In Washington, DC, for two weeks this July, I experienced a weird sense of culture shock on the metro. After a year and a half living in Prague, all memories of crowded commuter metro trains from Court House to Federal Center, SW had been wiped clean. The need to metro surf and contort my body to fit into small spaces was not, however, what put me over this time around. No, it was the slower than molasses escalators! One thing that the Soviets did extraordinarily well was build public metro systems that doubled as fallout shelters. I lost my patience on the DC metro escalators. I simply could not cope with the snail's pace. It drove me out of my mind.
Back in Prague, I am nearly certain the escalators move faster than those in DC, but their speed has been reduced. Alas, as Prague escalators are being replaced or repaired, transit authorities are turning the speed down a notch due to new EU regulations. While the original Soviet escalators clocked 9 km/h (2.5 m/s), the EU permitted speed is a maximum of 0.7 m/s. Oh woe is me!
As a pedestrian in Prague, I've also had my share of pitfalls. Walking home tonight from the metro, the uneven sidewalk with its patchwork of concrete and asphalt loosely reminded me of how the Town of Barker has, over the years, repeatedly paved the road on which my parents' house sits. Admittedly, not all sidewalks are so bad, but the couple I happen to traverse every morning and evening on my way to and from Jiriho z Podebrad metro leave something to be desired. I'm wondering if this might have something to do with my newly discovered love of walking down the middle of streets - until a car happens to drive up or the guilt of teaching children bad habits becomes more than I can bear. Yes, sidewalks are simply anathema to me whether in the Czech Republic or U.S. Simply put, I like wide open spaces that are generally flatter and smoother than most sidewalks.
On my way to the gym tonight, I was stopped by an Italian lady wanting to know how to get to the "clock tower". I pointed her in the right direction and also showed her and her friends on the map. Funny, but a couple seconds later I could have sworn I saw them head in a different direction. Go figure?! I think I still enjoy stopping and attempting to help wayward souls. I think.
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