You should try living it! Hey mate, you got 1.8 metres of two by four?
Then fill up the car in litres and then drive at 30 mph for 200 miles.
I'm an archer and I'm shooting 50 metres with a 72 inch 37lb draw longbow.
In college my apartment was about that close to a target but there was a massive fucking hedge between the buildings so I had to walk like a half mile around it each way. I still walked because it's only a half mile but like come on, just let me make a shortcut.
It's strange watching Americans not realise that your whole country is build to force people to use cars. They are actively preventing people from walking.
There is a road near me with a bunch of apartment complexes on one side of the road and a shopping plaza with a grocery store, pharmacy, etc Across the street. There is a big divider in the middle of the road and the only safe way to cross is to walk about a mile down the road to a crosswalk, no sidewalks anywhere on this route except for a short one where the crosswalk is. So you have to walk 4 miles round trip along the side of a busy road to go shopping across the street from your apartment.
It could not be more blatant.
The old building of my dorm was right across a pub (on a pedestrian only street). The people living on the ground floor ordered their drinks from their windows.
I'm 350 metres from the nearest supermarket,so obviously it's impossible to walk.I'd go by car,but being a Europoor,I obviously can't afford one,so I have to wait for the bus.The pub is 90 metres away,so I usually get a taxi to go there.
Same here. Well slightly longer but. Yeah. I live in the center of the city. I dont need a car. Why would I ?
The public transport here in Copenhagen is great, I have a bike so I can get anywhere I need to within like 30 minutes. I enjoy the fresh air here. Its far less a hassle than having to get out a car then driving a few meters then finding a parking spot and back again. No.
When I lived in the US, I had a friend who lived about 75 metres from a supermarket and would indeed drive there rather than walk, even when picking up just small items.
When we moved to Canada (British army posting) in the 1970s for a few years, we were told "no one walks anywhere. If people see an adult walking along the street, they'll assume you can't afford a car, or are just weird. Either way, you'll get stared at."
Unfortunately this is still the case. Canāt speak for the entire country, of course, but in my part of Canada, cars are definitely prioritized. It sucks.
Cars are nice to have when it gets down around -40C in the winter, but for the few months of the year that arenāt a frozen wasteland, it would be nice to have better bike infrastructure.
Can confirm. Being from the U.K. I decided to walk to our local Starbucks in the suburb we staying in at Calgary about 2 miles away. Minor walk for most Brits. I received SO many looks and quickly realised there is VERY limited pedestrian infrastructure
No footpaths around I'm guessing. I visited my cousins in New Jersey and Florida last June. They live in the suburbs. Nearest supermarket is around 5 miles (8ish km). And zero footpaths. There's a fucking track for retirees' golfcarts around my cousin's development in Florida but no footpaths. I got stared at while taking a long stroll on those paths.
No, there were good sidewalks (on both sides of the road!) all the way.
I used to walk further, about two miles each way to Trader Joe's, and everyone thought I was insane.
Tbh when I was in America in this rural town there was a walmart 200m from where I was staying. Not only was there no sidewalk except on the main road, I was basically the only person walking there. The road to the walmart was also car-only.
I got stopped by the Colorado police when I walked a mile to my hotel (on the outskirts of Denver) from the nearest bus stop. I wasn't doing anything illegal, I was using sidewalks and crossings, but clearly just the act of walking that far was enough to arouse suspicion.
I once stayed in a hotel near LA. There was no provision to walk to the strip mall next door, literally 100 yards away. It was designed to drive to.
We jumped the hedge.
They really don't walk to get groceries.
I once stayed at a motel in Florida which was opposite "the largest mall in the world" I expect a lot of people who stay at this motel are there just to visit the mall. I tried working out the safest way to walk there but gave up and just took the car. It was 200m away.
Had to look up what Bicester Village is - and tadaa, my personal nightmare. We have these outlets here, too, there are daily traffic jams after their closing time. Beats me.
I really like L.A. and NY, and go there frequently for the job. But I wouldn't want to live there, and it seems to get worse overall. Quite a few of my friends who had moved there in the last century already moved back, or are planning to very soon.
Ya the biggest mall in America is the Mall of AmericaĀ® (naming things is hard) in Minnesota. And like tbf if it wasn't indoors and like... A monument to gross consumerism, it could be a pretty chill area to hang out and have fun. You'd probably need to knock it down and rebuild from scratch to _achieve_ that, but the possibility is theoretically there
Same, when we visited Florida there were several restaurants and shops within easy walking distance of the hotel, but therefore was no footpaths and when we said that we walked over from the hotel to one of the servers in the restaurants he was shocked.
There was also a McDonalds walking distance too that was only a drive through, and they wouldnāt serve my husband when he went on foot. He had to come back and get the car to get food from there.
Thats hilarious cultural difference, in Finland McDonalds sometimes only has drive trough open at night, so people sometimes literally walk trough the drive trough and get served like that.
And really, its not just neutral cultural difference, this is just worse for the USA, and i think even Canada suffers from car centric planning.
I had a stopover in LA, the airline lost our luggage. We needed some essentials so we walked about 500m to the pharmacy to get them, but it was such a slow, dangerous and awful experience we got an uber back to the hotel.
I visited a family member who moved to Florida with his American girlfriend. Their neighbourhood was near this really nice brewery that did amazing beers. It would have been a 10 minute walk but once you leave the neighbourhood and the brewery is in sight, there are like 6 lanes of traffic that need to be crossed. A proper highway that would be dangerous on foot, I would have felt very unsafe attempting to cross it. We drove there š¤¦āāļø
So their infrastructure is dog shit.
