walk blog 15

A summary of some of my adventures with walking

handed over to the Mountain News Reporter

We will see what he makes of it.

CONFESSIONS OF A STREET WALKER #1

During the summer of 2014 I decided to try to get a little bit healthier.  Knowing that for me it is either - eat less or move more - I thought that moving more might be easier.

I was inspired by my sister who took up running and my brother who started walking. I was also inspired by a guy whom I have never met. We used to pass him on Sunday mornings while we were driving to church. He was often wearing shorts, even in the cooler weather, and had lots of hair tamed by a bandana and he was out there, most every week, pounding the pavement. That guy impressed me with his commitment.

So I decided that on Labour Day I would start with a walk.

I went out my door, down my driveway, across the road. around the block, past Hank and Bev's and back home. Seemed simple enough. The problem was that I wasn't prepared. I wore a pair of slip-on shoes without any socks. I got thirsty and sweaty. When I got home I rather regretted my decision to move more. Blisters were forming and my feet, legs and back hurt.

Walking and I did not get along and I hated doing it.

But I was determined and couple of days later I forced myself out again this time I was a little better prepared. During the first three weeks I trudged around my neighbourhood quite miserably when everything changed.

I had been walking down Acadia Street - almost home. A car was pulling out of the driveway of a house up ahead and it pulled up along side me. The woman rolled her window down and called out, “keep it up, you're doing great.” Well that was nice to hear. How great was that? As I came up to the house that she had left I spoke to the woman who had been waving goodbye from her front porch. I told her that the woman in the car had been encouraging and that I really appreciated that. She said something like, “I am a walker too and we all need encouragement.”

I replied, “but you don't understand, I am not a walker and this is really hard for me.”

She then said, “well keep it up, you look terrific, you can do this.”

The next morning I woke up with the urge to take a walk.

I wish I could remember which house it was because I would go back to try to thank those two women because now I am a walker too.

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CONFESSIONS OF A STREETWALKER # 2

I have been walking since September of 2014. Well I have been walking since I was a year old but you know what I mean. I won't go so far as to say that it is addictive. I confess that I am still lazy at heart but I now really enjoy getting outside for a nice long walk. After a couple of weeks I started tracking my walks on a map. I don't quite know what came over me but at one point I looked at that map and decided that I wanted to walk on every street on the Hamilton Mountain.

At first I walked just from home and back and then from other locations. I parked in front of Leida's and Anne's and Joan's and Danielle's and I walked in their neighbourhoods. I parked at Value Village and at a couple of churches and an empty parking lot and I walked.

I walked in the heat. I walked in the rain. I walked in the snow. I once accidentally walked in a blizzard.

I walked down wonderfully smooth tree lined sidewalks.
I walked down country roads with no sidewalks and only narrow shoulders that forced me to flee into a ditch when a car approached.

I started out walking in silence and now I sometimes listen to a podcast. I am a Christian and I sometimes felt lead to pray for the people who lived on the street I was walking on.

I walked down familiar streets and ones I never knew existed.

Streets that had been here longer than I have and some streets that had not yet been printed on my map.

In some of the surveys I would get all turned around and feel lost.

I got an app that tracked my routes. I wore out one pair of shoes and I am on my next.

I have seen my city from a wonderful viewpoint
and it is one that I recommend everyone take.
Get out there and walk around your own neighbourhood is like and then check out the other neighbourhoods around you.

When I am walking I get the feeling that Hamilton is a pretty great place to live.

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CONFESSIONS OF A STREETWALKER #3

In September of 2014 I decided to walk every street on the Hamilton Mountain.

I began to see neighbourhoods that I had never seen before.

From the busy main streets to quiet charming neighbourhoods I am walking past them all.

I found a court with my name on it. Cool.

I also like looking at the older houses – especially the ones that once stood alone in a field and is now surrounded by multitudious abodes.

Many people put hours of hard work and love into their front gardens and when I walk past these

beautiful oasises I get to enjoy the view.

There seems to be a bit of a protocol when walking. On the busy main streets you do not usually greet the people you pass by but once you are walking in a neighbourhood it seems to change. From polite nods to enthusiastic 'good mornings' there is sometimes a sense that we are friends that just haven't met yet.

You have to pay attention when walking. People can come up behind you – on a bike or running – and you will need to learn how to jump and walk at the same time.

Crossing the streets is not something to do without paying attention. Once when I was crossing Stonechurch Road with the light a driver who was in a rush to make a left turn didn't notice me. I knew it was a close call when I heard a guy in another car curse at the driver who almost hit the mother of my six children.

