Life, carless

So, I've been in Denver for a little over a year and a half now, and it's the first extended period of my life that I have been without ready access to a car. I was about to say "at least since I've been able to drive," but that's not really true-- since before then, I had parents with vehicles, and didn't have to think about how we were going to get places unless a car was in the shop or there was some other unusual circumstance.

When I first moved to Denver, I rather intended to get a car again at some point soon. Not initially, since I'd sold my car before moving (it wasn't gonna make the trip, plus driving a car and a moving truck at the same time is something I've yet to master) and, what with the costs of moving and still looking for a job for the first few months out here, I had other priorities at the time.

So, now I'm in the spot of having had a good job for over a year, and could buy a car if I really wanted to. But I haven't, yet. What I have done is discover a lot of unexpected difficulties (and bonuses) of living life, carless.

There is no such thing as a quick run to the store (or take-out restaurant, or friend's house, etc). At some points in my time in Denver, I've lived such a distance from downtown that an hour of travel by foot and bus was required to get to and from work. Even small grocery runs require planning out a minimum of an hour.

There is also no such thing as "stocking up" at the store. When I do walk to the closest grocery store (6 blocks away), I have to pick and choose, careful not to end up with a load that will be too heavy or unwieldy to lug back home.

Dark is another issue. Back in Michigan, I thought nothing of a 2am run to Meijer. This does not so much happen without the protection of a car. While the bus and neighborhood may be perfectly fine during the day, they are not the best of options for late-night excursions alone.

But I have discovered some delightful solutions, along the way. In just the past couple of months I've discovered the marvel of having groceries delivered right to my door (and cheaply!). It still has some inconveniences, but I think I might continue using it even if I did have a car again.

Plus, I see more. Hear more. Squirrels and pigeons on my way to work (and I sure do love me some squirrels and pigeons!). Interesting characters on the street. Overheard cell phone conversations on the light rail. Cheerful (and some not so cheerful) bus drivers. Neighborhoods as they pass by through the bus window. Sunsets over the mountains as I head out to Golden to visit friends.

I don't know what songs are on the radio these days, because I don't catch them over the car radio. Instead I turn on the ipod during long bus rides.

I can help the youth I work with to figure out how to get places, because I know how to get to the shelter by bus, and how to plan transit routes to where they're trying to go.

I've waited in the cold and heat (not so much rain, alas for arid climes) at bus stops. I've talked to groups of neighborhood old men hanging out on front stoops, small children, and Jehovah's Witnesses.

My living room is still lacking a rug, because I can't just pick one up if I see one at a store, or run over to check one out from a craigslist ad.

...and I tread more lightly (though more literally) on this delicate, complicated planet.

The art of searching

Things I found while searching my apartment tonight:*

- Tent stakes
- Free weights
- A pencil made out of money
- A tiny Eeyore figurine
- Many framed pictures
- 4 plant pots
- A set of dip spreaders
- 3 DVDs
- A set of nativity figures
- Outdated address labels
- 2 homemade mix CD's (one by me, one by someone else)
- A lamp
- A frisbee I didn't know I'd had
- One yummy smelling soy candle
- My college graduation cap
- A framed photo of a squirrel
- A key (don't ask me what it goes to)
- A book I'd started reading and lost 3 years (and 4 moves) ago
(*very incomplete list)

Things I did not find while searching my apartment tonight:
- The DVD set that I was looking for

Also found in my apartment tonight (or mailbox, more accurately): a summons for jury duty. Strange, the things you find when you're not even looking for them.