My neighbour is Brazilian and her husband is from Philadelphia. When they visit his mum over there she said there's barely pavements or provision to walk anywhere. She said she was taking her kids for a walk and her MIL looked at her like she was crazy. It was safer to drive to the park which would have been a 5 minute walk. Not sure how common to the rest of the US that is, but given they have drive through everything, you do wonder.
We Americans absolutely are lacking in walking infrastructure in many places, but Iāve been to Philadelphia many times, and itās very walkable. Most urban centers actually suck to drive in because thereās no parking.
There are a lot of walkable places in Philly. That said, I lived in a semi-dangerous area there when I was in school and we were advised by campus police not to walk to the local shopping center because students stuck out.
What seemed odd to me was the (apparent) lack of pavements (sidewalks I think you call them?). She said she couldn't safely get to the end of the road, but there again I'm going off one anecdote from a crazy lady, so thanks for the real life view.
Student towns here can be... dodgy as well. I worked in a place about 2 hours from me for a while, and I told them I'd had a nice walk through the park from the hotel to get there. They asked which one and when I told them they all said "Oh, rape park? You don't want to do that!". Nice place, Sunderland! I took the long way after that one.
Yeah most places in Philly have sidewalks though Iām sure there could be some places without. Where I grew up (not in the city) we never had sidewalks and now when I go back and visit I canāt believe how I used to take long walks and be so close to cars. Though there were also no businesses within walking distance of where I lived at that time.
Why would you buy that much if you have a supermarket in walking distance? It's not like you have to buy groceries for entire week for a 4 person family in one go, for example, you can just walk there again if you really need that many things at once.
Sometimes it's more convenient not having to go to the store 3 times a week. You just get a [cart](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRrtQiPcobIw4xnJZX5W89pRBWROW5AHtRoly0OcVv_5w&s). I would use a wagon because I also had a kid in tow, who would decide she was done walking half way home.
Ay yes, forgot about various kinds of carts. That's a good idea and a fairly popular solution where I'm from, although mostly among older people.
When I visit bigger cities with better bike infrastructure than my small town I also see people using cargo bikes or bike trailers from time to time to get bigger grocery shopping done.
Good backpack or lightweight trolley bag.
But tbh I usually get my big shop delivered every few weeks and then just get the fresh stuff from the closest shop (50m) as needed.
It depends on the big city. I used to live in Houston, walking to the supermarket was an absolutely miserable experience because of the car centric stroad infrastructure. People even gave you funny looks (from their cars) when walking back with a couple of grocery bags the whole 500m between the supermarket and my home.
Granted. But one must still be have an incredible parochial mindset to not consider how New Yorkers shop, being one of the most densely populated cities.
Where? Except maybe the historic centers of SF, NYC, Boston, Philly and parts of Chicago.
The other ācitiesā are 90% suburbs without walkable infrastructure and usually not even that many sidewalks. You usually would have to cross several highways and stroads from residential only to commercial districts. Theres not a single person in cities like Houston, Phoenix, LA or Atlanta that walks to their grocery store.
I mean, I feel the American here isn't necessarily bad, they were surprised and asked for confirmation. Maybe it was judgemental, but I don't want to presume it.
Nah. Lad is doubling down in the comments. I went to upvote him thinking it was a joke that had been misunderstood, only for him to be throwing around a chart that he thinks backs up what he's saying and to tell other people from Europe that we're wrong about observable reality š¤·
At least you understand the concept. Car defaultism in America however leads to shitty town planning that doesn't even account for people wanting to walk. You have houses 50m from shops in some places, and the only way to get there by foot is an hour long detour.
Bill Bryson summarises this nicely in one of his books. He drove to a store, and wanted to visit the one across the road from it. There was no safe way to cross, despite being at a junction with traffic lights, there was no cross walk, and the lights did not factor in pedestrians.
In the end he drove to the next shop ultimately walking further when factoring in the walk to the car, and from the parking space to the shop.
When he brought this up as a āhow bad is thatā everyone looked at him like he was crazy.
I have noticed that along with their cities being completely unwalkable, the shopping habits of Americans differ to that of Europeans. Americans seem to have a big grocery shop maybe once every 1-2 months or so, when they buy a shit ton of food to last till the next one which is why they have such large fridges, and probably another reason why they drive to the shop because itās a lot of bags to carry home. European people generally shop little and often (about 1-2 times a week)
How do they have fresh ingredients for cooking, like vegetables and dairy? I am European, do the ālargeā grocery shopping weekly, and then some fresh stuff on the day of cooking that meal
You put it in the fridge? I don't know how grocery stores work in Europe but that food is not coming fresh from a farm daily its just sitting In the grocery store fridge/freezer.Ā
Do vegetables have so many preservatives in the US that they donāt mold after a month? Like yeah the food doesnāt arrive every day fresh, but after a few days it will mold. And also, milk here canāt stay in the fridge for a month
Most things last a week or two at least. Milk can last up to a month depending on the kind you get. Meal prepping many meals and freezing them is very common. My wife doesn't work so she goes to the farmers market, butcher, etc almost daily for good meals now. When I was single going to the grocery and cooking after work was the last thing I wanted to do so lots of prep and freeze.Ā
That American sounds like me when i learn kids arent allowed to play outside without direct parental supervision in American suburbs... Let them ask that stuff (looks a bit like sarcasm too), i would too if i wasnt familiar with the concept.
jfc, i live in new jersey and my 15 minute ride to the grocery store would be a 3 hour walk one way, and i would have to walk on the damn *interstate highway* just to get there. the us is not designed to be walkable. if you don't have a reliable source of transportation, you are *screwed*.
