Hot Wheels: Electric Scooter

On my motorbike in front of my house

So I splurged. With the financial help of my parents, I bought a brand new electric scooter!

The Yamaha Metis was a little bit expensive, but still dirt cheap compared to the price one of these would cost in Canada. I just still have to ride my bicycle to the market, or else the market vendors will overcharge me for sure!

Gone are the days of biking in 38 degree weather, or else having to take a motorbike taxi or wait for my friend to come and pick me up. Gone are the days where I arrive at a dinner in the old quarter, panting in front of my dinner friends with dark patches of sweat slowly expanding in size over my chest and back.

And those days have been more and more often. Except for a couple odd days this past week where the temperature felt a chilly 28 degrees, I don't think ithas dropped below 35 for months.

Now I can zoom around in my exhaust-free scooter, planting trees and flowers in my wake. Seriously. Instead of carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds spewing from the bike, hearts, stars and little princesses come out to tell you happy stories that smell like raspberry sorbet and vanilla.

You'd think this was true by some of the looks I get riding around! Sometimes I notice in my peripheral vision, a motorbike that seems to be riding at exactly the same speed as me. I only need to turn my head slightly to see a motorbike with three Vietnamese construction workers squeezed onto the tiny seat, all squinting at me with a puzzled look on their face. In those cases just nod and smile.

It's a pretty sweet bike. It goes about 40 km on one charge, takes about 4-6 hours to charge, and can reach up to 30-40 km/h. Traffic is often slow enough that I pass cars, motorbikes and bicycles easily!

Here's your chance: I haven't named my bike yet, so I need your help. I want to you help think of a name for it! Please leave your suggestions in the comments!

Flesh vs Aluminium: at War with the Automobile #2

I don't know if this is because i've quit smoking (a year now), but i feel like pollution is getting much worse. Walking along Sherbrooke, i sometimes find it really difficult to breathe. Inhaling exhaust, my throat's reflex is to close the esophagus. What i don't understand is how it's legal to have exhaust pipes point toward the sidewalk, which many diesel trucks seem to have.

How is it that this person who is sitting in their car, directly affecting my health, is allowed to do this? Many people choose to walk, and yet they are the ones suffering. I try to avoid breathing while passing through the clouds of dark blankets, but why should i? I say:

Shouldn't clean air be a right?

As these words resonate in my mind, i realise they sound awefully like anti-smoking rhetoric. You know, the old "why should non-smokers be exposed to second-hand smoke?" It only seems logical that the recent smoking ban lead to pollution as the next health rights issue. Hopefully this does indeed happen (I'm still waiting for it to be legal to marry a llama since gay marriage was legalised).

I've only asked someone to turn off their idling engine once in my life (minus all the times i got paid to do it for a summer job). It felt great, after i felt safe that the big burly truck driver wouldn't beat the shit out of me. The drivers may not be inhaling carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compounds but we obstaining from automobilism sure are...

Of course, maybe i'm just being as asshole, as someone has commented. But maybe we should start thinking of the polluters as the assholes.

Flesh vs Aluminium: at War with the Automobile #1

Every tuesday and thursday this semester i walk to school and back, about 25-30 minutes each way. I do this not only because it's good exercise, but also to assert my rights as a pedestrian. Also because the 24 bus is fucking packed in the morning, as is the metro.

I think a lot of Montrealers can agree that drivers are pretty aggressive in this city, and i think it's time for pedestrians to be just as aggressive. I don't know how many times i've been cut off by a car and always thought after the fact that i should have hit the car. The most i've ever done it sarcastically put out my arm to let the car pass while i give a very cruel face. But, this all changed the other day. Walking along Park with my friend Brad, i lunged toward a car and hit it as it cut us off. I know i know. If i had lunged, then maybe it wasn't really that closely cutting me off... and yes, i was a little too eager to hit it. That's besides the point.

I love walking slowing through intersections when i can see (through the corner of my eye) that a car is trying to turn left from a lane over. I love even more when a car turns left, not realising there is a pedestrian (me) and has to wait for them (me) to pass. OHHH, i take my time. It makes me smile when the oncoming traffic backs up and people start honking at him/her for blocking traffic.

'fuck you asshole, maybe you should check for pedestrians before you turn!!' I want to say with my extended middle finger. But i don't, I innocently keep walking slowly acting oblivious. Passive Aggressive Pedestrian Activism, i'll call it! Or PAPA for short.

And i ask all of you to join in!