Facing Fact

Uh-oh. It's that walking shoe image again, and you know what that means. (If you don't know what that means, see my post of November 4, 2007.)

EVEN SWEAT-WICKING GARMENTS AREN'T ENOUGH

I'm a fair weather walker. That's the fact I have to face.

I thought this year might be different. That maybe resolve and sweat-wicking polyester garments would make me more willing, even enthusiastic about stepping out of doors.

Well, winter hasn't even officially happened. The weather's been nippy, but hardly bone-chilling. Yet last night, walking the half mile or so between the ETG Book Cafe in Tompkinsville, Staten Island and my house in St. George, I realized how tense my body was. Not even below freezing, and already I'm steeling myself against the wind and the cold.

Call it a seasonal adjustment

The fundamentals haven't changed. I still walk everywhere, except when the time's too short, the distance is too great, or the weather's too bad. I'm what has changed.

In late spring, summer and early fall, I do two types of walks; those of necessity and those of discovery. On longer walks of necessity--the exciting, surprising ones--the distinction melts away and an errand becomes an adventure.

But when the weather gets below 40 degrees, as it's been on and off for the last few days, the prospect of a walk loses nearly all its appeal. Yes, the cold can be invigorating; and yes, trees in a winter landscape have a singular beauty--for somebody else.

No hibernating here

That doesn't mean Walking is Transportation.com is going into hibernation. Instead it'll cover transportation issues more generally--issues like Congestion Pricing, Bus Rapid Transit, Light vs. Heavy Rail.

It may be too early in the process to expect noticeable changes in the culture--as drivers s-l-o-w-l-y begin to realize they have to rethink their choices and their behavior--but I'll be looking for that, too.

I hope you'll stick around.

Comments

[Dan Icolari]

Thanks for your comment, Steve.

I think Ace is right. It's a matter of seasonal adjustment. I was particularly encouraged by the idea that my blood is thickening, to help me accommodate the change in the weather.

I appreciate your encouraging words.

[Dan Icolari]

Thanks for writing, Faith.

As you know from personal experience, living on the north shore of Staten Island is like living nowhere else in New York. Though my wife and I both grew up in Manhattan, I recently found myself saying to a friend that while I wasn't looking, I had become a Staten Islander.

As I hope is evident from my posts here, I have come to love my home borough--despite the negatives that inevitably attach to any choice of home base, including Manhattan.

I appreciate your comments and hope for your continuing readership. I will indeed walk on (with long underwear and Ace's suggestion of a silk undershirt).

[Faith]

About your nippy walk from Tompkinsville to St. George--- I grew up on Staten Island , from 1956-76, and for the high school years I went to school in Manhattan. I almost always walked home from the ferry, and home was the far side of Sailor's Snug Harbor; All year, any weather, most anytime of day and night (the concert years). Anywhere I went in "the city", and really it was mostly Brooklyn or Manhattan ( as far up as 137th st.)I knew that I could get home as long as I had a nickle. One particular time sticks in mind, when, having gone to Washington DC for an anti-Vietnam War protest I became separated from my group. I found a bus with room, going to Riverside Church. And I had a nickle. I was all set.
I'm enjoying reading your blog enormously. I have lived in Washington State for the last 25+ years, though in many ways I'm still a Staten Island girl. Thanks. and walk on!!!

[Steve Patterson]

I think if I can make it all winter long by scootering around St. Louis you can manage to walk around New York. For me it takes being out in the changing weather daily --- getting adjusted to the change.

[Dan Icolari]

Hi, Ace,

Long-sleeve silk undershirt, check. I bought silk longjohns--as you may know from personal experience, they're surprisingly warm--from the Winter Silks catalog; I'll see if I can find long-sleeve undershirts there. Thanks for the tip.

Dan Icolari

[Ace]

Just wait a few weeks for your blood to thicken and you'll be oot and aboot. Or, try some of the athletic clothing made or not made from seaweed the NYTimes wrote about yesterday. I swear by long sleeve silk undershirts.

I was lucky enough to have an early evening walk in light snow over the Manhattan Bridge last year. I doubt if I will ever forget how lovely and special that was.