The
Mercantile Library's mercurial Executive Director, Albert Pyle weighs in on everything from scooters to West End housing stock. You won't want to miss this four-part series from the man who keeps Cincinnati's oldest and most unique literary treasure running.
read full bio
Post Four - Commuting
Posted By: Albert Pyle
4/4/2008
My house on Cutter Street in the West End is 1.3 miles from my place of work on Walnut Street, around the corner from Fountain Square. 1.3 miles is precisely .4 miles longer than I would have chosen for my commute. It takes 23 to 24.5 minutes to walk to work or, more important, home for lunch where I like to indulge in a tuna sandwich and take a five minute nap on the sofa. When I walk home on the lunch hour, I have to bolt that tuna and forget about the nap. I could, I suppose, step up the pace, or take a route that does not go past Gus Miller’s hat shop, where I am often distracted by the possibilities Gus offers those of us who have been ordered by the dermatologist to stay covered. So, if I walk, I have to shell out for lunch in town. (One reader of a local blog whined about the lack of cheap lunches downtown. Other commenters piled on quickly. They’re all over the place. Nice the way the blogosphere self corrects.) I have my choice of three bus routes, but by the time you’ve shelled out three bucks for a round trip, you might as well have bought the six inch tuna at Subway. So I have a brace of commuting solutions, the motor scooter and the bike. The motor scooter takes eight minutes, but messes with my carbon footprint which I’m trying to keep down to a 9D. The bike takes ten minutes, but I get screamed at by local drivers who seem to believe bicycles are demonic. It’s always something.
I’m curious. Are you reading this on your BlackBerry while stuck in the traffic coming in from West Chester on the Mill Creek “Expressway” or are you waiting for the tow trucks to pull the jackknifed semi-trailer from the Cut In The Hill?