One of the things that I appreciate about my life here in the province, especially in our neck of the woods, is that we can take long walks. Sure, you can do that in any part of the country, but where I’m from, I can do it without worrying about pollution, traffic, or getting mugged/robbed (something that I was concerned about when I was living and working in the Metro). I think it helps that I’m from a place where everybody practically knows everybody. There are always around 3 (or fewer) degrees of separation between you and any person you will run into in the neighborhood.
When I first moved to the province, I had to adjust a bit to the whole walking thing. When I lived in the city I didn’t do much of it even if I did commute because there was always a public utility vehicle I could take to get where I needed to go. Here in the province, if people can walk to the destination, they will walk. It was surprising to find out that when you ask directions and they say you can walk to that place, they sometimes mean it is a long walk. A REALLY long walk (which is normal for them by the way). That caught me off-guard, but I’m used to it now (as opposed to the whole huffing, puffing, and midway complaining that I would do wondering how much farther I had to walk to get to my destination).