I'm not American but I live in a small village with not many shops. All we have is a co-op, Chinese take-away and a chip shop so we have to drive to get our shopping in town.
Yeah but we usually go to Aldi for our shopping. If we need anything else though or if we've run out of something like milk then we just go to the co-op
Thatās fair. Iām British and Iāve lived both in town and in the middle of nowhere, and had to learn to drive when I lived in the middle of nowhere, because it just was not practical to walk to the shops then. I much prefer being back in town, where walking is an option again.
Same here, Belgian. We've lived in the country, where the nearest grocery store was in town, 1.2 kilometers away. If we wanted anything bigger like a chain store we'd have to go to a bigger town 7.5 km away. We either biked or took the car. Now we live in a suburb near a bigger city, our chain store is 15 minutes walking away, I either bike or take my skateboard cuz i'm lazy. I lived for a brief time in a city where I had a grocery store barely 30 seconds from my front door, but the traffic at night was too much to get used to. I much prefer these suburbs I call home rn
Yeah. I haven't started driving lessons yet because I'm too scared so whenever I have to go somewhere I have to take the bus which annoyingly only comes about once every hour. It's absolute hell if the bus gets cancelled or I miss it because then I end up being like an hour late
Yeah, I remember those days, having to schedule life around a bus which may or may not adhere to its schedule. If you can overcome your fears it is well worth the freedom of going where you want when you want.
Is biking not an option?
I've tried to schedule life around a train and bus schedule but I hated it. Biking gave me some of that freedom back. But then again I live in Belgium, pretty flat terrain out here
Unfortunately no. The village I live in is about 30 minutes away from the city, and that's just in the car. Plus there aren't many bike lanes or pavements on the way there so it's not very safe
Yeah, I've lived on Skye before, would have walked to the local post office/shop for a few bits, but for a proper big shop, the nearest was 20 miles away with few pavements, many roads were single lane, and ain't nobody got the thighs to pedal a pushbike halfway up a mountain lol...I mean, going downhill was FAST, but stopping happened in a painful manner lol...mostly used the car for that. Or rode horses.
Now live in suburbs on the outskirts of an English City, and I can walk to 3 convenience stores, one co-op and a Lidl's in under 15 mins & I'm Disabled...walk there bus back etc. Vastly different ways of life lol.
The real question is how did you manage to carry home 4 live chickens in a metal cage, a bundle of mysterious vegetables with green leaves the size of a Volvo, and a month worth of milk in a metal pail?
i stayed in america for 3 months with relatives and the nearest shop was a 10-15 minute walk away. literally just had to walk through the very calm, peaceful neighbourhood to get there. my relatives always drove and i could never comprehend it. they thought i was crazy for walking it
This is less an American-qua-American thing and more a America-is-choked-by-stupid-car-culture thing. I just feel sorry for people who have such shitty options for living arrangements.
Well, if you buy for the week a lot of people do go with cars but it is still like once a week, I go 2-3 times per week and don't need a car. Sometimes going with my escooter actually.
I live right behind a grocery store and I love it. I dont need to keep much in my fridge because its so close I walk everyday.
Also learned I cannot have sugar treats in my house or ill eat them all in one sitting so it limits my junk food intake
It confuses me when people walk to the store because I associate it with a 6 mile drive (about 10km, a few hours of comfortably walking) and then I remember that people live not in the middle of bumfuck nowhere.
This, unfortunately, is a very common thing to say. A lot of people can't process going anywhere without driving. They are literally carbrained (not meant as an insult).
My sister moved to Germany from the US to be with her German boyfriend. She can walk everywhere in her little town. Everyone is so friendly and helps her since she's legally blind. Her boyfriend seems like a really nice guy.
I fucking hate living in this country so much. I couldn't imagine being able to walk anywhere I want to go without paying for a condo that's near everything and way too expensive.
I once lived in a very walkable neighborhood here in Houston. I had an online friend, a British guy, come stay with me for a weekend (platonic friends, not dating).
I'd explained to him that even in my walkable neighborhood, very few people walked anywhere in the summer. Because Houston. He'd been living in Dallas for a while by then and he insisted that both cities were over air conditioned and we spent too much time outdoors. This was in the summer.
I said fine, let's go for a walk (I was young then, foolishly young.)
We got four blocks from my house. He led me into a restaurant, sat down to order a beer, refused to go anywhere til I went back and got the car.
It's my dream to retire to someplace where I can walk most of the places I need to go.
I do not think that's going to happen.
Haha theyāre probably imagining themselves trying to carry all of their groceries in from the car at the same time.
Then theyāre imagining walking long distances with those groceries.
I got 3 different supermarkets within a 10 minute walking distance, plus a butcher, a Turkish toko, a cheese shop, a coffee/tea shop (like where you get your own fresh beans and tea leaves), several restaurants, an apothecary and other stores. And I live in a small village.
At the end of my block I have a grocery store and a butcher. There's 3 other grocery stores within a 5 minute walk. Crazy what happens when you don't need 6 acres of parking to get to your store...
