Journalled on Saturday, 15th of April 2023 | Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro: 29 degrees, hot, sunny and slightly cloudy.
On Saturday morning, I felt tired and lazy, but I had to get up. I was up at 5 a.m. and out in the street by 5.30.
It is still dark, and the same people I usually see most mornings are out, either walking their dogs or exercising; most of them are not young but much older, in their fifties and sixties.
Yasmin does not like to walk; she walks only if she has to, if she is forced to, or when there is no other option. I love walking; besides being low-impact and healthy, you are exercising; it is also cheap therapy; you do not need to pay for a therapist because walking is therapy. Every time I go out for a walk, I return feeling better.
If I leave home in a state of hopelessness, I will return with hope and a solution to whatever was troubling or worrying me. Also, if we are reasonably intelligent- and we are- when we are out walking, we notice many things around us that we would not have seen if we were in a car, driving, running or just rushing.
Such as the trees, swaying and changing with the wind; the buildings, suddenly appearing at angles we hadn’t noticed before; and how it would make a great photo.
People and how they sometimes react and behave in certain situations, and these situations, scenes, and images, whilst walking, make us appreciate much more what we have now than what we do not have or would want to have.
When I was a young boy in England, my family and I lived in a middle-class semi-detached house on a small street accessible only to residents.
My friends and I would play in the street and the surrounding fields, hills, and canals behind our back gardens. If we weren’t in the street, we played football or climbed trees in the fields. Many times, I fell from a tree while climbing and went home with ripped clothes, cuts, and bruises.
My point about walking is another; even though I was highly active, only going home to eat and sleep, what really impacted me in my childhood and my love for walking was walking to my grandparents’ house every Sunday.
We lived in a middle-class home on a middle-class street in a middle-class neighbourhood. However, my dear and special grandparents lived in a council house on a council estate in a lower- or working-class village, 4 to 5 kilometres from where we lived.
I absolutely loved visiting my grandparents twice a week. Once during the week and once on a Sunday, we’d have lunch and watch Formula One with them, usually starting at 2 p.m. At that time, Ayrton Senna was driving for McLaren; he was already a world champion and was widely regarded as the best.
I would go every Sunday without fail- sun, rain, sleet, snow, nuclear war; I would never miss a Sunday with my grandparents. This started when I was 8 or 9. I would ask my mother for money for the bus fare to go and come back.
My mother became a little jealous when I visited my grandparents every Sunday. Sometimes, when I asked my mother for bus fare, she refused, saying either that she didn’t have the money or that I had to stay home on Sundays.
Consequently, I told my mother I would go on foot anyway, and I did. If I went by road, it would take longer; however, I would take a shortcut along the canal connecting the two towns, as is the case throughout England.
I would set off early, diverting onto the canals, and arrive at my grandparents’ house within an hour. I did this for years and years; it became autopilot for me every Sunday.
The time would pass like the wink of an eye, unnoticed, not noticing the time or the distance; it was heaven for me. I have come to understand that my childhood of walking to my grandparents’ every weekend conditioned me to walk, and that I love it. Now that I am getting older, I recognise and appreciate its importance even more.
Nowadays, living in Rio, with its pleasant weather, beautiful scenery, and views, walking fifty or sixty kilometres on the weekend is common. It is the cheapest therapy that I know of!!!
Yasmin and I didn’t go out because it was a little rainy. She was revising for a week of exams, and I was feeling a little slow and lazy. I exercised early in the morning and spent the rest of the day at home, doing nothing special; it happens sometimes, and sometimes it is good to do nothing.
In bed by 10 p.m.
Thank you.
Thanks for reading my blog. Check out my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments.
Richard
