Im on the train home. My cold is getting worse but Im getting the hang of the best place to get on and off the train, which cars to ride, where to stand so the rushcrush is minimized and what train to take in the morning as well aas what time to leave home so I arrive moments before my train does.
I realized today that every day I go up and down a total of about 10 flights of stairs to get to and from my office and then another 30 flights during the day going up and down to the various departments. When I think back to my daily life in Fukui I might have done the equivalent amount of... maybe four?
My situation here is not particularly unusual as a good number of people here are always taking the stairs instead of elevators and escalators during their commuting time. And if they do take escalators probably more than half of them walk up the escalators rather than just standing there like a pole.
This brings me to an interesting difference between Kanto i.e. Tokyo people and Kansai region i.e. Osaka people. Through the ages they have always vied for supremacy in all aspects like business, fashion, etc. and do things quite differently.
In Tokyo people stand on the left of the escalator and walk up the right half but in Osaka they stand on the right and keep the left open for walkers! How interesting. In Fukui they just stand there taking up the entire space and don't care about walkers. What slugs!
Well I am almost at my station so this post took me about 20 minutes to thumb out on my phone.
Have a great day and try to fit some fitness into your daily routine. I don't mean go to a gym every day but rather everyday activities. If you can walk then walk.If you can do something manually or use a machine pick the manual way. Your body will thank you!
I'm at my station now so time to walk up three flights of stairs to get to the street level and walk home. I take an elevator up to my 11th storey flat. I'm not dumb!
I love you!
Cam
I'll go back to typing instead of voice recognition then lol...yup thats weird everyone in England stands to the right on the elevator...never noticed that before.... because we drive on the left
ReplyDeleteDi that makes perfect sense. Ifvthe motion is on the left then the static would naturally be on the right.
ReplyDeleteyep iguess it would make sense to an intelligent person n someone without attention deficit disorder...but its all greek to me lol
ReplyDeletewe have those flat elevators going uphill now in the superstores...so ya can get your trolley up em....the verbel message at the top says something about preparing your shopping trolley for embarkment to the second floor...confused me because i was trolley less
Yeah yeah yeah... walk schmalk!
ReplyDeleteMy home is on two levels, not counting the basement.
My day spa job is on two levels, not counting the basement.
My private office is on the second floor.
It's all fun and games til you have a bout of sciatica.
Then every step down is a shooting pain in your hip.
Or, if you have a pulled hamstring. Then every step up is a pulling pain throughout that hamstring and into your butt cheek.
Or if you've pulled a muscle in the right side of your back and it's 6 weeks and still not a lot of relief.
Well... the stairs don't always hurt in this case... the pain is just constant... never mind. Bad example.
Still... in better times i have been an advocate for climbing the stairs instead of using the elevator or escalator.
At home, i go up and down from living level to sleeping level countless times. Then laundry is in the basement so there's the dreaded trip (one which i'm about to do momentarily) from the basement up one flight, small break through the kitchen, then up another flight to deposit clothing in the bedroom(s).
At the spa, it's the same thing. First there's the short flight of 8 stairs just to enter the building. Laundry is in the basement, massage rooms on the 2nd floor. So it's up the front door steps... pit stop in the lobby to say hello... then down to the basement to clock in and grab some laundry, then ... deep breath... try not to look up... just keep your head down and ... climb... up to lobby level... past the front desk... then up the long stairs to the treatment rooms.
I've gotten better.
I don't say "ow' on every step now... i skip a few.
At my private office, at least after i climb the front porch and the long steep stairway, i'm on one level for the whole time.... unLESS i forget something in my car......
I WOULD KILL FOR AN ELEVATOR!!!!!!
And Cam....
ReplyDeleteAll that with your thumbs, eh?
Impressive...
Have you written your parents YET???
( spoken as a parent... with a non communicative offspring of her own...sigh)
I have no idea if this true or an urban legend, but I once heard a great story about why Tokyo people stand on the left, and Osaka people stand on the right:
ReplyDeleteTokyo (or Edo) was a town of warriors, so the samurai passed each other on the left so that their katana wouldn't get tangled up with that of the warrior passing them.
Osaka was a market town, and merchants would keep their coin purses in the front of their kimonos. They passed on the right, to make it more difficult for pickpockets, who would have to reach across, around, and in to get at the purses.
As I said, no idea if it's true, but love the story.
It's all about the exercise and not crossing the line into obesity, Cam.
ReplyDeleteI always use stairs and if there's only a choice of elevators, I walk up them, too.
You sure you don't have swine flu?
You are getting excercise all over including your thumbs. I avoid stairs like the plague. But I ride my excercise bike. :))
ReplyDeleteWhen I work the drive thru window alone, I put my cash drawer in the furthest station, so that I have to walk back and forth in the little window working both sides. If I put it in the closest one, I can access both lanes from one spot, but I choose to make myself go back and forth. It's not much, but it sure beats standing in one spot for 8 hours straight.
ReplyDeleteMatt.. cool story!
ReplyDeleteJenny.. I haven't talked to my parents in two months.