Driving music

Once upon a time when I was young and impetuous I left the dance club with a good friend (also a boy whom I had a huge crush on at the time but he was also a friend first so that's not really the point) at 2 in the morning and drove from Red Deer to the Edmonton Airport to pick up some luggage for a hotel guest. My friend was working as a hotel bell boy at the time and had promised to get the luggage for the guests in hopes of a big tip. Only problem was he didn't drive and didn't have a car. Enter me with both car and license.

My friend was great conversationalist and had the same taste in music as I did (we were both big Depeche Mode fans) and the 1.5 hour trip was pleasant as was the two hours spent in the temporary parking lot waiting for the airline desk to open. One of the discussions we had while driving on the moonlit highway was what songs were good for driving to. I happened to have Martin Gore's Solo EP in the car at the time which kicked the conversation off as we agreed that the whole EP was an excellent soundtrack for a road trip; it has a kind of dreamy quality to it that seems to go well with the broken lines of the highway flashing past as you move forward.

Over the years my road trip music has varied a little but there are always a few good standards that we always end up playing. It's been a few years since we've been in a car for any length of time but we'll be bringing the I pod and car adapter for our listening pleasure. With the Peanut on board we'll have to include some of her favourites; Weezer's Pork and Beans and Depeche Mode's Wrong as well as a good sprinkling of Joy Division and Talking Heads are on her play list.

What's your favourite driving song?

It's funny

how traveling around your neighborhood on foot changes your perspective of the place. While driving I find I yearn to be able to see buildings, certain yards, parks, shops. they pass by so quickly that hints and questions linger and the neighborhood remains unknown.

I travel a lot on foot. running errands, shopping, going to parks and playgrounds and the library. There is time on foot to take in the surroundings. Time to notice the first green buds which will turn soon into crisp green leaves. Time to notice community eccentricities; like the strange penchant this new neighborhood of mine has for poured cement garden statuary and water features. Time to notice the sky and how the horizon lies above the maze of houses. Time to notice that the shops that intrigue you as you speed passed in a car are either more interesting, or more grungy than you would have thought. Time to notice the other places that don't stand out.

I'm finding myself at home here. Bit by bit I'm settling in and taking ownership of my community, if only to know that two doors farther on there is a stone garden featuring a forest green cement turtle and a sky blue cement heron.