I always thought that runners were a curious bunch of people.

I also thought that if I did enough walking I would work myself up to running.

Nuh – uh. I was walking down Upper Sherman and a woman was walking on the other side of the street and we were going in the same direction. I started running. Not too fast, mind you. I was just starting and didn't want to hurt myself. When I ran out of steam I started walking again and looked back to see how far ahead of the walking woman I was. To my dismay, I will confess that she, while walking, moved just as fast as I did when I was running. Grrr.

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CONFESSIONS OF A STREETWALKER #4

In September of 2014 I set myself a goal of walking on every street on the Hamilton Mountain. To be practical I try to do errands on my walks instead of taking the car. I also do other things that are, shall we say, slightly more dubious.

I often plan my walk on the recycling day of each neighbourhood. Why you ask? Now here comes the confession part of this story.

Yes I am one of those people – people who help themselves to something you have set by your curb on recycling day. Scavengers, you might call us. Most are collecting returnable bottles or scrap metal.

I collect containers that are suitable for the homemade laundrysoap that I make and I make alot of it.

I run a monthly workshop called 'The Soap Kitchen' where I teach people how to make their own laundry soap. The easy way to explain why I make my own laundry soap is to tell you that with $13.00 worth of ingredients I will have laundry soap for 8 years. Yes, 8 years. So, with the co-operation of Immanuel Christian Reformed Church on Mohawk West the participants and I make lots and lots of laundry soap. One of the challenges of this endeavour is having enough containers to store the 120 liters of laundry soap that we usually make during a workshop. So on my walks I am often found with a large bags full of containers that are swiped from recycling bins. They will be rinsed, labeled and filled with laundry soap to go home with the workshop participants.

I told you that story to tell you this story.

My pilfering activity is slightly disconcerting for one of my six children who is rather dismayed that her mother is “one of those people.”

One day this past spring I was walking in my daughter's neighbourhood on the east mountain on garbage day so I could score some appropriate laundry soap containers from recycling bins. I wondered if I would see her. Just then a blue minivan slowed down and pulled over. The windows were rolled down and a couple of heads popped out that I recognized. It was my daughter taking the kids to school. Now Mothers Day was coming up and I thought of the kind words that I might hear from this daughter of mine. Words that were worth slowing down and pulling over to the side of the road for. Words of love and care for the mother who birthed her.

Instead the barrage that was launched included comments like

“Hey, lady are you going through the garbage again?”

“How could you do this to me?”

“I'm so embarrassed”

This was all said with a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye.

That said, I am rather proud of my recycling the recycling and being one of those people.

Maybe I should walk around her neighbourhood a little more often.

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CONFESSIONS OF A STREETWALKER #5

In September 2014 I set a goal of walking every single street on the Hamilton Mountain.

I did not tell too many people of this lofty aim that I had set for myself because, honestly, I did not think that I would do it. Not that I couldn't do it - but that I wouldn't. I am rather talented at starting projects and then not finishing them.

My time management abilities and my energy often conspired against me. This crazy Ontario weather sometimes conspired against me. Some of the sidewalks (my side of the street doesn't even have a sidewalk yet) are not very walker-friendly. Traffic can be noisy and even dangerous and don't get me started on the wait times for some pedestrian cross walk lights. My aching body definitely conspired against me. But I kept at it. And soon the pros began to outweigh the cons.

I have just a little bit of OCD - just enough to help keep me on track. I very much enjoyed marking off each street that I had walked down on my Hamilton map. And gradually the streets I walked down were more than the streets I hadn't walked down.

I would occasionally walk downtown and in other places and last fall I wandered around a little bit of Europe but the Hamilton Mountain always called me back. Finish me – it said.

And eventually I did. In July 2016 I walked down the last street to be filled in on my map.

I have a renewed appreciation for my city and its people. Getting out walking to see it all is a great way to spend your time. I heartily recommend it.

So now that I have finished walking every street on the Hamilton Mountain people have asked me what my goal is now. Downtown? Ancaster? Stoney Creek?

I have not decided yet.

But maybe one day on one of my walks I will run into the Sunday-morning-bandana-bedecked-runner whose determination inspired me to start this undertaking or the two women on Acadia Drive whose encouraging words kept me going for many miles (near as I can guess - pretty much about 1,000 miles)

But until I do decide - you might see me out and about on a walk.

If you do, give a wave. Until then.

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