Walking - Nostalgia
I don't know if it's a good thing or not, but when I start walking, if I don't have a real end goal, or time restriction, I walk and I think, and I relax. My mind frees up entirely, particularly if i'm in a "safe" area. So between me leaving home at 7.20pm, and getting to Sarah's to chat at around 9.40, it felt like about 10 minutes. I wonder if I black out during that time, it just feels like the world doesn't exist. Which is the point of just walking with no goal.
I decided to go for a walk around the Tahuna Turea Reserve this evening... it's somewhere i used to walk/bike as a kid, and I just like it... it's at the back of Glendowie, and links up to Point England. Now what I failed to remember (having last done this walk probably 10 years ago) is that it's only about a 30 minute walk... add 10 minutes for being nostalgic and not being able to see the path all the time :p But it is a lovely walk. As a kid, it seemed about an hour... possibly because it was so long ago, and I just don't remember things from that age particularly well.
So off I went walking to the reserve. Not knowing a particularly efficient way there, I went the way I remembered best, which involves getting onto St Heliers Bay road, and then going down Riddell road.
Sunhill - the fruit and vege place (and flower/plant shop) which was our greengrocers when I was young, and next to it the shop that Mike Harris once owned as a cheese shop, and the to continue onto the wonderful suburb of my youth, St Heliers...
My last real memory of St Heliers Bay Road (Number 317, the only house that actually exists on that street) was the last time I went to see Grandma before she passed away, not being very cognitive, but still surviving. I miss that house, it just feels like such a significant part of my childhood. Picking Feijoas, finding Chestnuts, swimming in the pool... finding grandpa's bank card in the flowers one time... I still have that somewhere, although it's being unusable since I found it, and severely reshaped by the sun when I found it. But it's the only thing of grandpa's that I own. Unsurprising, as he died the day before my Bris I believe.
Continuing down, I passed what used to be the Bayview Medical Centre... where Dad used to go in for his 2 packs of Nicorette 2mg mint. When I lived in Grenada Place, just off Pembroke Cresent for those who know/remember the area, you used to be able to walk down the road behind Bayview to Sierra Street, and then through an allyway to Grenada, but now has been developed into a housing complex it seems... i couldn't see the way down, although during daylight, that might be easier if it still exists, however I doubt it. Then I continued back along to the Maskell/Riddell/St Heliers intersection. St Heliers Bay Gardens, just before the lights, is where one of my childhood friends lived, whom I frequently visited. I lost contact when I went to St Kents though.
Walking down Riddell road is weird. The shops at the back of Maskell St have all changed, the Retravision and Pizza place have gone. Past that however, it hasn't changed. The other end of Sierra street which just looked the same as when I was a kid walking down there to get home. Passed another friend's house just before Glendowie college. Never went to Glendowie, but lots of people I know did. Half the Auckland Jewish Community went there from my 3rd form through to 7th. They've fenced off the fields a lot more than they used to. Possibly too many druggies around there from when my stepbrothers were around.
Then eventually i got down to the Roberta Ave intersection just before the reserve. Roberta Ave shall be remembered as the place where the girl I had a crush on through til I left St Heliers lived. Only person I have any regret about.
Walked through Tahuna Turea finally. An hour and twenty minutes walk to get to a thirty-fourty minute track. Possibly not the most time efficient. But the tide was coming in, the waves were soothing, noone else was around, and there were lots of trees. It was lovely. It felt weird walking there without dad, but when I found somewhere to stop, and just admire the view, I gave Dad a call to say hi, and just make it feel like I wasnt walking alone. Sometimes I do just enjoy walking. I hate walking in town, but if I need to escape, chances are, I'll head to somewhere I like walking, and just blank my mind.
Afterwards headed off to meet up with Sarah, Phillip and Erin. They live somewhat nearby, although my generic sense of direction is good, the exact location of their house from the bottom of West Tamaki Drive was less assured. I apparently walked the exact way I would've, had I bothered to look at a map, but I walk slower and unsure when I don't know exactly where I am. I guess one of the comforting things around St Heliers is that I know the area reasonably well. I may not know exact streets, but I remember a lot of it. More assuring is the fact that I can pick a direction, keep following it, and I *will* hit a road I know. Around Glen Innes/Point England, if I keep walking, I either hit Panmure (Queens Road), St Johns Road, West Tamaki Road, or the water. And if I hit the water, I just pick any direction that doesn't involve me swimming across to Pakuranga. Not that that's a problem either, I know Pakuranga too :p I just never liked ocean swimming.
