Lessons from the Walk

I was involved in a car accident a few weeks back and it forced me to find an alternative method of transport. The workshop promised that they will have everything up and running in 3 weeks time. They took 4 weeks. But it doesn't matter. I could not have been any happier than I was yesterday when I drove to work in my own car again. It didn't bother me that the radio station I listen to chose to do a Justin Bieber marathon and my ears were bleeding by the time I arrived. No sir, not bothered at all.

There are a few experiences that I'll probably never forget from my 4 weeks of walking to work.

- There are things you think about when you walk that you probably wouldn't even bother when you are driving. You notice the terrain more ... well maybe because YOU HAVE TO! You learn which stretch of road has the most dog shit. You notice where the trees are and the shade they provide. There's one awful stretch of road that has no shade at all and takes me a brisk 9 minutes to cover.

- The weather. I've not been affected by meteorology since my time in Glasgow but how the weather fares here will determine how fast I get to work. On hot days I can reach in 23 minutes tops but on nice cloudy days, probably 30minutes.

- Roadkill. Birds. Dogs. Cats. Rats. Urggh.

- There are some really kind people out there. I've been offered a ride to work twice.

- Conversing on my terms. The first time I was offered a ride, it was a non-stop high-speed MLM sales pitch till my destination. That made me resolve to control the conversation should I come across the same situation again. Second time round was another fella, a neighbor of mine. Nevertheless I avoided asking obvious questions like, 'so what do you do for a living?' or 'what interests you?' and stuck with safe topics like weather and politics.

- And finally, if I had to do those four weeks all over again, I'd rather buy a bicycle.