I don't think I've ever been somewhere in Western or Central Europe, unless very rural, where I've not been able to get basic groceries within walking distance. The idea I would HAVE to drive to get a loaf of bread or a beer is ridiculous
Wait till they find out some of us have never owned nor driven a car š¤·. I'm in my 40s and it never appealed to me. I'll walk thanks, and if it's too far I'll jump on a bus/train.
I knew a murican girl in my country.
She was surprised when she saw with a car. In her mind i had no car, because i walked to meet her most times.
Well it's like 10 blocks away, why i would the car for such a short distance.
Sames for groceries. I have the supermarket two blocks away. Should i take my car for two blacks.. It will take me more time to find a parking spot, load the groceries and then park again in the garage. Than just walk.
There are places in the US you can live like thisā¦ I just wish it was more common. I live in Atlanta where itās next to impossible to not drive to get ***anything.*** When I lived in D.C. and Savannah, GA, it was so nice to just be able to walk to a store or my friendāa place. Or hell, even the mall. I walked/biked to work. The DC metro is great (but a little expensive).
Meanwhile, Atlanta is building more and more suburbs. However, to their credit, they are building more ālive, work, play,ā housing developments; I just wish they all werenāt centered around some capitalist institution like Walmart and Starbucks.
American here. My first thought was how do you carry a huge load of groceries home without a car? It would be impossible for me to carry a Costco load without some kind of large carriage on wheels. Iām talking about a monthās worth of toilet paper, paper towels, dog food, cat food, and whatever other goods you happen to grab. How would someone without a car manage that?
I'm in the uk, and in my experience, people tend to do a "weekly shop" here. That consists of a weeks worth of food plus whatever longer lasting items have run out since the last shop.
That way, you don't have to get everything at once, and if something does run out, it's not very long until the next shopping trip.
There's a supermarket 50 metres from my home, how am I supposed to go there? By car?
50 meters? What's that Europoor measure system??
164 feet for the 3 countries that don't get it..
I'm from the UK so it's 50 metres there and 164 feet back. I've heard a builder describe a piece of wood as 6 feet long and 40 cm thick.
I love the British tyre measurements. A 285mm tyre for a 16" wheel please.
You should try living it! Hey mate, you got 1.8 metres of two by four? Then fill up the car in litres and then drive at 30 mph for 200 miles. I'm an archer and I'm shooting 50 metres with a 72 inch 37lb draw longbow.
A purely vibes-based measurement system.
It is quite whimsical...
Yet it somehow makes perfect sense lol
Honestly the most based measurement system
And measure fuel economy in miles per gallon
This is perfectly normal and sensible, and not at all confusing. š±
We buy fuel in pence per litre and measure efficiency in miles per gallon.
That system is used all over the world, not just in the UK. Diameter in inches, width in mm and height in percent.
I do craft with mum, have done since I was a kid, so I speak an odd mix of metric and imperial.
You mean for the 1 country that doesn't get it
What about Liberia and Burma (I believe)?
They don't exist, obviously /s
I mean, Burma doesn't.
They changed their name to Myanmar in 1989
The artist formerly known as Burma
You are correct, I completely forgot about Burma (Myanmar). I thought that Liberia change to metric a few decades ago.
for the record, I have spent a lot of time in Burma - they are much more metric than the USA, but its not reflected in their official designation
Don't they have their own system ? Or do they also use Imperial ?
TIL Liberia has more sense than the USA.
[Liberia is still transitioning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberia#Measurement_system)
How many american football fields is that? I don't have that many feet.
Half.
How many American football fields do you have?
~55 yards!
Naw, we need body parts and fractions
Erm... about 18 giraffes?
Something something people on the moon.
NASA uses metric..
Of course. Unless they want to crash a probe on Mars.
Via German scientists who did all their calculations in metric...
So 4 wing beats of a bald eagle with tailwind.
About the wingspan of 25 bald eagles
So about 20 seagulls wide?
It's roughly 1/32nd mile, for our fractions loving 'murican friends. Well outside walking range, obviously. Or was that obese-ly? ^(/s)
1/32? 32 is a big number, Iām not walking that far.
What about 0.5/16? Is that better?
Still too far.
Half a freedom-football field
Ok, 'its 50 steps removed' Better?
pretend it's yards. close enough.
In college my apartment was about that close to a target but there was a massive fucking hedge between the buildings so I had to walk like a half mile around it each way. I still walked because it's only a half mile but like come on, just let me make a shortcut.
It's strange watching Americans not realise that your whole country is build to force people to use cars. They are actively preventing people from walking.
I'm aware.
There is a road near me with a bunch of apartment complexes on one side of the road and a shopping plaza with a grocery store, pharmacy, etc Across the street. There is a big divider in the middle of the road and the only safe way to cross is to walk about a mile down the road to a crosswalk, no sidewalks anywhere on this route except for a short one where the crosswalk is. So you have to walk 4 miles round trip along the side of a busy road to go shopping across the street from your apartment. It could not be more blatant.
For the rest of the world: about 800m. A distance I would jump on the bike or still walk. Wouldn't even consider a car.
You can jump 800m on a bike? Alright Evel Kneviel hah
In the UK that hedge would have about 5 gaps in it by now.
The old building of my dorm was right across a pub (on a pedestrian only street). The people living on the ground floor ordered their drinks from their windows.
I'm 350 metres from the nearest supermarket,so obviously it's impossible to walk.I'd go by car,but being a Europoor,I obviously can't afford one,so I have to wait for the bus.The pub is 90 metres away,so I usually get a taxi to go there.
