let's go for a walk

They say the south is not conducive for walking. I don’t exactly know who says this, or what evidence that have to prove it, but I can basically account for its validity. Everyone in the south drives a car. I don’t care if its two houses down the street, we are going to drive there. It’s just how our brains have been wired. We’ve also been wired to fry everything from olives to okra so it really isn’t surprising no one wants to go for a walk.

The other day I was shopping down in Five Points at this great boutique Anomaly. I had a thank you card I needed to mail, but I absolutely hate trying to find a post office or mailbox. I asked the store worker if she knew where I could find a mailbox in the area. She told me there was one down on Park St. Well, considering the store was on Park St. I asked her if I could walk to it. Park is pretty long, so the question was valid. She explained to me where it was exactly. Around to the right and down a street. But she told me she wasn’t sure if I would want to walk there because I might get tired.

I thought I’d take my chances. It turned out to actually be just around the right at the next street, which was about a quarter mile away. I laughed out loud. Who in their right minds could possibly think that this would be a suitable distance to deem unwalkable!?

But it’s the south. We walk nowhere. And not to knock the girl from the store. She’s just been trained. And granted, most people would have driven. It’s kind of the same drive that makes us circle a parking lot for ten minutes waiting for the closest spot when we could have already been in and out if we had just parked in the back. But basically, we are just lazy.

Well, living in California kind of altered my perception of the whole walking issue. People walk everywhere there. It’s one of those cities. There is a mass transit system, a much utilized bus system, and there is a lot within walking distance. So I guess it just seems natural. Plus, parking there is an absolute terror. As in, there is no parking unless you want to pay thirty bucks for an hour or find a spot on the street two miles away in which case walking from where you started would have been closer anyway.

Californians are also, ironically, considered some of the healthiest people in the country, a fact they will never let you forget although if you leave the metropolises and enter the valley you will find some of the country’s most morbidly obese people around. In fact, on the newest survey that just came out of the country’s most obese cities, California had at least four or five cities in the top twenty.

Regardless, I lived in the city and got used to walking. It was great. It was brisk. (Usually because it was generally freezing there. And when I say freezing I mean chilly.) I felt more in shape. I liked being outdoors and really getting a sense of where I was, not just a butt impression on my car seat. And now with the invention of the iPod there is even a portable soundtrack for walking.

When I moved back to Florida I made sure to move to a place where I could maintain some of this walkable culture. So, I moved to San Marco. And, I live within walking distance of a thousand great things. Restaurants, bars, shops, cafés, parks. You name it, I can probably walk to it.

As my ex-patriot friend (she currently resides in Barcelona) and I strolled through the streets of San Marco back to my house from lunch at La Napolera she sort of twirled around in the wide open street and said, “You know, you can decide to make your life a walking life. Even in Jacksonville.” Then we got to my house, hopped in my car and I drove her home. Come on. She lives a good three miles away. But you get