We skipped a day because Gord wasn’t feeling well. He takes a pill for his osteoporosis that can set him back for a day, but it’s better than a pain killer.
We’re taking the same walk we did on the 20th and I’m curious about the difference in sunrise times, only 5 minutes, but in late August you feel you can sense a change. The sun is still a bright orb but orangier (sic) than the other day and not quite as blinding.
The weather’s still warm though and what hasn’t changed is the high activity at this hour. Those biker boys (bicycles, not motorbikes) do run at a fair clip. We’re at the junction of high park and the Queensway and those speedsters come down from High Park, a steep descent and, if they time the lights correctly, easily take the turn heading west on the Queensway at a guessed at 50+ kph which is a few dollars over the posted limit of 20 kph.
For those who like particulars, that stretch from High Park is Colborne Lodge Road. You can drive up it, heading north to the lodge and go no further but you can drive on it all the way down from Bloor. This is a popular run for cyclists; there’s a natural loop they take on the flat part of High Park.
We watch our step. By the way, if you don’t push that little button to change the lights, the lights for the traffic change but not for the pedestrians. After a while, when you’re getting nowhere, you figure it out.
Gord asks me, “What’s new?” and I mention that the umbrella we ordered for our patio table arrived on the same day we experienced gale force winds on our terrace.
“That’s too bad,” he consoled. “Since we couldn’t use it,” I enlightened, “I sent it back … wasn’t working.”
Gord humours me and presses the change-the-light-button more repeatedly.
We walk along the board walk heading towards the Humber. Time for a rant. The board walk doesn’t use boards, thankfully, but artificial wood which handles the weather better but when the boards give in to the seasons over time, the powers that be, who fix the worn bits, replace them with wood. Go figure.
We get to talk sailing and each of us had had experiences with a Laser. That’s an internationally recognized Canadian designed single sail dinghy which became an Olympic class in 1996.
We take a rest and Gord updates me on the physical challenges that he’s faced over the years ending with gout. I picture that as a Victorian condition and the movies always seem to portray the patient sitting with his foot, which is either twice the size it should be or wrapped in miles of material, resting on an ottoman.
I suggest to Gord that if there are plans to have his tombstone list his life’s challenges there would have to be a ‘see over’ to continue reading round the back.
But his good spirits dominate and we challenge the traffic on the South Kingsway to get home successfully.
Chalk up another 3 kilometres or so to our walking, not running, total.