Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Live Local Challenge

Last week I tried a local challenge called Live Local KW. Most of the time, Colin and I do everything at local establishments anyway, but I thought it would be fun to try out some new places. In most cases, I don't even pay attention to whether I am shopping local, so this challenge forced me to think about it.

For me, it was easy. But I can see how it would not be easy for many people. The grocery store 3 blocks away is not a chain (but it's a big, well-stocked store, with the best meat selection in town). I work downtown, where there are tons of non-chain options. The closest movie theatre is a small independent place where they show artsy films and somewhat post-release bigger movies. And we live between the two biggest downtown cores and parks in the region, where all of the festivals happen.

So this is a log of my week living local, although it's not that different from a normal week. And for a twist, since my life is very much tied up in where I can get to by bike, I have included a few fun anecdotes about biking in the region. Oddly, I had some of my worst driver interactions last week, so that part is not exactly normal!

Sunday

Today was the last Uptown Open Streets festival of the summer (tied in with some other events on the street, but I will try to save my unpleasant comments about that for another day). So we did quite a few local things. It was also the day after the Knitters' Fair, so I was too tired to go far from home.
Staying on the back roads in our neighbourhood is always a pleasant experience for biking, but sometimes biking uptown is a pain. Even when the streets are closed to cars, we get flack! As we turned into the closed-off section of the street, which is specifically open to pedestrians and bicyclists, we were yelled at by a man near some classic cars to walk our bikes. We complied without thinking, but in hindsight, I think that guy was at the wrong event!

Monday

Back to work and the usual today, we spent the evening at home.
  • Afternoon snack at Matter of Taste
  • One small cheat: I bought lunch for a homeless person downtown, but she wanted Pizza Pizza, and I didn't feel like arguing that it was Live Local week
My first dangerous encounter of the week happened on my way home from work on Monday. A van for the SPCA or Humane Society abruptly swerved into the bike lane, almost taking me out. As usual, I was too distracted with braking to get their license plate. I try not to let things like this colour my interactions with other drivers, but some days it's hard.

Tuesday

Today I decided to try out a few of the local places that I had heard about through the Live Local website, and possibly even get some discounts! So I ventured outside of downtown and into what I consider to be the suburbs.
  • First, an attempt to shop at Bailey's Local Foods. Sadly, they didn't have any of the items listed on their website in stock, and nothing there went with the rest of my groceries. So another day I will try them again.
  • Bought a thermos at Fenigo, which is a local retailer of imported goods (I think that counts)
  • Pretzels and buns at Grainharvest (yummy)
  • Steak/Stout and Raspberry pies from the Sweet and Savoury Pie Company (not in the same pie), also super yummy
Today's biking story is also not a happy one. This is probably the worst encounter I have ever had with a driver, and not a normal situation. I took the left turn lane coming up to a major intersection (safely moving over, signalling), only to be honked at just before I got to the turn. Just after turning, a car slowed down next to me, and while I tried to explain that I had the right to be in the lane, a full can was thrown out the window towards my rear wheel! That's right, the driver was trying to cause me to trip over an obstacle and fall in traffic. I was so stunned that I yelled an expletive and kept going, even though they turned into a parking lot and I could have followed to take down their license plate. I am a very confident cyclist, so I was never in any real danger of falling, but people like that make me so angry.

Wednesday

Getting back to our routine, Wednesday is date night!
Luckily, my biking week gets better. I had a pleasant ride to work, home, and uptown for our date.

Thursday

I have managed to double-book myself on Thursdays, since both my knitting group and bike polo run that night. So I usually pick one each week, or sometimes I try to hit up both!
  • Barley Works at the Huether Hotel for dinner with the Uptown KnitMob
  • One quick match of bike polo at the Bridgeport Community Centre
Despite biking across town for polo, I had a good bike day. The roads getting down to Bridgeport are not very friendly, but drivers were accommodating, especially as I crossed highway on-ramps. Thanks drivers!

Friday

Heading into the weekend, we planned an evening out with Katie. The Koi festival ran this weekend, a huge independent music fest. We didn't have tickets to the paid events, but the Friday night free show on the street was still pretty fun.
  • Lunch at Cafe Pyrus
  • Dinner at a brand new tapas restaurant downtown, Gilt
  • Free street concert at Koi
Again, I stuck to the downtown core today, and the biking was quiet and slow, as usual.

Saturday

I slept in, but we still managed to get a ton of housework done, preparing for my parents' visit this coming weekend. And there was a little shopping to be done.
My visit to the market was nice, until I was almost run over on my way home. A woman on her cell phone was not watching anything (including the red light, the pedestrian about to cross in front of her, or me on my bike with the right-of-way). Hopefully having to slam on the brakes scares her straight, but I never know.
And that's it! A week in the life of Jenn! Colin can post his own account of the week, although his includes a little more cheating than mine does. On the whole, a good late-summer week to explore some new local places, and this challenge was a nice reminder that this area has lots of great things going on.
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