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Tough to Take a Walk
Tough to Take a Walk
By Mimi Parseghian
While reading one of those end of the old year, beginning of the new articles – you know, one of those focusing on finance, career, relationships, health and exercise – I saw an item that I liked: go for a walk outside at least once a week.
Sounds good. So yesterday, I decided to begin this new ritual. Well, where I live in Lowell, that is not an easy thing to do. First, some of the streets do not have sidewalks and some of the sidewalks are not properly cleaned, especially the ones owned by the city or the state.
Nevertheless, I ventured out. The weather and the conditions of the streets were not my biggest challenge, cars were. If you are regular walker and you stroll through streets that have few pedestrians, those driving cars seem to resent your presence.
They own the street and if you, like me, need to walk on the edge of the road, beware. Some did move over to the center of the road as they drove by, some tried to avoid the puddles so I would not be drenched, but they were not the majority.
Walking is not only good for your health but it also makes you much more aware and respectful of your surroundings. For example, there is a woman who lives near me who I occasionally see walking around with a large garbage bag. As she walks, she picks up litter thrown out the windows of cars.
I got the message, I moved to a parking lot and walked around there. So next time, I will get in my car and drive to a path where the joggers and bikers do not mind sharing the road with me.
How true. I walk to the gym five days a week and in those few block there are major challenges. Two intersections with traffic lights were drivers all to frequently run red lights, an intersection that is a bit of a shortcut to downtown where drivers do not like waiting for an elderly person in the marked crosswalk, a certain business that likes to put it’s snow on the sidewalk across the street from it’s two driveways to name the most dangerous challenges to walking. I will continue waling my daily 10,000 steps because I feel better and it is good for my health.
Businesses that plow onto the sidewalk are a huge pet peeve of mine. If an old lady can’t get her sidewalk shoveled, that’s one thing. If a commercial business is paying someone to plow, and to make a snowbank on the sidewalk, that’s another.
People in this city depend on walking. It’s not just a get-some-fresh-air thing for thousands and thousands of Lowellians. There can’t be business owners building mounds of ice on the sidewalks as part of the operations on their property.