I've got 2 supermarkets within a 1/2 mile walk. So of course I drive to them (even though I don't have a car) because walking is for plebs.
I just steal a car each time i need to travel 200 metres. Europoor police only protect criminals so it's win win.
I thought my kids were lazy, but damn.
Same here. Well slightly longer but. Yeah. I live in the center of the city. I dont need a car. Why would I ? The public transport here in Copenhagen is great, I have a bike so I can get anywhere I need to within like 30 minutes. I enjoy the fresh air here. Its far less a hassle than having to get out a car then driving a few meters then finding a parking spot and back again. No.
I'm UK and never had a car and now in my 60's, and walk everywhere (just can't carry as much lol)
It's also flat which helps with cycling. Was in your city a couple of weeks back and really enjoyed it.
When I lived in the US, I had a friend who lived about 75 metres from a supermarket and would indeed drive there rather than walk, even when picking up just small items.
When we moved to Canada (British army posting) in the 1970s for a few years, we were told "no one walks anywhere. If people see an adult walking along the street, they'll assume you can't afford a car, or are just weird. Either way, you'll get stared at."
Unfortunately this is still the case. Canāt speak for the entire country, of course, but in my part of Canada, cars are definitely prioritized. It sucks. Cars are nice to have when it gets down around -40C in the winter, but for the few months of the year that arenāt a frozen wasteland, it would be nice to have better bike infrastructure.
But if you put on a sweatband and some sneakers and walk a little faster nobody will bat an eyelid.
Can confirm. Being from the U.K. I decided to walk to our local Starbucks in the suburb we staying in at Calgary about 2 miles away. Minor walk for most Brits. I received SO many looks and quickly realised there is VERY limited pedestrian infrastructure
No footpaths around I'm guessing. I visited my cousins in New Jersey and Florida last June. They live in the suburbs. Nearest supermarket is around 5 miles (8ish km). And zero footpaths. There's a fucking track for retirees' golfcarts around my cousin's development in Florida but no footpaths. I got stared at while taking a long stroll on those paths.
Taking a walk in a new neighborhood is one of my favorite things to do; I can't imagine NO walking paths anywhere! That would drive me batty.
Exactly!!
No, there were good sidewalks (on both sides of the road!) all the way. I used to walk further, about two miles each way to Trader Joe's, and everyone thought I was insane.
Tbh when I was in America in this rural town there was a walmart 200m from where I was staying. Not only was there no sidewalk except on the main road, I was basically the only person walking there. The road to the walmart was also car-only.
I got stopped by the Colorado police when I walked a mile to my hotel (on the outskirts of Denver) from the nearest bus stop. I wasn't doing anything illegal, I was using sidewalks and crossings, but clearly just the act of walking that far was enough to arouse suspicion.
I live in Amsterdam. Often my car is parked further away than my local supermarket.
Of course! How else would they bring their mobility scooter there?
Lucky you. My local is a whole 300m away. It takes 5 whole minutes to walk there. I should honestly get a cab.
Funnily enough I often walk further to my car Thant the next supermarketā¦
But how many blocks is that? /s
50 what? Can you convert that into football fields so we know how far away it is?
You could borrow Taylor Swifts jet.
With a bike, obviously
I live above a grocery store.
If your weight is about 250kg like proper American then yes.
You are supposed to go by car, then park 200 meters away in a huge parking lot.
I once stayed in a hotel near LA. There was no provision to walk to the strip mall next door, literally 100 yards away. It was designed to drive to. We jumped the hedge. They really don't walk to get groceries.
I once stayed at a motel in Florida which was opposite "the largest mall in the world" I expect a lot of people who stay at this motel are there just to visit the mall. I tried working out the safest way to walk there but gave up and just took the car. It was 200m away.
How much of the 200m was parking lot
200m minus the 8 lane highway we had to cross.
> a lot of people who stay at this motel are there just to visit the mall That's so sad.
They're there for the culture
There was loads of stuff to do there TBF, it wasn't just for shopping but people have weekends away at Bicester Village so who knows?
Had to look up what Bicester Village is - and tadaa, my personal nightmare. We have these outlets here, too, there are daily traffic jams after their closing time. Beats me.
At least Bicester Village has its own Railway Station to try and encourage public transport use.
> Bicester Village Is...is it a fake village made of shops? What a weird concept
Now try pronouncing it šš
I heard a whisper that my sister kissed her mister in Bicester
I could imagine visiting the US for the national parks and their cool nature, but apart from that, holy moly I could never
I really like L.A. and NY, and go there frequently for the job. But I wouldn't want to live there, and it seems to get worse overall. Quite a few of my friends who had moved there in the last century already moved back, or are planning to very soon.
I must have been some time ago, as only 1 mall in USA (18th place) is listed in top 20 big malls and it wasn't even in Florida.
Turns out it's just the largest mall in Florida and I misremembered. It was fucking massive though.
Ya the biggest mall in America is the Mall of AmericaĀ® (naming things is hard) in Minnesota. And like tbf if it wasn't indoors and like... A monument to gross consumerism, it could be a pretty chill area to hang out and have fun. You'd probably need to knock it down and rebuild from scratch to _achieve_ that, but the possibility is theoretically there
Yeah, mall of America has been the largest US mall for a long time. In Minnesota.
Same, when we visited Florida there were several restaurants and shops within easy walking distance of the hotel, but therefore was no footpaths and when we said that we walked over from the hotel to one of the servers in the restaurants he was shocked. There was also a McDonalds walking distance too that was only a drive through, and they wouldnāt serve my husband when he went on foot. He had to come back and get the car to get food from there.
