Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Stroller rush hour & traffic jams

The other day I noticed that stroller rush hour into the Tapiola shopping center usually begins around 10 am. Peanut and I were heading out from Tapiola on our way home when I noticed the sidewalks filling up with strollers and mamas headed for the center. Some were singles, many were a few friends + strollers, some were a mama with stoller + 2 walkers hanging onto the sides of the stroller :-)

About this time it also starts getting busy in the grocery stores and you find yourself navigating around the baby strollers and the grandmas (not very often grandpas) with their push carts or pull-behind grocery carts.

it seems to be a time when women of all ages rule the city with their age-appropriate chariots. its makes me wonder what happens to the male population during these hours? I can imagine the many papas in the office -- with the family car parked in the parking lot of the office building. Why does it seem that its the men who always get the cars and the mamas and babies are left to fend for themselves on public transport? The metro, trams and buses are dominated by women during rush hour - I'd say even in a 90/10 ratio. It seems to me that mom+baby+stroller+daily groceries+whatever else needs to be bought and schlepped home should be the ones in the cars.

But, where does this leave all the grandpas during the days? Is it just generational that the women take care of all the domestic duties from shopping on? Even so, where do the grandpas hang out - just at home? Or, is this the result of the longer lifespan of women and many of the grandmas are just shopping for themselves? I wonder if there is a service to help introduce widows to each other so perhaps some of them could become room mates or friends?

in any case, its a powerful feeling to have the run of the city for over half the day :-)

2 comments:

Maiju said...

Nice to see you're back in blogging! I never have time for it any more... :(

I always enjoyed also those day time moments in the city with strollers. I don't why but I always felt that it's lot easier to just take the strollers and hop into public transportation. maybe it's my way of life without a driving lisence so I don't actually have the choice to take the car. :)

grace said...

this is because it is free for mothers with baby strollers to go out by public transportation. another reason is that mothers cannot always stay at home to take care babies. going out to city center or park somewhere is good way to kill time and exercise as well.