Sandy Supposes....

Are We There Yet?

PROMPT: Fun Fact Friday! On this day in 1847, William Clayton invented the odometer. How do you measure your speed or distance?

         Speed is such a subjective term. What is speed? It's either too slow or too fast. Waiting for a special occasion to hurry up and arrive, time drags its heels. When you're fifteen and dream of driving a car, sixteen taunts from an agonizing distance. A pregnancy plods along for an increasingly unbearable nine months. In a few blinks that child is an adult moving away from home. An injury such as a fractured limb seems to arrest or impede the passage of time. Frustration builds as healing imperceptibly increases. From the safety of the future, this seems like a drop in the bucket. Sports competitions are fleeting. Action builds to a crescendo then fizzles. Adrenaline fuels a race that in reality lasts mere seconds , minutes, or hours.

         I'm not in a hurry. I suppose I measure speed in stamina. I'm willing to enjoy each day, each accomplishment, each new discovery as it happens. Slow and steady wins the race? As needs and physical limitations prevail, I plod and limp along.

         Yes, I am well aware that my vehicles come equipped with odometers that spell out how many miles I've travelled, logged, and endured. Here, in Canada, I now know this mileage as kilometres, or as a comedian once pointed out "Canadian miles per hour." Wait, that's the measurable speed of my cars... I'm drifting off the track here... What I meant to say, is that I have always measured my road trips by time, the time it took to drive between point A and point B. The actual distance whether in miles or kilometres is irrelevant to me. I've used that to explain the amount of time we'll be strapped into/onto an uncomfortable seat to my kids and grandkids. I do this for air travel, too, A drive is not three-hundred kilometres, it's three hours, give or take the possibility of exceeding the speed limit. A flight across the country translates to several hours.

         Recently, my youngest granddaughter and I measured our car trip in a unique way. Too many radio stations now offer pre-recorded programming, so we discovered that this same tape aired/played about three times during our excursion. The repeated playlist replaced our kilometre thinking. We still wonder about certain song lyrics that made no sense even after repetition. It sounded like a restaurant menu randomly sung.

          Many new vehicles now come outfitted with televisions and DVD players. Kids travel within a mobile movie theatre, not a drive-in, but a drive with. Distance can be measured by how many videos were viewed. Too many if it's a drive from Ontario, Canada to Disneyworld in Florida.

         For some of our more regular routes, we think of how far in terms of the rest stops we make. It is possible to measure our progress/advancement by the number of coffee shops, aka Timmy's, we visit. I have tried figuring the speed/distance ratio with a box of two-hundred timbits, or to non- Canadians, doughnut holes. How many per kilometre?

         There are some drivers who insist upon measuring their travel distance in the amount of fuel burned. How many kilometres to the litre,( okay, miles to the gallon)? Some, shake their heads in bewilderment when I answer, "I dunno." I do not care. When the gas tank is empty, I refill it. Bemoaning the cost and the figures will not get me anywhere.

         Some locals refer to distance in a practical way especially when you are looking for a place. Destinations are described as "three towns over", or "two stoplights that way." It's often more than confusing when they direct me to a neighbour's house with " six driveways, and ten evergreens along." I have found that most people here boast evergreens in their yards, and some people have more than one driveway. At least no one has yet to tell me "as the crow flies"...