Gratitude while walking is about as subversive as you can get. When you think of the many different forms of transformation, or should I say transportation, as this must be a Freudian slip. Walking as well as transportation, is transformative or a means of transformation. It is a spiritual, moral and psychological exercise as much as physical. Whether we go by car, transit, bicycle, roller blades, skateboard, to name a few, we have at our disposal this most natural, ordinary and unappreciated mode of travel: our own two legs. It is the easiest and healthiest way to go.
I walk everywhere. I take the bus for longer distances, but unless I need to be anywhere in a hurry, anything less than four miles or seven kilometres is fair game for walking. I walk in all kinds of weather, fair and foul, cold, warm, wet and dry. Of course I prefer warm and dry, or even cool and dry. Hot can be unpleasant, and unhealthy if it`s much over thirty. Horizontal rain can also be a deal breaker, especially in winter.
I have mentioned in other parts of this blog that I try to cover more than five miles, or, eight kilometres a day on foot. I think this is at least partly why I enjoy good health and fitness at my age. My daily ten thousand steps. I've walked like this all my life and I think that now it's paying off.
I have always equated walking with power, with having a sense of control over my life. This is how I explore and this is how I get to know the many diverse neighbourhoods in my city. This is also how I travel. I will find a city or region in a foreign country that seems interesting enough. I get off the plane, arrive at my hotel, and as soon as I'm feeling a bit rested there is no stopping me. I walk miles and miles and miles into strange neighbourhoods, poor and rich, safe and dangerous, noisy and tranquil, urban and natural. I.see everything, hear everything and smell everything. I observe people. Sometimes I greet them. Occasionally there is an opportunity to stop and chat, perhaps even to make a new friend. I am always learning and every venture out, whether in places known or unknown becomes for me a perpetual classroom.
I never travel with tech toys. I don't have a smart phone nor private listening device. I want to hear and be aware of my environment. I want to spy effectively. I want to know my city or the place I am visiting as intimately as legally possible. I want to hear the voices around me, even if they are loud, strident and maddening. I want to smell the cigarette smoke that I shun, revile and curse against. I always want my nose rubbed in real ordinary life, and in real ordinary time.
This is where walking comes to feel subversive. I often walk in the same neighbourhoods, because they are pleasant, interesting, convenient, or all of the above. Sometimes, as today, I am asked if I live there. If you do not live there but you are seen there once or twice a week, the locals can get suspicious, or at least rather curious. It is because no one really walks, or not very far, or not at all adventurously. Most of us are scared of life, lazy and very self-centred. Walking requires courage, effort and a generous spirit.
Adventurous walking can lead us to some very interesting places, people and discoveries. It will even lead you to yourself.
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