time.” However, I am also frustrated by the inability to ride a bicycle to the drug store just a half mile from my house.
Whenever I go to Holland I am always struck by the bicycles, and flash back to memories of bicycles trips with my parents. We rode bicycles everywhere—to visit grandparents and then ride home in the dark, in the rain, and against the wind. My sister sat on the back of my Mom’s bicycle, while I sat on the back of my Father’s bicycle. Our bicycles were our primary mode of independent transportation. My grandfather was in his 80’s and still riding a “brommer,” which is a motorized bicycle, to run errands.
In America we pave large parking lots around shopping malls, so that individuals can jump out of their cars and shop in the most efficient way possible. In Amsterdam or Rotterdam large spaces are devoted to open air markets and parked bicycles can be found in abundance!
Going to the market is also a social function connecting neighbors and friends, and contributing to social interactions between the buyer and the fishmonger or cheese merchant. After all, the ritual of buying at a market is to ask about the item you wish to purchase which always leads to a little chat!
I’m struck by the difference in social interactions between the two societies.
For a great New York Times article about the Dutch and their bicycles see: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/opinion/sunday/the-dutch-way-bicycles-and-fresh-bread.html?_r=3
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