Thursday Tidbits
Posted on September 26, 2019 under Thursday Tidbits with no comments yet
From the boardwalk at Pomquet beach
“How many beer breaks do you take when you walk to the Cape?”
One of the greatest joys of writing is that I get to chat with my readers. Often, I bump into people while walking the streets of my hometown. Occasionally (rarely) someone calls me on my cellphone. When you think about it, very few of our communications are by phone these days unless you consider texting a phone message. I still receive quite a few e-mails but most of my exchanges are on social media including Facebook, Messenger, Instagram and Twitter.
Some of you are not on Facebook. I suspect that you were probably among the smartest kids in your class in school! But, for all of its flaws, Facebook still fascinates me.
Since returning from the Camino in June, I have been doing a long walk every weekend, somewhere between 30-40 kilometres. I typically post something early in the morning indicating my destination. Then, Facebook takes over.
Besides the obvious health benefits of a long walk, you get to see the world in slow motion. It is a beautiful world, if you take the time to look.
I love everything about my weekend walks but the best part is meeting people. Decades ago, dropping in on neighbors and friends was normal activity. It seems these days that if you don’t make an appointment, go to a sporting event, or arrange a dinner date, you might never have human interaction. But these are all planned activities.
My interactions while walking are mostly spontaneous although I have some loyal friends (you know who you are!) who routinely provide me with nourishment when I’m heading in their direction. There hasn’t been a walk yet when someone hasn’t stopped me on the side of the road to chat. Very often these people are complete strangers. And, yes, I routinely get offered a cold beer. I just love it when someone yells out my name from their front lawn and asks me to join them for a cold drink.
On a seven hour walk (35 km), I normally stop a few times by the side of the road and have a snack. Invariably, I have at least one other unplanned stop and these are truly golden. I have met some of the nicest people imaginable. Actually, I am convinced that most people are really decent human beings. It’s just that we’ve lost human contact and are caught up in all the crap and don’t take the time any more to visit.
My son was home for a visit on the weekend and we were talking about my walks and why people seem to like to follow and aging man wandering aimlessly along the back roads of Nova Scotia (and Spain… and India!). One thing led to another and we then got talking about walking across Canada. We wondered who is the oldest person to walk across our country. A Google search didn’t readily answer the question. I reckon it would take me about 200 days to go from Vancouver Island to the east coast. Now, that would be a great challenge!
My wanderlust remains intact.
My late brother, Tom was a huge proponent of travel. He felt that is was the best education that money could buy. As many of you know, my fifth book (how did that happen?) has just been published and is available worldwide through Amazon. One of the people that I interviewed for the book said that she was unable to have the book delivered to her country. Another fellow Camino walker had received his book (in France) and was wondering how he could get it autographed. Then I got to thinking… always a dangerous pastime!
With all of my new contacts all around the world, especially in Europe, why wouldn’t I just do a mini book tour and go visit these countries and hand deliver some books? I could get to see new parts of the world and re-connect with friends. Who knows? Maybe there might be another book in the works doing a follow up with the people I interviewed on the Camino.
Antsy in Antigonish.
Have a great weekend.
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