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What it means to wander
Nov. 16th, 2018 12:26 pmOn my wall at work I have a handful of photos that remind me of adventures, adventures being the places I have visited, but I do not think they truly encapsulate how I wander or where I go. My two favorites are in a wooden frame together. One is a child looking out the window on an old steam train to a sheep pasture in Scotland. Another is literally from the opposite side of the world, a view down a point at a lighthouse with waves crashing. But is that what it means to wander? It's a bit more local.
Today it's a Friday, a bit afternoon. I am sitting in my usual location in an office cubical, not far from the man who has been my manager for longer than anybody else. We work in a building that was originally built back during the late 1990's Internet boom to be the headquarters of a fairly decent sized regional telecommunications company. Like everything else, though, that company was swallowed up a few times over. This business is still here and there are a small handful of people who are still here from that era. I am not one of them. This neighborhood was considered "urban" then, though, whereas not long after all of the young people decided they wanted to be "more urban" but all of the tech employers decided they wanted sprawling real estate in the suburbs. A quandary, eh? I live near here though. Close enough that it's on my fitness route.
So I run. And I've run from here to downtown Washington many times. It takes me about forty five minutes. I love this route because it is more downhill, with a chunk of divided trails, some running along the river, and a bit of time going over a couple of bridges. In fact, one of the things I like about running is that I get to see all of this.
Over the summer, I found an urban street side barbecue on one of my runs. I live in a part of town which started to gentrify about 15 years ago with a ton of forward momentum culminating in the construction of a number of apartment and condo blocks, but then failing to deliver. New businesses have a hard time surviving, mostly because the momentum never continued, but old time businesses tend to last a long time. And if you travel further afield, you find more genuine people. And this is what I found - a group of men who serve up soul food barbecue under a tent from a street side smoker three days a week in the warmer months.
The first time I saw them, I thought they were preparing for catering elsewhere. I ran past a few more times before I got up the nerve to go ask them what was up. It was like a handful of men in a barber shop shooting the shit with colorful language - the type of things you dare not say to strangers yet are acceptable within your own community. Consider your favorite Sameul L. Jackson quotes and go from there.
I interrupted them long enough to ask, "You cook ribs here?"
One of them looked up and waved widely with his hand, palm down away from his body and jesturing towards the smoker. "No, we got it all!" He smacks his hand with emphasis as he says, "We got chicken, ribs, burgers, pork, half smokes!"
And so I ran back home, up the long hill on Walter Reed I refer to as "Superman Hill," took a shower and bicycled back down. He charged me $4 a meat. I had three meats.
And that is how I wander. Just do things as they happen, explore, and share a bit when I can.
Today it's a Friday, a bit afternoon. I am sitting in my usual location in an office cubical, not far from the man who has been my manager for longer than anybody else. We work in a building that was originally built back during the late 1990's Internet boom to be the headquarters of a fairly decent sized regional telecommunications company. Like everything else, though, that company was swallowed up a few times over. This business is still here and there are a small handful of people who are still here from that era. I am not one of them. This neighborhood was considered "urban" then, though, whereas not long after all of the young people decided they wanted to be "more urban" but all of the tech employers decided they wanted sprawling real estate in the suburbs. A quandary, eh? I live near here though. Close enough that it's on my fitness route.
So I run. And I've run from here to downtown Washington many times. It takes me about forty five minutes. I love this route because it is more downhill, with a chunk of divided trails, some running along the river, and a bit of time going over a couple of bridges. In fact, one of the things I like about running is that I get to see all of this.
Over the summer, I found an urban street side barbecue on one of my runs. I live in a part of town which started to gentrify about 15 years ago with a ton of forward momentum culminating in the construction of a number of apartment and condo blocks, but then failing to deliver. New businesses have a hard time surviving, mostly because the momentum never continued, but old time businesses tend to last a long time. And if you travel further afield, you find more genuine people. And this is what I found - a group of men who serve up soul food barbecue under a tent from a street side smoker three days a week in the warmer months.
The first time I saw them, I thought they were preparing for catering elsewhere. I ran past a few more times before I got up the nerve to go ask them what was up. It was like a handful of men in a barber shop shooting the shit with colorful language - the type of things you dare not say to strangers yet are acceptable within your own community. Consider your favorite Sameul L. Jackson quotes and go from there.
I interrupted them long enough to ask, "You cook ribs here?"
One of them looked up and waved widely with his hand, palm down away from his body and jesturing towards the smoker. "No, we got it all!" He smacks his hand with emphasis as he says, "We got chicken, ribs, burgers, pork, half smokes!"
And so I ran back home, up the long hill on Walter Reed I refer to as "Superman Hill," took a shower and bicycled back down. He charged me $4 a meat. I had three meats.
And that is how I wander. Just do things as they happen, explore, and share a bit when I can.