Eventually I got to Sarah & Phillips, without too much stress. It felt alot more stressful feeling like I didn't know where I was, but I was on the right track, and about Five minutes away when I got given directions :p
It has been a very pleasant evening indeed, and I may well do more random walks over the coming weeks
I decided to go for a walk around the Tahuna Turea Reserve this evening... it's somewhere i used to walk/bike as a kid, and I just like it... it's at the back of Glendowie, and links up to Point England. Now what I failed to remember (having last done this walk probably 10 years ago) is that it's only about a 30 minute walk... add 10 minutes for being nostalgic and not being able to see the path all the time :p But it is a lovely walk. As a kid, it seemed about an hour... possibly because it was so long ago, and I just don't remember things from that age particularly well.
So off I went walking to the reserve. Not knowing a particularly efficient way there, I went the way I remembered best, which involves getting onto St Heliers Bay road, and then going down Riddell road.
Sunhill - the fruit and vege place (and flower/plant shop) which was our greengrocers when I was young, and next to it the shop that Mike Harris once owned as a cheese shop, and the to continue onto the wonderful suburb of my youth, St Heliers...
My last real memory of St Heliers Bay Road (Number 317, the only house that actually exists on that street) was the last time I went to see Grandma before she passed away, not being very cognitive, but still surviving. I miss that house, it just feels like such a significant part of my childhood. Picking Feijoas, finding Chestnuts, swimming in the pool... finding grandpa's bank card in the flowers one time... I still have that somewhere, although it's being unusable since I found it, and severely reshaped by the sun when I found it. But it's the only thing of grandpa's that I own. Unsurprising, as he died the day before my Bris I believe.
Continuing down, I passed what used to be the Bayview Medical Centre... where Dad used to go in for his 2 packs of Nicorette 2mg mint. When I lived in Grenada Place, just off Pembroke Cresent for those who know/remember the area, you used to be able to walk down the road behind Bayview to Sierra Street, and then through an allyway to Grenada, but now has been developed into a housing complex it seems... i couldn't see the way down, although during daylight, that might be easier if it still exists, however I doubt it. Then I continued back along to the Maskell/Riddell/St Heliers intersection. St Heliers Bay Gardens, just before the lights, is where one of my childhood friends lived, whom I frequently visited. I lost contact when I went to St Kents though.
Walking down Riddell road is weird. The shops at the back of Maskell St have all changed, the Retravision and Pizza place have gone. Past that however, it hasn't changed. The other end of Sierra street which just looked the same as when I was a kid walking down there to get home. Passed another friend's house just before Glendowie college. Never went to Glendowie, but lots of people I know did. Half the Auckland Jewish Community went there from my 3rd form through to 7th. They've fenced off the fields a lot more than they used to. Possibly too many druggies around there from when my stepbrothers were around.
Then eventually i got down to the Roberta Ave intersection just before the reserve. Roberta Ave shall be remembered as the place where the girl I had a crush on through til I left St Heliers lived. Only person I have any regret about.
Walked through Tahuna Turea finally. An hour and twenty minutes walk to get to a thirty-fourty minute track. Possibly not the most time efficient. But the tide was coming in, the waves were soothing, noone else was around, and there were lots of trees. It was lovely. It felt weird walking there without dad, but when I found somewhere to stop, and just admire the view, I gave Dad a call to say hi, and just make it feel like I wasnt walking alone. Sometimes I do just enjoy walking. I hate walking in town, but if I need to escape, chances are, I'll head to somewhere I like walking, and just blank my mind.
Afterwards headed off to meet up with Sarah, Phillip and Erin. They live somewhat nearby, although my generic sense of direction is good, the exact location of their house from the bottom of West Tamaki Drive was less assured. I apparently walked the exact way I would've, had I bothered to look at a map, but I walk slower and unsure when I don't know exactly where I am. I guess one of the comforting things around St Heliers is that I know the area reasonably well. I may not know exact streets, but I remember a lot of it. More assuring is the fact that I can pick a direction, keep following it, and I *will* hit a road I know. Around Glen Innes/Point England, if I keep walking, I either hit Panmure (Queens Road), St Johns Road, West Tamaki Road, or the water. And if I hit the water, I just pick any direction that doesn't involve me swimming across to Pakuranga. Not that that's a problem either, I know Pakuranga too :p I just never liked ocean swimming.
Eventually I got to Sarah & Phillips, without too much stress. It felt alot more stressful feeling like I didn't know where I was, but I was on the right track, and about Five minutes away when I got given directions :p
It has been a very pleasant evening indeed, and I may well do more random walks over the coming weeks