Then And Now

lkraus said:

Had room to stretch out then:

Now:

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6 foot tall regular flyer here hasn't experienced that problem. But then again, I refuse to fly Frontier or any of the stupid cheap airlines. Southwest remains excellent, in my humble opinion.

And, as much as I enjoy riding, I'd much rather just take a 6 hour flight to the opposite coast.

kbasa said:

In my neighborhood there are several "bike trains" operating where a parent rides a regular route, picking up other kids on their own bicycles on the way to school. We've got decent bicycle infrastructure with paths and bike lanes around the neighborhoods, so kids riding bikes to school here are the norm for the public school. For the private school in my backyard a lot of local kids ride or walk to school, but yes, we have students from all over the town and county attending, so plenty of cars. Here, at least, lots of them are EVs now, so they're pretty quiet.

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I just drove past the elementary school in Alpine Texas at about school ending time. I lost count of the cars lined up on three streets when I hit 65 or so. That is now/

Back then: I walked to school. I walked back home for lunch and then back to school. It was only about 1/2 mile walk each way. The high school was downtown. Folks got there somehow. The one bus the district owned was used to haul the sports teams to out of town games. It was a little over a mile from our house to the high school. I walked it, or hitch hiked. I got picked up by the same drivers on numerous occasions.

In kindergarden I rode on bus #1. First grade, #2 of two!

PGlaves said:

I just drove past the elementary school in Alpine Texas at about school ending time. I lost count of the cars lined up on three streets when I hit 65 or so. That is now/

Back then: I walked to school. I walked back home for lunch and then back to school. It was only about 1/2 mile walk each way. The high school was downtown. Folks got there somehow. The one bus the district owned was used to haul the sports teams to out of town games. It was a little over a mile from our house to the high school. I walked it, or hitch hiked. I got picked up by the same drivers on numerous occasions.

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Same here, walked or biked to grade school (1.1mile), home for lunch and return, back again on Monday nights for Scouts. High school was further at 1.5 miles, but I usually stayed for lunch. Mostly walking because my bike was stolen freshman year. None of the routes were uphill, but there was ice and deep snow to deal with. No sidewalks, but the residential streets had very light traffic.

Mom put me on the bus to kindergarten just before I turned seven. I rode that for two and a half days, and then skipped the line to the bus and walked the half mile home. It was much quicker than riding the circuitous bus route, and some of the first graders on the same bus were mean. Walked both ways for the rest of the year.

Our kids took the bus. Population growth, and bigger home lots, spread everything out. The roads between our subdivision and the schools are too heavily used, with 55 mph speeds and no sidewalks, ditches either side. There was no safe way to walk or bike 2.5 miles to grade school or 4.3 miles to high school. Even if there were sidewalks, I think letting the kids travel alone would have been considered a form of child neglect by many (not me).

Local schools declared a "Calamity Day" today, kids are to use the online "virtual classrooms". The weather is a little cool at 23ºF, but the roads are clear and dry.

The "calamity" is a shortage of bus drivers.

lkraus said:

The "calamity" is a shortage of bus drivers.

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That seems to be common in a lot of states.

PGlaves said:

I just drove past the elementary school in Alpine Texas at about school ending time. I lost count of the cars lined up on three streets when I hit 65 or so. That is now/

.

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Because of COVID a lot of parents started to drive the kids to school instead of having them take the bus.
The bicycle path goes by both schools and when I ride by, the line of cars is crazy long.

Then: Out in the country

Now: Subdivisions

DaveSlash5 said:

Then: Out in the country

Now: Subdivisions

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I think that once upon a time, people lived close to town, so yeah, they could walk everywhere. But now? How many of us live in suburbia and are largely car dependent for just about everything?

I watched my MIL lose her ability to drive, living in the suburbs of Dallas and she might as well have been a hundred miles out of town. My dad is 91 and lives near S. Padre Island and when he loses his ability to drive, it's not going to go well and his degree of difficulty for living will multiply.

Subdivisions didn't work out like we'd hoped, though as a product of them, I certainly understand the appeal.

kbasa said:

Subdivisions didn't work out like we'd hoped, though as a product of them, I certainly understand the appeal.

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You sound exactly like my Urban Planning professors in 1975 at the Iowa School of Planning and Public Affairs.

PGlaves said:

You sound exactly like my Urban Planning professors in 1975 at the Iowa School of Planning and Public Affairs.

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Don't get me started on the absurdity of lawns...

Yeah, subdivisions.... no!

Visian said:

Yeah, subdivisions.... no!

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Nice shot, Ian!

Then and Now


Then, I’m a 1 or 2 month old baby being held by my late mother in ‘53. Sitting with my late Father and brother. Now, a 68 year old BMW rider who has a little thread on the MOA forum.

