To me the films of the Banff Mtn FF are the only ones really worth watching. Forget about Hollywood, Bollywood and all the rest of it. At Banff they show awesome stuff that's real and amazing and thought-provoking. Of course we love the action films, people skiing, mountain biking, canoeing, climbing etc. the most beautiful, the least accessible, the wildes places on Earth. But there is other films that we love for example the journey of Tim Cope who walked from Mongolia to Hungary with three horses and a dog to follow in the footsteps of Ghengis Khan. It took him 3.5 years! Or the documentation of a photographer who followed the Colorado river from its source through the Grand Canyon to its end which since 1998 is not the ocean any longer. So much water is redirected from the river and pumped hundreds and hundreds of miles even uphill into the desert for irrigation and to Las Vegas and Phoenix that the river actually does not reach the Gulf of California any more.
Every year watching the screenings makes me wonder why I live in a city, far from the ocean and the mountains. I am not a city person and nature is disappearing around at an alarming rate and still I have to consider getting into the outdoors as a treat because I am stuck in a city. I'd much rather wake up in the morning looking out the window and be in awe over the natural beauty that's still there. Dare I to mention that my husband is getting to the point where he wants to move across the big point. Sure, for different reasons than me but does not matter in the end. At least we'd have a train network to take us out of the city or into the city since we might not have to live in one to start with, without a car.
By the way, the show finished at 11 PM and it would have been a 20 minutes wait for the bus to ride it 10 minuted home. It turns once and goes straight down (in fact mostly downhill) the road. Considering outside temperatures (below -10 C) I said to my husband I'd be faster home running. It took me 15 minutes. Since he is not fit enough to run he walked and was home in 30 minutes. The bus passed him as he walked up to our front door. Meanwhile lots and lots of cars were slowly moving out the parking lots as hundreds and hundreds of people tried to get home. I know it's a vicious circle but it will need people first to take the bus before the buses run more often, not the other way around.
People will only use a system if it's good or they're too poor for any alternative. The public needs to be interested in motivating the government to make it good. People in Ottawa use the buses because it covers everywhere and it's on time. They don't in Peterborough because they're few and far between and only really cover the most major routes.
ReplyDeleteI agree. The Grand River Transit is not actually that bad but still slower than my bike and sometimes m feet. So then I take it in bad weather only. With a Light Rail train there's hope too that rich people find public transit more attractive. I think though people also need to want to help the environment more. I met somebody who said she had to consciously make the decision to drive home from work and then hop on her bike for errands etc. because her habit is to just keep going in the car. When winter came she put the bike away again (which I can't blame her for since the salt is terrible for bikes).
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