Summery 

Death defying leap into summer. Image via andyliang.com



Here is a summery sextodecimo. The really unnecessary thing to do is explain why you included a bunch of songs in your summer playlist. There’s no Bieber, no Taylor Swift, and maybe that needs explaining (it doesn’t but whateve’s). Here’s to unnecessary explanations which is like most of the meetings I attend are like these days.

You Bring the Summer
This is a track from a new album from The Monkees. Yes those Monkees. Written by XTC’s Andy Partridge, this is exactly what I imagine being 12 in 1969 sounded like.
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Walk Away 

This explains everything.

This morning’s discussion about Vision Zero in Toronto on CBC’s Metro Morning was surprising. I expected there to be questions about pedestrian behaviour. We live in a time when we’ve either walked into someone with their head down looking at their phone, or we’ve been that person (be honest with yourself). I expected there to be questions about intersections such as at Queens Quay and York Street where cyclists, ambling tourists, turning cars and streetcars converge and cross paths constantly. I expected there to be some comments on increasingly aggressive or distracted driving.

What I didn’t expect was this ongoing theme that people walking should watch where they are going and that in busy streets people should be more careful. The “on the street” segment immediately put people on the back foot. The rule about not starting crossing the intersection when the crosswalk countdown begins is so absurd, its very existence should indicate the major problems our streets have. At many intersections the actual time given to cross may be only 7 seconds compared to the 15 seconds of “countdown”. Yet, people want to get where they are going. If I see the countdown (it sounds more ominous the more I write it) at “5” at University and Richmond, don’t worry I’m not going to start. On the other hand if I have the foot speed of Andre De Grasse, the number might seem relative.
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