This blog post has stuck in my mind ever since I read it and I want to share it with you. (I know of this blog from my friend, Di, who always introduces me to the very best writers, musicians, photographers, poets… Thank you, Di.)
It’s the unpredictable incidents between official events that add up to a life, the incalculable that gives it value. Both rural and urban walking have for two centuries been prime ways of exploring the unpredictable and incalculable, but now they are under assault on many fronts.
and
New time-saving technologies make most workers more productive, not more free, in a world that seems to be accelerating around them. Too, the rhetoric of efficiency around these technologies suggests that what cannot be quantified cannot be valued — that that vast array of pleasures which fall into the category of doing nothing in particular, of woolgathering, cloud-gazing, wandering, window-shopping, are nothing but voids to be filled by something more definite, more productive, or faster paced….
I am about to go walking with Pickles and I vow to spend some time cloud gazing, dreaming, imagining, or even just kicking stones along the dirt road behind our house.
Dragonlane Artisan Jewellery 
Good for you! Enjoy your day and let us know how it went.
Terri is so very inspirational, isn’t she 🙂 Enjoy your walking and dreaming and imagining. And thank you, I’m so very glad to know you xx
I walk around the block with my dogs three times a day despite my arthritic knee and bad feet. As a result I know all my neighbors both along the route and those that live near it. My Mark on the other hand, does not know anybody despite living here for 17 years. He jumps into that PT Cruiser and speeds off,oblivious to who is who on our street. When I tell him about the lady who stopped me to warn of aliens landing down the street, he has no idea who I’m talking about. When the guy two houses down blew his brains out with a gun, I knew who he was. Mark had no idea until I mentioned what kind of truck he drove. I know the guys on the corner with the ‘gayby (AKA baby)’, the lady with the dog walking business, and a homeless guy who walks by every morning. I say “Good morning” and Chandler barks at him. As my feet and knees deteriorate, I know I will miss the long walk.
This is all so true. I don’t walk nearly as much as I should but when I lived in NYC I walked all the time…and I loved the urban landscape and meeting up with neighbours and getting to know the shop keepers.
I loved walking in Chicago when I lived there. For some reason people in Chicago leave their curtains open at night. It makes for a very interesting walk.
Thanks for posting. I needed this.