Local shopping street in the city of Montréal, It’s the beginning of the summer here, and more and more streets are being closed to cars every summer (although they’re reopened during the cold Canadian winters), the difference in the amount of people there now vs last week when it was still open to cars is absurd.

Even more people! Lil stand

Since It’s the beginning of the summer there was a marching band to celebrate, which was nice.

Businesses set up stands where they sold stuff, offered free samples and stuff like that, and there was also seating and games set out for kids, like a bouncy castle, some (mini) mini-golf courses and a mini skate park.

Just closing the street to cars made the space much nicer, and there were way more people there than when the street was open to cars.

  • WFH@lemmy.zipEnglish
    4·
    8 days ago

    So true. I bought an e-bike last autumn and have been using it for pretty much everything since then, but haven’t considered myself fully car-clean until a few weeks ago when I consciously experienced car brain for the first time. My bike was at the repair shop and I had to drive my daughter to daycare instead of biking there. A 5min ride became a 15min nightmare with traffic, anger and frustration, mixed with anxiety of being late. I don’t think driving does that but traffic messes with our brains and our mental health so much. It’s crazy that we consider this mental state “normal” while going somewhere.