I’ve been walkin to work alot lately, which, it turns out, is a fantastic way to get to work.  You get exercise, spend $0 on your commute, and get to smirk at people stuck in traffic along the way.

The concept of walking as a mode of transportation seems to have gone the way of the dodo in my town.  When I tell people I walk to to work, they assume it’s because I can’t afford a car, or I have a DUI.  I get perplexed looks when I tell people I walked *gasp* a whole mile to get a sandwich for lunch, or that I walked to the grocery store last night and saw six feral cats and a lot of litter on the way (litter as in garbage).

At what point did people stop thinking of their legs as a real mode of transportation, instead of just a way to get in and out of buildings?  Recreational walking is probably more popular than ever- Ape and I take walks at night to get out of the house, seniors will drive 20 miles to walk around a shopping mall, and then there’s the go-nowhere treadmill.

I don’t see very many other walkers, and those that I do see have the look of determination that only comes with walking for exercise.  It seems strange to me, living in the middle of a very safe town as I do, that so few people walk.  I’d expect as much from the suburbanites, who frankly have nowhere to walk to, but urban dwellers should seize their opportunity.

Maybe I can blame this on the perception of time versus value  – it’s understandable that people may not be able to fit a 20 minute walk to work on their crowded daily agenda.  Why not make the 5 minute commute instead?  It’s a fair question, but if folks really stopped and thought about the value of their time, the stress of driving, and the relaxation and clarity that a walk affords, there probably wouldn’t be as many cars stuck in traffic for me to smirk at.

And if those people really don’t want to walk, there’s always the bicycle.