I’m a city girl, ok? Yes, I know that I’ve spent more than half my life in Long Island, but the years I spent in the city were transformative.
just out in my walking skirt, apparently
Anyway, I’m a city girl and city girls walk places. I mean, we also have the subway and taxis and the ferry and zip cars, but, for the most part, if it’s under a mile and not separated by a body of water, I’m walking. Sometimes even if it’s 2 or 3 miles and I’m not in a rush. Occasionally 5 or 6 miles if I feel like taking a long walk home to Brooklyn.
Even New Yorkers that aren’t big into walking do it more than they think. Here are the basic NYC Walking Rules, as I’ve been able to determine them:
1. Walking 10 or 20 blocks is no big deal. (Equivalent to walking 1 or 2 blocks anywhere else.)
2. If it’s only 1 subway stop, we’re walking.
3. If it’s two avenues, F that. Cab it.
It doesn’t even matter that 10 blocks is farther than 2 avenues.
Avenues are the worst.
4. (Personal rule) If I’m wearing heels, you’d better let me take a cab or I will ruin everyone’s night.
Anyway, the real reason I’m gaining weight is not because I’m married, as Daddy so politely suggested. It’s because I don’t walk as much now that I’m in the suburbs.
As such, I’ve tried turning Huntington into my own little metropolitan center, to the confusion of some most.
For example, I like to go to the library or Starbucks after work sometimes and walk home, at 11pm latest. Daddy doesn’t think I should be walking home so late at night. (Did I not used to live on my own in a slightly shady part of Brooklyn? Just checking.)
And last week, when I actually went out in Huntington for my friends’ birthdays, everyone thought it was weird that I wanted to walk home, even though it was about 3.5 blocks. However, it was 4am, and that cab ride I ended up bumming from Adri was pretty sweet. Hey! We have cabs in Huntington! See? It’s metropolitan after all. Oh wait, but you can’t hail them, so it doesn’t count.
Anyway, I don’t think I’ll be transforming Huntington into a walking culture any time soon. And, let’s be honest, if NYC had ample parking, walking would cease and the median BMI would go up to Philadelphia levels. (No offense, Philly. If I’d said “Houston levels”, you’d know I was exaggerating.)
Love it! As a NYC guy we walk every where. Except those long ass avenues as you mentioned.
Suburbs are so devoid of mass transit, and without a car you’re dead in the water. Gotta run now – walking over to the pub to bar hop then taking a cab back uptown later!
Phil
http://www.blog.theregularguynyc.com
That’s what city life is all about! I guess I’ll just drive my car down to the Walmart… j/k we don’t have one, but you get the drift.
Huntington sounds like Los Angeles.
Haha. Probably more walking than LA but not much. Fewer writing jobs though :\
I loved walking in NYC. Walking makes a huge difference in fitness I think. Here in New Zealand, you have to take the car to pretty much everything. We walk much more in Europe because the cities are organised for people, not for cars. The result is many more fat people here in NZ than in Switzerland.
Yeah there is definitely a correlation between walking cities and relative fitness. Can’t wait to see more pics of NZ! Can you at least walk around with the sheep and stuff? (That’s pretty much all I can picture in my head.)
I hate walking in heels, too, but I never insist on taking a cab. This is why I love going to the city with you. Heels + cab ride = painless night!
It’s just better to be judged as lazy than to be miserable all night. I’m too old for that.