Street Walkers

We have become street walkers. Because our apartment is center city, we don’t need a car. Casey rides the double-decker to work, and I amble to the gym and the library and the grocery store, each not more than 10 minutes from home. It's seems the perfect time to quote William Wallace, so I shall: Freeeeeeedom!

One of the greatest things about walking in Bristol is the feeling of anonymity. Walk to a grocery in Fort Collins, and the folks idling in their cars at the stop lights stare out the windows at you in disbelief. Some kind of suburban miscreant, they think. Probably forgot to pay her parking tickets.

But here, people stride the streets purposefully, and the cars are nothing more than a sideshow. Very seldom do people stare, no matter what odd ensemble you threw together that day. Every once in awhile someone challenges you with a flash of eye contact, but for the most part, you are invisible.

The best walks, of course, are those that are shared, and Casey and I have perfected our after-dinner loop around the quay. We work furiously to complete our mental maps of Bristol, for our return to the suburbs is but a fortnight away. By the way, if you don’t hear from us upon our return, send a search party to Fort Collins. Tell them to look for two statues frozen in stone on a street corner, victims of the suburban stare.

Walking distance from our apartment on Deanery Road..









Two minute walk
















Three minute walk


















Eight minute walk

Ten minute walk














Fifteen minute walk

Several hours walk (town of Cheddar, England)