Osler's Razor

One thing I am still getting used to in Minnesota is that it really is a walking city. Where I live, I can walk to the grocery store, a coffee shop, some restaurants, a bank... and I do walk there (now that my ankle is healing). So do lots of other people.

It does take some getting used to, though. I'm so accustomed to just getting in the car as a matter of course that sometimes I do so, remember where I am, then get out again and head out on foot.

Sure, Osler (you say)-- that's fine in the fall, but what about the winter? Good point, and I am interested to see how this changes. At work, though, I expect it won't change much. Downtown Minneapolis is connected by an enormous skyway, which is a meandering path of bridges through 88 blocks of stores, restaurants, hotels, and just about everything else (including St. Thomas law school).

In Waco, I lived in a beautiful part of town where people did walk. It wasn't unusual to see my neighbors passing my house, then go out and chat for a while. I loved that. Sadly, other than the Family Dollar and La Fiesta, there weren't many place to walk to, however. When I see people walking here, I expect to recognize them, expect them to be the people I have come to know, but they aren't. They have different stories, different lives, and someplace to go. I'm not sure that is better; there is something to be said for walkers who are on foot only for the exercise and to exchange a kind word with the people along the way.

Still, there is a rhythm to life here that is appealing. Perhaps in part it is the sense that the snows will come and quiet it all, leaving me on a bright cold morning to walk through that faint scent of woodsmoke, pine, and ice.

We will see.