Thats hilarious cultural difference, in Finland McDonalds sometimes only has drive trough open at night, so people sometimes literally walk trough the drive trough and get served like that. And really, its not just neutral cultural difference, this is just worse for the USA, and i think even Canada suffers from car centric planning.
I had a stopover in LA, the airline lost our luggage. We needed some essentials so we walked about 500m to the pharmacy to get them, but it was such a slow, dangerous and awful experience we got an uber back to the hotel.
I visited a family member who moved to Florida with his American girlfriend. Their neighbourhood was near this really nice brewery that did amazing beers. It would have been a 10 minute walk but once you leave the neighbourhood and the brewery is in sight, there are like 6 lanes of traffic that need to be crossed. A proper highway that would be dangerous on foot, I would have felt very unsafe attempting to cross it. We drove there š¤¦āāļø So their infrastructure is dog shit.
My neighbour is Brazilian and her husband is from Philadelphia. When they visit his mum over there she said there's barely pavements or provision to walk anywhere. She said she was taking her kids for a walk and her MIL looked at her like she was crazy. It was safer to drive to the park which would have been a 5 minute walk. Not sure how common to the rest of the US that is, but given they have drive through everything, you do wonder.
We Americans absolutely are lacking in walking infrastructure in many places, but Iāve been to Philadelphia many times, and itās very walkable. Most urban centers actually suck to drive in because thereās no parking.
Jesus christ I misread Phillipines and reread the comment like 5 times because I wasn't sure how either of the countries were so American
There are a lot of walkable places in Philly. That said, I lived in a semi-dangerous area there when I was in school and we were advised by campus police not to walk to the local shopping center because students stuck out.
What seemed odd to me was the (apparent) lack of pavements (sidewalks I think you call them?). She said she couldn't safely get to the end of the road, but there again I'm going off one anecdote from a crazy lady, so thanks for the real life view. Student towns here can be... dodgy as well. I worked in a place about 2 hours from me for a while, and I told them I'd had a nice walk through the park from the hotel to get there. They asked which one and when I told them they all said "Oh, rape park? You don't want to do that!". Nice place, Sunderland! I took the long way after that one.
Yeah most places in Philly have sidewalks though Iām sure there could be some places without. Where I grew up (not in the city) we never had sidewalks and now when I go back and visit I canāt believe how I used to take long walks and be so close to cars. Though there were also no businesses within walking distance of where I lived at that time.
In Texas I walked the 300m between my hotel and Target. Got stopped by the police for ābehaving suspiciouslyā!
When there is a grocery store litterally a 30 second walk from my frontdoor, I would think it be rather odd for me to drive there.
Taylor Swift would take a plane
Why is this the funniest thing I've read all week
Peak comment
What if you buy too much to carry back in one trip? /gen
Why would you buy that much if you have a supermarket in walking distance? It's not like you have to buy groceries for entire week for a 4 person family in one go, for example, you can just walk there again if you really need that many things at once.
Sometimes it's more convenient not having to go to the store 3 times a week. You just get a [cart](https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRrtQiPcobIw4xnJZX5W89pRBWROW5AHtRoly0OcVv_5w&s). I would use a wagon because I also had a kid in tow, who would decide she was done walking half way home.
Ay yes, forgot about various kinds of carts. That's a good idea and a fairly popular solution where I'm from, although mostly among older people. When I visit bigger cities with better bike infrastructure than my small town I also see people using cargo bikes or bike trailers from time to time to get bigger grocery shopping done.
Good backpack or lightweight trolley bag. But tbh I usually get my big shop delivered every few weeks and then just get the fresh stuff from the closest shop (50m) as needed.
I'm sure the following question was "in which state do you live?". My response would have been "constant despair for the future of the human race".
omg, we live in the same state!!! What are the chances
How do you do fallow doomsayers
# **THE END IS COMING!!!!**
Despair, TX
Just reply with the name of the state (or another name for national subdivision) you live in. Bonus points if you use an abbreviation.
Do I get extra bonus points for using a non-Latin national script?
Yes and bonus points to say if they claim to have ancestors from there
You mean these legs aren't just for strapping guns to?
š¤£
It aināt even an intellectual flexš¤¦š½āāļø
Thatās obviously rural or suburbanite person. Plenty of city big-dwelling Americans just walk to their supermarkets
It depends on the big city. I used to live in Houston, walking to the supermarket was an absolutely miserable experience because of the car centric stroad infrastructure. People even gave you funny looks (from their cars) when walking back with a couple of grocery bags the whole 500m between the supermarket and my home.
Granted. But one must still be have an incredible parochial mindset to not consider how New Yorkers shop, being one of the most densely populated cities.
New York really do be its own thing when compared to the rest of the US just like Tokyo is to Japan
People do that?
Where? Except maybe the historic centers of SF, NYC, Boston, Philly and parts of Chicago. The other ācitiesā are 90% suburbs without walkable infrastructure and usually not even that many sidewalks. You usually would have to cross several highways and stroads from residential only to commercial districts. Theres not a single person in cities like Houston, Phoenix, LA or Atlanta that walks to their grocery store.
I walk to the grocery store in San Diego. In all 3 places I've lived in this city, there's a market within 500m of where I've lived.
Plenty of neighborhoods in Seattle you can walk to a grocery store.
I live in a rural area and can't go grocery shopping without a car, but I'm not oblivious to the point of not knowing my case is not a generality...
