Orphan Road

So crushed was I by the stunning defeat of Prop 1, I had to step across the pond for a bit and bathe my wounded political sensibilities here in a land of livable communities, commuter choice, and healthy lifestyles.

[deep breath] Ahhhhhh ...

Actually, I'm here in Eindhoven on a business trip. I've apparently reached a point in my career where I'm expected to, uh, work, so I've had precious little time to wax philosophic about the things we care about here at Orphan Road, namely, our love of public transit and our quest to get more and better in Seattle post haste.

A few quick thoughts before my industrious Dutch office mates catch on to my literary procrastination:

• Walk like a European - I had the great honor of attending last weekend's PSV-AZ game at Philips Stadion. We were a little concerned about how we'd get out to the game, until we realized that the stadium is less than a ten minute walk from the center of town. They don't even bother to provide a parking lot -- it's just assumed that you're walking to the game.
• I want to ride my bicycle - The Dutch are famous for their love of bicycles, and Eindhoven is no exception. Bikes are so woven into the fabric of life here that it's hard to imagine this culture without them (supposedly, one of the reasons Dutch hate Germans is that, during the war, the Germans poured salt into the Dutch wounds by confiscating their bicycles and melting them down for the raw materials - OUCH!). And I'm not talking post-hippie strung out Seattle-ite bike riding style -- this is hot girls on their way to work smoking cigarettes and talking on their cell phones bike riding style. Pretty amazing.
• Cigarette anyone? - Despite a HUGE amount of smoking and drinking here, plus food that's not exactly low fat, the people here seem to be remarkably healthier than their American counterparts ... guess it's all the exercise that's built naturally into their lifestyles.
• Trans Netherlands Express - For about $20, you can take a train anywhere in the Netherlands. Train service on four or five main lines runs every half an hour, even on weekends. Service is so regular that the trains don't even have conductors -- it's an honor system similar to what I've seen for subways in Eastern Europe. Hell, when you have that many trains and are committed to running them, there's effectively zero marginal cost.

One more night in Amsterdam and then back to Seattle. Make no mistake -- we are way, way behind Europe these days.