Look, I’m not saying that anyone thinks Metro, the London-centric free newspaper, is an
unimpeachable source of wisdom about walking, or anything else, but the other day there in
‘Travel News’ (which is in fact provided by Transport For London) was the sub headline
TAKE A LOCAL WALK AND GIVE A BOOST TO YOUR PHYSICAL AND MENTAL WELLBEING.
And this worried me a little.
Essentially it’s good advice, but I would say that given the amount of walking I’ve done in my life, locally and otherwise, my physical and mental wellbeing should have been boosted right off the charts. But you know as well as I do, that this isn’t the case. Pedestrians (you may have noticed) do not walk around in a state of fitness and bliss. The only consolation may be to tell yourself that however bad you feel, you’d be a whole lot worse if you hadn’t done all that walking.
(Photo by Luna Yearwood-Smith)
Yesterday I got my second Covid shot – and yes indeed, I do now feel smug and immortal.
I walked up from the station to the Primary Care Centre – a steepish fifteen minute slog, got my jab in no time, and felt fit enough to go for a stroll in Highwoods Country Park, the entrance to which is right opposite the hospital.
The park contains some grand sounding locations: Yovone’s Pond, Old Ley Field, Friars Grove, Squirrels’ Field. I think we’ve already discussed the joys of walking in places with cool names: Tinderbox Alley (Mortlake), Butt Hole Road (Sheffield), Rest and Aspiration Alley (Ventura, Ca.).
In fact I didn’t walk very far in the park because I was slightly anxious that I might find myself in the middle of, say, Farthing Bottom, and suddenly come over all wobbly from the injection, but I was very pleased to be greeted at the entrance by this chap.
Yes, he looks as though somebody’s taken a chain saw to his head but he’s still smiling, albeit in a crooked way.
My pal Mathew Licht says he's reminded of the sculpture of Goerg Baselitz, and I think he has a point:
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