You never know how much you miss something until you see it. Yesterday, during my regular walk, I saw two very strange things.
First, I saw a well-dressed man walking slowly. By well-dressed I mean that he was very obviously not engaged in any athletic activities. He just walked. I even followed him for a while because the only person I’ve seen take long leisurely walks alone in this town is me. The idea that there is another walk-loving soul in the area was disturbing and heart-warming at the same time.
Then, I saw a group of teenagers. They were rowdy, as teenagers should be, throwing a ball to each other, laughing, shouting. I stared at them like they were an apparition. God, I haven’t seen a group of 13 or 14-year-old kids walking around, enjoying themselves out in the streets since I moved into this area. It made me so happy to see that at least there were four or five boys in town who got a chance to hang out with their friends doing nothing instead of being shipped from one scheduled activity to another by helicoptering parents.
This is the safest area in the universe, folks. I’m a very paranoid person but I have now started forgetting to lock my front door when I go on my walks. It’s safe, quiet, and beautiful. And still, nobody is ever outside. Yesterday, we were at +21C. This is summer-time weather. And nobody went outside to enjoy it. I’ve walked around our middle-class area, the nearby poorer area, and the rich-folks area across the road. There is never anybody outside. Gangs of teenagers and people taking walks do not exist. Young people drive to a convenience store they can see out of their windows for a can of soda.
Say what you will, this is just wrong.
Clarissa's Blog 
Wow! We “only” have about 10°C.
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Shame. I spent a good deal of my childhood riding my bike or walking around my neighborhood. That’s a lot of freedom those kids are missing out on.
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Indeed. 😦
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I have had several people call the police on me, just because I was taking a walk late at night. I have started taking a dog with me, since people find a man walking a dog to be less threatening than than a man walking alone. I can’t imagine what it’s like for black men who enjoy late night walks.
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I the Midwestern university town where I used to live, the police might pick up the walker not because he or she was deemed dangerous, but because he/she must be in trouble. I mean one must be in trouble to walk, his/her car must be broken, etc. 🙂
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Whilel I was in Scotland, I walked EVERYWHERE. Now I’m back in the USA and I’m back to driving. Most of the difference, I’m discovering, is the lack of safety associated with walking. There are no sidewalks here.
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I know! The lack of sidewalks, even in residential areas is shocking. I’d easily walk 6 miles to work if only there were sidewalks or hiking trails.
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Depends on where you are. My area of the city has sidewalks galore, and I enjoy walking or running by the river. I used to be able to walk to an ice rink as a kid. So convenient. And now, there’s a bike trail to one of the local libraries. If I don’t have to go anywhere else, and it’s not too cold or icy, I bike there.
Every time I go to the suburbs, I am disturbed by the lack of sidewalks.
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