Get out Much?

I grew up in a suburban neighbourhood. The type of place where the buses are infrequent and a pain to use. You drive everywhere and walk nowhere.

Now I live downtown. I walk everywhere as it's faster than taking the bus. I reserve my bus trips for going to mall or the far ends of town. I very very rarely get to go in a car now, which is why car rides have become a big deal.

I discovered recently that I am not alone in enjoying car rides now just for the sake of having a ride. There had been a large group of us who had gone to support a friend who was taking part in a play. This was community theatre at its best. It also was held out in the middle of nowhere - relative to downtown.

Driving back into town, my friend and I were in the back of the car exclaiming about how rarely we get to go in cars. We noted that we had no idea where we were. The four of us made dismissive noises about the fact that we' were in the middle of nowhere.

Then I spotted Ikea. "Ikea's all the way out here?" The two of us in the back starting paying attention to the different stores and buildings we were passing, trying to orient ourselves. We started pointing out the different places of note. "So that's where that store is. I see their ads all the time. I didn't know that store was all the way out here." "I didn't know we had that store. Look over there."

It quickly became apparent that we rarely get out of the downtown area. We hit the tourist level. "Look it's the National Post building," my friend went and then together we chorused, "The Ottawa Citizen." We had reached full blown tourist stage. The two in the front turned around to stare at us as we collapsed in a fit of giggles.

Our friend in the front turned to the driver. "These girls would make a cheap date." she said. "All you'd have to do is take them to Dairy Queen, buy them a toffee parfait and then take them driving around town. They'd have a blast." We were about to retaliate when we caught sight of another landmark and together we chorused, 'Look it's the Weston AND the Hilton." Our reputation was then sealed as the two girls who didn't get out enough.

We didn't care. We were having too much fun driving around in car, laughing at ourselves and how ridiculous we'd become. Walking will do that to you.

Apparently it isn't that far out. Another group walked back. It took them an hour. But that's a story for another day.