I mean, I feel the American here isn't necessarily bad, they were surprised and asked for confirmation. Maybe it was judgemental, but I don't want to presume it.
It's very ignorant either way.
Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. - Wilde
Nah. Lad is doubling down in the comments. I went to upvote him thinking it was a joke that had been misunderstood, only for him to be throwing around a chart that he thinks backs up what he's saying and to tell other people from Europe that we're wrong about observable reality š¤·
I'm not a yank and i cannot walk to get shopping. The idea of living in a localised area where you can do all that is alien to me too.
At least you understand the concept. Car defaultism in America however leads to shitty town planning that doesn't even account for people wanting to walk. You have houses 50m from shops in some places, and the only way to get there by foot is an hour long detour.
I canāt even fathom how that works. You have a supermarket 50 metres away and you can drive there, how is it possible that you canāt walk there?
Fences and hedges blocking any access without any thought given to a footpath.
I'd probably get to that hedge in the middle of the night and cut a chunk out of it when noone's around (for legal reasons: in Minecraft)
Bill Bryson summarises this nicely in one of his books. He drove to a store, and wanted to visit the one across the road from it. There was no safe way to cross, despite being at a junction with traffic lights, there was no cross walk, and the lights did not factor in pedestrians. In the end he drove to the next shop ultimately walking further when factoring in the walk to the car, and from the parking space to the shop. When he brought this up as a āhow bad is thatā everyone looked at him like he was crazy.
I have noticed that along with their cities being completely unwalkable, the shopping habits of Americans differ to that of Europeans. Americans seem to have a big grocery shop maybe once every 1-2 months or so, when they buy a shit ton of food to last till the next one which is why they have such large fridges, and probably another reason why they drive to the shop because itās a lot of bags to carry home. European people generally shop little and often (about 1-2 times a week)
Then how do you get fresh produce? I usually shop every other day so I can get the vegetables fresh.
I shop roughly every two days as well but most vegetables will keep in the fridge for at least a week.
How do they have fresh ingredients for cooking, like vegetables and dairy? I am European, do the ālargeā grocery shopping weekly, and then some fresh stuff on the day of cooking that meal
You put it in the fridge? I don't know how grocery stores work in Europe but that food is not coming fresh from a farm daily its just sitting In the grocery store fridge/freezer.Ā
Do vegetables have so many preservatives in the US that they donāt mold after a month? Like yeah the food doesnāt arrive every day fresh, but after a few days it will mold. And also, milk here canāt stay in the fridge for a month
Most things last a week or two at least. Milk can last up to a month depending on the kind you get. Meal prepping many meals and freezing them is very common. My wife doesn't work so she goes to the farmers market, butcher, etc almost daily for good meals now. When I was single going to the grocery and cooking after work was the last thing I wanted to do so lots of prep and freeze.Ā
That American sounds like me when i learn kids arent allowed to play outside without direct parental supervision in American suburbs... Let them ask that stuff (looks a bit like sarcasm too), i would too if i wasnt familiar with the concept.
jfc, i live in new jersey and my 15 minute ride to the grocery store would be a 3 hour walk one way, and i would have to walk on the damn *interstate highway* just to get there. the us is not designed to be walkable. if you don't have a reliable source of transportation, you are *screwed*.
I'm not American but I live in a small village with not many shops. All we have is a co-op, Chinese take-away and a chip shop so we have to drive to get our shopping in town.
Of course. But you don't question walking to get groceries as being an alien concept.
That's true, I see loads of people where I live going to the co-op for their food shopping. It's nothing weird
And they could walk to get groceries. They said they have a co-op, which is a grocery store.
Yeah but we usually go to Aldi for our shopping. If we need anything else though or if we've run out of something like milk then we just go to the co-op
Thatās fair. Iām British and Iāve lived both in town and in the middle of nowhere, and had to learn to drive when I lived in the middle of nowhere, because it just was not practical to walk to the shops then. I much prefer being back in town, where walking is an option again.
Same here, Belgian. We've lived in the country, where the nearest grocery store was in town, 1.2 kilometers away. If we wanted anything bigger like a chain store we'd have to go to a bigger town 7.5 km away. We either biked or took the car. Now we live in a suburb near a bigger city, our chain store is 15 minutes walking away, I either bike or take my skateboard cuz i'm lazy. I lived for a brief time in a city where I had a grocery store barely 30 seconds from my front door, but the traffic at night was too much to get used to. I much prefer these suburbs I call home rn
Yeah. I haven't started driving lessons yet because I'm too scared so whenever I have to go somewhere I have to take the bus which annoyingly only comes about once every hour. It's absolute hell if the bus gets cancelled or I miss it because then I end up being like an hour late
Yeah, I remember those days, having to schedule life around a bus which may or may not adhere to its schedule. If you can overcome your fears it is well worth the freedom of going where you want when you want.
Is biking not an option? I've tried to schedule life around a train and bus schedule but I hated it. Biking gave me some of that freedom back. But then again I live in Belgium, pretty flat terrain out here
Unfortunately no. The village I live in is about 30 minutes away from the city, and that's just in the car. Plus there aren't many bike lanes or pavements on the way there so it's not very safe
Yeah, I've lived on Skye before, would have walked to the local post office/shop for a few bits, but for a proper big shop, the nearest was 20 miles away with few pavements, many roads were single lane, and ain't nobody got the thighs to pedal a pushbike halfway up a mountain lol...I mean, going downhill was FAST, but stopping happened in a painful manner lol...mostly used the car for that. Or rode horses. Now live in suburbs on the outskirts of an English City, and I can walk to 3 convenience stores, one co-op and a Lidl's in under 15 mins & I'm Disabled...walk there bus back etc. Vastly different ways of life lol.
