I have not done a Pedestrian Post in a while. Wait a minute, maybe I have… Oh, I just don’t feel like going back and looking. I’m going to make a Pedestrian Post now and if you don’t like, well, that is the chance I take.
Where was I? Ah yes, the day after Christmas. Boxing Day, the Feast of Stephen, and Post-Christmas Letdown Day. Oh, don’t tell me I can choose to feel happy. Sometimes you just have to feel the way you feel. That said, I thought it better not to dwell on how I was feeling but to try to get a few things done. To that end, I sat down and wrote out several postcards.
I have mentioned before how I like to send postcards. There are a few shut-ins and semi-shut-ins I try to send to regularly, and I usually write one or two to whoever I happen to think of at the moment. Today it was a friend I have not one but two letters written to in two different notebooks. It was just easier to dash off a postcard than to search for the other notebook (I knew where one was). I’ll get the letter mailed out subsequently.
As I brushed my teeth and washed my face, I had something of an urge to go running instead. However, I was disinclined to run to the post office with a handful of postcards. For one reason, I might drop them. For another, my glasses would undoubtedly fog when I walked into the post office to mail them. This is all very well when one is walking, but I just didn’t want to deal with it in the middle of the run. I could run later. I would walk now. I would take a longish walk, in case I didn’t run later. This would work.
My first observation on setting out was that it was foggy. My second observation was that it is much better to walk with a dog. Oh, how I miss my dear Tabby. It was our Saturday thing, to walk to the post office with post cards. Well, I still needed the exercise, so I kept going.
It was cold, but I was warmly dressed. Only my face got increasingly colder, but I told myself not to worry about it. I knew it might induce a sinus headache, but I could drink a cup of hot tea for that later. The sun was up so very few Christmas lights were still on and those that were were not very bright. In Meyers Park the lights on the trees and the gazebo (or is it a bandstand?) shone bravely if faintly in the fog. I felt a little encouraged on seeing them.
It took a very short time to get to the post office. My glasses did not fog when I walked in. At least, I did not notice they were fogged. As I had walked I could not always tell if the fog was getting thicker or if my glasses were betraying me. However, since I could see well enough to maneuver, I persevered.
About 20 minutes into the walk, I started to feel better about things. I read somewhere that a brisk 30 minute walk is the equivalent of two Zoloft tablets. I do enjoy how my legs feel as I stride along. I tried not to let my cold face bother me. I kept my hands in my pockets, so they were warm too. Walking, I thought, was better than running. If I had been running, my hands would be stiff by now.
I ended up walking 40 minutes and feeling pretty good about it. I see that I have written mostly about myself and have not included many observations of Herkimer. I was looking around, and I managed to see things other than the fog. I passed the Historic Four Corners twice. Well, I will have to write an observation-filled Pedestrian Post next time. I hope you are all having a lovely December the 26th.
