Mr. Busy

I have a fairly regular routine that I try to follow. Weather permitting, I walk to a small park where I sit at a bench and eat my lunch. It takes me just under half my lunch time to get to the bench. After I've finished eating, I have roughly the same amount of time left to get back to work. This process works great when I bring my lunch. Yesterday, I did not bring my lunch and instead needed to stop and buy something along the way.

This stop, while brief, still put me in a situation where I needed to hasten my stroll in order to get to the bench at my normal time. I'm not typically a real fast walker so I figured I had plenty of room for a speed up. I've always considered my gait to be something of an amble. I recently looked up the word "amble", and it appears that it is a term often used when speaking of horses. Since I'm not a horse, maybe I don't amble, maybe I saunter, I don't really know. I suppose some might say I mosey, but I've always felt that a true mosey requires one to hitch their thumbs in their front belt-loops. I don't do that so I don't think I really mosey. I prefer to stick my hands in my coat pockets. This keeps my hands warm on cool fall days plus it eliminates the potential for any excessive arm swing. Excessive arm swing can turn an amble/saunter into a sashay. And I prefer not to be someone who sashays.

So there I was, ambling along. I figured it wouldn't take too much to get back on track. Maybe lengthen my stride or hasten my pace. I started by trying a faster, consistent pace. It was effective but I felt like I looked like "Mr. Busy" zipping along the sidewalk. I switched over to a longer stride. Again, effective but not real comfortable - let's just say I could sense the potential for a certain undergarment to "ride up" into a region I prefer it not visit. Apparently, my clothes were not designed for repeated wide-stride operation. I switched back to Mr. Busy mode. I've got to say, I felt almost robotic zipping along. I was soon too wrapped up in the moment to care what others might think. I marveled at my consistent stride length, perfectly spaced within the sidewalk sections. I was a model of efficiency, passing folks left and right - focused solely on getting to my park bench.

When I arrived at the bench, I checked my watch. My speedy walking had made up the time spent buying lunch and then some. I was there a full five minutes earlier than usual. I settled in for a relaxing bite and a slow stroll back to work.