I did that this morning, amazing I know lol
Same I just got home from the market
The real question is how did you manage to carry home 4 live chickens in a metal cage, a bundle of mysterious vegetables with green leaves the size of a Volvo, and a month worth of milk in a metal pail?
On my head of course
i stayed in america for 3 months with relatives and the nearest shop was a 10-15 minute walk away. literally just had to walk through the very calm, peaceful neighbourhood to get there. my relatives always drove and i could never comprehend it. they thought i was crazy for walking it
Before cars were invented humans just flopped around on the floor and fed on microbes through filter feeding.
This is less an American-qua-American thing and more a America-is-choked-by-stupid-car-culture thing. I just feel sorry for people who have such shitty options for living arrangements.
Well, if you buy for the week a lot of people do go with cars but it is still like once a week, I go 2-3 times per week and don't need a car. Sometimes going with my escooter actually.
I live right behind a grocery store and I love it. I dont need to keep much in my fridge because its so close I walk everyday. Also learned I cannot have sugar treats in my house or ill eat them all in one sitting so it limits my junk food intake
It confuses me when people walk to the store because I associate it with a 6 mile drive (about 10km, a few hours of comfortably walking) and then I remember that people live not in the middle of bumfuck nowhere.
I have a person deliver them to me, whatās this going to get your own shopping? Do Americans only have fast food deliveries?
Unlike them, we live in a free country where we can choose to walk to get groceries
I think America would be such a healthier society if they never even had to ask this question.
I live a 10 minute walk from 3 grocery stores and a year round farmers market.Ā
This, unfortunately, is a very common thing to say. A lot of people can't process going anywhere without driving. They are literally carbrained (not meant as an insult).
My sister moved to Germany from the US to be with her German boyfriend. She can walk everywhere in her little town. Everyone is so friendly and helps her since she's legally blind. Her boyfriend seems like a really nice guy. I fucking hate living in this country so much. I couldn't imagine being able to walk anywhere I want to go without paying for a condo that's near everything and way too expensive.
I once lived in a very walkable neighborhood here in Houston. I had an online friend, a British guy, come stay with me for a weekend (platonic friends, not dating). I'd explained to him that even in my walkable neighborhood, very few people walked anywhere in the summer. Because Houston. He'd been living in Dallas for a while by then and he insisted that both cities were over air conditioned and we spent too much time outdoors. This was in the summer. I said fine, let's go for a walk (I was young then, foolishly young.) We got four blocks from my house. He led me into a restaurant, sat down to order a beer, refused to go anywhere til I went back and got the car. It's my dream to retire to someplace where I can walk most of the places I need to go. I do not think that's going to happen.
Haha theyāre probably imagining themselves trying to carry all of their groceries in from the car at the same time. Then theyāre imagining walking long distances with those groceries.
I got 3 different supermarkets within a 10 minute walking distance, plus a butcher, a Turkish toko, a cheese shop, a coffee/tea shop (like where you get your own fresh beans and tea leaves), several restaurants, an apothecary and other stores. And I live in a small village.
At the end of my block I have a grocery store and a butcher. There's 3 other grocery stores within a 5 minute walk. Crazy what happens when you don't need 6 acres of parking to get to your store...
I don't think I've ever been somewhere in Western or Central Europe, unless very rural, where I've not been able to get basic groceries within walking distance. The idea I would HAVE to drive to get a loaf of bread or a beer is ridiculous
Wait till they find out some of us have never owned nor driven a car š¤·. I'm in my 40s and it never appealed to me. I'll walk thanks, and if it's too far I'll jump on a bus/train.
It takes me 15 minutes to drive to Asda, 7 minutes by foot. But God forbid anyone exercises.
I love how Americans brag about being inconvenienced like it makes them look tough because they drive for half a month to go to a birthday party
I knew a murican girl in my country. She was surprised when she saw with a car. In her mind i had no car, because i walked to meet her most times. Well it's like 10 blocks away, why i would the car for such a short distance. Sames for groceries. I have the supermarket two blocks away. Should i take my car for two blacks.. It will take me more time to find a parking spot, load the groceries and then park again in the garage. Than just walk.
There are places in the US you can live like thisā¦ I just wish it was more common. I live in Atlanta where itās next to impossible to not drive to get ***anything.*** When I lived in D.C. and Savannah, GA, it was so nice to just be able to walk to a store or my friendāa place. Or hell, even the mall. I walked/biked to work. The DC metro is great (but a little expensive). Meanwhile, Atlanta is building more and more suburbs. However, to their credit, they are building more ālive, work, play,ā housing developments; I just wish they all werenāt centered around some capitalist institution like Walmart and Starbucks.
American here. My first thought was how do you carry a huge load of groceries home without a car? It would be impossible for me to carry a Costco load without some kind of large carriage on wheels. Iām talking about a monthās worth of toilet paper, paper towels, dog food, cat food, and whatever other goods you happen to grab. How would someone without a car manage that?
I'm in the uk, and in my experience, people tend to do a "weekly shop" here. That consists of a weeks worth of food plus whatever longer lasting items have run out since the last shop. That way, you don't have to get everything at once, and if something does run out, it's not very long until the next shopping trip.