Then: fill your glass from the faucet.

Now: open a plastic bottle of "filtered" water.

My niece and her husband were visiting this Summer and standing in the kitchen by the refrigerator. She asked if they could have some water? I said sure, glasses are in the cabinet left of the sink. She got two out then opened the refrigerator, looked around inside for a minute, and said "I don't see any?" I honestly had to think for a moment what she meant, then it dawned on me and when I said just fill them from the faucet they both looked at each other then filled their glasses. She said "we try to drink purified water but this is alright."

kbasa said:

Don't get me started on the absurdity of lawns...

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You don't like lawns??

milo said:

Then: fill your glass from the faucet.

Now: open a plastic bottle of "filtered" water.

My niece and her husband were visiting this Summer and standing in the kitchen by the refrigerator. She asked if they could have some water? I said sure, glasses are in the cabinet left of the sink. She got two out then opened the refrigerator, looked around inside for a minute, and said "I don't see any?" I honestly had to think for a moment what she meant, then it dawned on me and when I said just fill them from the faucet they both looked at each other then filled their glasses. She said "we try to drink purified water but this is alright."

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A very good friend of mine is a recently retired water system manager for a town near me. He has all kinds of certifications and managed all the compliance testing that town's water system has to do. He says their tap water is as clean as anything in a bottle, and if that bottle is "spring water", then the town water is actually cleaner. I've also read several tests of bottled water which concluded the same thing. I won't say this is true of every town (Flint, MI) but where I live is. You can always get a copy of the required water analysis from your local water system.

GREGFEELER said:

A very good friend of mine is a recently retired water system manager for a town near me. He has all kinds of certifications and managed all the compliance testing that town's water system has to do. He says their tap water is as clean as anything in a bottle, and if that bottle is "spring water", then the town water is actually cleaner. I've also read several tests of bottled water which concluded the same thing. I won't say this is true of every town (Flint, MI) but where I live is. You can always get a copy of the required water analysis from your local water system.

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Not true at Pearl Harbor right about now. Go Navy!

Lee said:

You don't like lawns??

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I live in an arid climate. Wasting water on a lawn isn't something I can get behind in the least. I think that just about anywhere in the west, lawns don't really have a place, especially in arid climates. But, sure enough, people move from back east and the first thing they do in a place that gets 10 inches of rain a year is plant a lawn and a maple tree.

We've landscaped with native plants which require little water. When we moved here, we had a patch of lawn in the backyard. We yanked it all out and replaced it with natives. We're two adults, so we don't need a play space for kids, but as we stage this house to sell it, we'll target it to families with kids and I'll install a big patch of artificial turf. Right now, our water department will pay you $3/sq. ft. to remove your lawn.

My uncle in Michigan did the same thing 45 years ago in his subdivision and his yard looked beautiful. Native specimen trees, native shrubs and flowers; it was spectacular and felt like a walk in the Michigan woods. But the HOA wanted everyone to have a stupid lawn for no other reason than aesthetics, so they forced him to yank it all out and spend Saturday sitting on a mower instead of doing something else.

They're an artificial construct that wastes water and time, IMHO.

And besides, would you rather ride a mower or your motorcycle?

milo said:

Then: fill your glass from the faucet.

Now: open a plastic bottle of "filtered" water.

My niece and her husband were visiting this Summer and standing in the kitchen by the refrigerator. She asked if they could have some water? I said sure, glasses are in the cabinet left of the sink. She got two out then opened the refrigerator, looked around inside for a minute, and said "I don't see any?" I honestly had to think for a moment what she meant, then it dawned on me and when I said just fill them from the faucet they both looked at each other then filled their glasses. She said "we try to drink purified water but this is alright."

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When the dental issues start to rise, maybe people will remember that you get fluoride from your water department and the water will be at least as clean, if not cleaner than anything coming out of a bottle.

And for goodness sake, think about all those plastic bottles! Get an insulated water bottle and fill it out of the tap. If you're compulsive, it takes an hour to install a filter under the sink.

I see people buying drinking water in plastic bottles and can't help but wonder why on earth one would do that?

kbasa said:

I live in an arid climate. Wasting water on a lawn isn't something I can get behind in the least. I think that just about anywhere in the west, lawns don't really have a place, especially in arid climates. But, sure enough, people move from back east and the first thing they do in a place that gets 10 inches of rain a year is plant a lawn and a maple tree.


And besides, would you rather ride a mower or your motorcycle?

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I can understand that if you live in a dry area. I'm too cheap to water a lawn
I'm a little weird and like taking care of the lawn. There's something about the nice soft Bluegrass we have in the Midwest.