Reading While I Walk
Now for the haiku.
Move quickly, surely,
Eyes glancing around the words.
Reading and walking.
I really adore reading while I walk.
It's much more enjoyable when walking a route I've taken before, so that the terrain is familiar. Smooth, unbroken sidewalks are extremely important. When I'm walking to Fabric Row (which I've done three times in the past two weeks) through the Society Hill neighborhood, the hilly brick sidewalks are nearly impossible to navigate. But my walk to and from work is wonderfully flat and ideal for reading and walking. I can walk pretty quickly, too, so I actually get good exercise. There's a certain trick - a sort of ability to look through the pages of the book and onto the sidewalk ahead, constantly scanning for obstacles. My theory is that this ability is most easily accomplished by people who are very good at multi-tasking, particularly subconsciously (for example, worrying about one problem while addressing another one), so that the brain can easily follow the plot of the book while still keeping the body moving and upright.
Rarely, very rarely, I'll see another person walking and reading at the same time. I'm always pleasantly struck by a sense of sub rosa kinship, as if we're both members in the secret sect of The Walking Readers.
Move quickly, surely,
Eyes glancing around the words.
Reading and walking.
I really adore reading while I walk.
It's much more enjoyable when walking a route I've taken before, so that the terrain is familiar. Smooth, unbroken sidewalks are extremely important. When I'm walking to Fabric Row (which I've done three times in the past two weeks) through the Society Hill neighborhood, the hilly brick sidewalks are nearly impossible to navigate. But my walk to and from work is wonderfully flat and ideal for reading and walking. I can walk pretty quickly, too, so I actually get good exercise. There's a certain trick - a sort of ability to look through the pages of the book and onto the sidewalk ahead, constantly scanning for obstacles. My theory is that this ability is most easily accomplished by people who are very good at multi-tasking, particularly subconsciously (for example, worrying about one problem while addressing another one), so that the brain can easily follow the plot of the book while still keeping the body moving and upright.
Rarely, very rarely, I'll see another person walking and reading at the same time. I'm always pleasantly struck by a sense of sub rosa kinship, as if we're both members in the secret sect of The Walking Readers.