Perth is just starting to get cold. The evenings are dark by the time i get home from work, and sitting in office/car means that the body stays cool. But my girfriend is out tonight, so i decide to walk to the local shopping centre, The Mezz, something i have not yet done. Google Earth suggests a 1.2km drive taking 4 minutes - i walk there in 10 minutes exactly.
The streets of Mount Hawthorn are based on a rectangular grid layout that is common to pre-war suburbs, with tree-lined streets and footpaths on both sides. It is, however, dark. If there were obstacles or holes they would be difficult to see. There is also little life on the streets. The only people i see are a couple of joggers, a family attempting to fix a broken car by torchlight, and a man harvesting the from lavender bushes in the verge garden outside the shopping centre.
It seems that density and flexibility of land uses would go a long way in improving the walkability of the suburb. Already with a strong main-street, tripling or quadruling the density would significantly increase the number of people in the area, and make the existing shopping strip much more viable. It would also encourage incidental businesses to crop up on local streets around the centre, making walking though the area much more interesting and safe, as well as providing a variety of destinations. Suburbs such as Mount Hawthorn could easily retrofit this kind of development. To achieve this, state government really needs to make a strong stance by encouraging the refurbishment of existing areas.
Back to my walk. Where before i left i had rugged up in an overcoat and cranked up the heater in the house, coming home i was overheating and had to strip layers off - walking sure is a great way to warm up on a cool evening.
For no particular reason, i thought i would share with you my dinner tonight (hey, after doing planning all day in the office, it's great to get away from it in the evening!) - vegetable pesto tartlets (thanks to the Women's Weekly "4 Fast Ingredients"). Cut a pastry sheet in half and fold over the edges, and spread over it sun-dried tomato pesto (if your local walkable supermaket doesn't sell this, tomato paste is an ok alternative). Drain and pat dry some antipasto char-grilled veges (i used capsicum, tomato and olives) and place on the tartlets, and spinkle with feta. Bake for 10 minutes in a hot oven, and top with some fresh basil leaves. At this point, i should mention that any urban dweller with a conscience should have a herb and vegetable garden, no matter how small it is. Looking after a garden is a very satisfying experience!
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