All the commentary on bikes makes me terribly nostalgic for grad school in DeKalb Illinois. I biked to most of my classes, the grocery store, about town. When I came home, I continued to bike for groceries till the store closed and relocated 2.5 miles farther away.

We do have a nice proliferation of bike paths, lanes, and even busses with bike racks on the front. I have been unable to use them, much as I enjoy biking, since carpal tunnel injuries with intermitent numbness make using the hand brake and gear shifts painful to numbingly impossible. Some of the more pleasant results of urban up scaling is that I see folks jogging, dog walking and biking in places that where years ago we'd never have dared, way too dangerous. I do dream that I might be able to join them some time if I can get my knee and hands fixed.

Of course, when winter comes to Siberia-on-the-Heights, it will be too risky for any but the most fit and fearless and lucky to do any of that. We get what I familiarly called "lake effect snow" which makes getting places difficult for everything even the heavy duty vehicles. And I live in the leading edge of "the snow belt." I've been fascinated to read others' take on car dependence, and wryly comforted to know that the political planners elsewhere are as short sighted as our own.

The new car took me to church today, along with a friend who had been giving ME rides to work, and we celebrated by having my pastor bless the car, and dedicate it to good use. This experience, and your comments, has me thinking more clearly about my own car usage.

Joanne in Siberia-on-the-Heights