I Have To Cross The City Again

So we are another day closer to death and another day closer to the drive home. I hope that the two of them don't happen anywhere close to each other. I still have decades of pension I plan to collect. I want the pension guys to come out every year on my birthday and make me prove that I am still alive. Let them earn their money.

I've mentioned that this trip is about family and friends, but it also seems to be about driving. I come from a sparsely populated area of the country and traffic is pretty light for the most part. Sure, it can be irritating at times, but I can be too as I have been told on more than one occasion. You learn to deal with rush hour and poor drivers as a small cross that you have to bear.

The traffic in a truly large city like Toronto, Chicago or Cleveland is absolutely insane. Especially here in Toronto. I have come to expect hordes of insane drivers zipping in one lane and out to another just as quickly. Everyone seems to be in a big hurry to get wherever they are going and are willing to die shaving five minutes off of the trip. We in Calgary have no idea what "rush hour" really means.

I come back to this area only every few years, so I get to see snapshots of the city traffic like an uncle or an aunt gets to see the niece and nephews grow before their eyes. Something really needs to be done to the traffic situation. I guess many somethings need to be done from expanded roadways, more, better and faster transit systems and social changes. People need to change the way cities are used. We need to alter work hours so that the "hour" in "rush hour" can be spread to incorporate all hours of the day. 

We need to rethink the way cities are built and have more people live and work in the same neighbourhoods. That should be relatively easy with the ability of many people to work online from home or a remote location. We still need people contact, but those people can and should be located within and easy commute. 

It won't be an easy solution and it would not be achieved over night and without some pain, but whatever can be done should be done and as fast s is possible. Preferably before I have to cross the city again.