Down the east end of my street runs Alameda Creek with a levee and paths on either side. Here, just about everyday for the past 11 1/2 years I have walked four miles a day. In 2007 my son was in college and I moved my office to my home, enabling me to take schedule walks on a regular basis.
I was not “slow walking,” at the beginning I did the four miles in about 50 minutes, but eleven years later and at 73 years old, it takes me from about one hour to 75 minutes, depending, Or it can take even longer if I meet and talk with people,
A could of years ago I began taking my point and shoot camera, there is always something visually interesting,
Years before I started I used to walk our dog, a mile or more in the morning before I left for work, two miles after dinner, and five miles on Saturday and Sunday.
I often listen to podcasts, regularly The Archers, Bloomberg Surveillance and P&L, Car Talk (of course), In Our Time, SupChina, sometimes university lectures, The Reith Lectures, old time radio, TIP (The Investor’s Podcast‚ and less regularly to other shows, I did get the first round of Serial about the story of Adnan Syed and I am listening to the third roundabout life in a local Cleveland court system.
But there is more to do than listen to podcasts, there is a lot of wild life along the creek, a blue Heron lives here.
People of all ages, different genders, different interests use this path.
Young people hang out on the Union City side, often drinking, smoking pot, sometimes cutting school or just being young. One afternoon police were on one side searching foe someone and I, on the other side, could see the person hiding behind the growth while the cops could not.
Sometimes when I am somewhere around town , often in TJ’s or HPB, where someone comes up to me and comments about regularly seeing me on the path, often remarking the noticed that I a was walking very fast.
Over the years I have met a lot of different people who live along the creek and listened to some of their personal stories. One day many years ago a car drove off the bridge and this gentleman, a much younger version then who lives two houses down from the bridge, went in and pulled the driver out. She is often outside raking the leaves along the levee.
This gentleman reads and walks at the same time, before the ebook reader he used to have a paper book but I prefer the landscape.
With some I can have thoughtful discussion about ideas, this gentleman is a psychologist-working therapist, both knowledgable and open to frank discussion, I throughly enjoy our talks, and while I may have some basic disagreements with psychology as I am sure many have basic disagreement with graphic designers, I don’t ask or require that people I respect agree with me and I am grateful when I can intelligently discuss issues intelligently with those who have a different and certainly this case, a more informed position than me.
The sun is often different on the hills
People like to walk along this levee
Along the creek there is always a place for my feet and I am always glad to put them there.
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