Re:Walking has plummeted across America
by rufus_foreman on Thursday November 16, 2023 @12:29PM
(#38292566)
>> He reported in his book, I'm A Stranger Here Myself, that he had been stopped by concerned neighbors on multiple occasions, offering him a ride
That has happened to me before in a scenario similar to the original poster's scenario, walking between a hotel and supermarket. This was in Texas. Perfectly polite, they probably just assumed that my car was in the shop.
If you wanted to walk in peace in a neighborhood like that you would need to get a dog.
Re:Walking has plummeted across America
by o0banky0o on Thursday November 16, 2023 @12:58PM
(#38292984)
She was inadvertently healthy, lmao
I've gotten a "why didn't you go through the drive-through?" on occasion walking in to fast food places after using an app to order. I can't even use the "wait until near to start cooking" option because the distance would be seconds to minutes by car and they assume everyone's driving.
Then there are the places that are drive-through only and don't bother to update their listings on map apps or even the company's own store finder. If you won't pay enough to find enough staff to open for walk-ins after several months, it's time to admit you're drive-through only and update the listings. Walkers famously value our lungs and don't want to stand in line behind cars, and would rather walk on somewhere else.
Another: I heard a story on a podcast a few years ago about a woman who, in pouring rain, chose to drive to a PTA meeting at her child's school rather than walk. Now, this would make sense in most circumstances, but this woman's front door was quite close to the school entrance -- closer, in fact, than the school's parking lot was. By driving, she actually increased how far she walked.
There's a lot of ingrained driving culture in the US, unfortunately, and I'm sure that WFH and transit avoidance in a post-COVID world have made it that much worse.