High Speed City

Everything is moving so fast! Life in the city is moving at a blistering pace. On my walk today I was on a path along a road. The speed limit on that road is 30 mph. I know this because I've driven on the road many times. It's a residential area, so there's are always people crossing the road, pulling out of their driveways, or just walking on the footpath along the road like I was. There's a reason why we have speed limits. Those cars people drive are potential killing machines. One wrong swerve of the steering wheel and they could take down dozens of pedestrians, since the footpaths are on the same level as the road.

It may not surprise you to hear that virtually every vehicle that I saw driving down the road during the time I was watching was going faster than the speed limit. I know this because there is a display that measures the speed of oncoming vehicles and gives a facial expression related to the measured speed; a smile for speeds under 30 and a frown otherwise. The device displayed a frown permanently with speeds all over 30 mph. One car even clocked 55 mph as it overtook another, very narrowly avoiding crashing into an island in the road.

People were moving fast too. I was walking at a normal pace, so not particularly slowly or anything, and I do have long legs, but I still managed to be the slowest person on the path. People passed me right and left as they hurried off to wherever. I managed to make eye contact, including a "hellooooooo", from one elderly woman at an intersection who had stopped walking only because she had to cross the road. Even with what appeared to be a problem with her leg, arthritis or prosthetics related I don't know, she took off like a rocket once the road was clear to cross.

Everybody else had their eyes glossed over, laser-focused on their destination, or whatever. The only other person that noticed the fact that there about six colourful hot air balloons overhead was a man with two cameras around his neck. Ah, a photographer and likely a slow lifer. We nodded at each other, as if in acknowledgement of the above suggested, as I stepped to one corner to enjoy the sight overhead.

Slowing down even more /

I mentioned above that I saw a photographer on my walk. I actually did more than nod at him. We stopped for a little while and talked about his cameras. One of them was an analogue (film) camera which I was quite familiar with. I think he was surprised that someone random on the streets would be into film photography, let alone recognise the camera he was carrying.

I used to own hundreds of them, I kid you not, hundreds. I sold most of them and have tiny few left. There is one that I know that works for sure, while the others are probably paperweights. That one, the Canon EOS 300, is still sitting on my shelf, ready to be called into action anytime. I am now considering buying some film and incorporating a little analogue photography into my walks. The only thing though is that might slow me down a little too much, and the exercise aspect of my walk might be list altogether. I don't know, maybe I'll stagger the days about.

Peace & Love,

Adé