Something that I perhaps may have learned anywhere else but learned specifically while on my honeymoon in England is a perspective and philosophy on walking. I'm talking about walking within natural landscapes, the organic environment which we mostly now typically see presented in the form of public or private parks and gardens, including national parks and national gardens.
I went to England bringing these clunky, heavy, and loud boots thinking they would be apt for the myriad outfits I brought - I even saw some people in London wearing boots similar. By the second day of the trip, however, I threw them away:
When we visited Oxford Street, I bought these (on sale, and much more comfortable) instead:
All this is to say: it dawned on me that walking through nature has always been a complete pleasure for me. I never, never thought of the natural landscape as merely a background or a pretty backdrop. It is landscape alive and full of life, history, growth, death, and rebirth.
It dawned on me thus: while walking through our forests, gardens, or parks it is important to stop and let myself be within it. Not to run recklessly through it, the trees whizzing past my eyes and ears in a blur. Not merely a place to pose by trampling through brushwood. It is a place to be honored, to be lived with, beside, and among. Going there is an intentional activity, and because less and less of us have it right outside our back door, all the more it should be revered.
Weather permitting, why is it that so many of us, everywhere, need hiking boots, overly technical coats, spandex everywhere, etc. etc. to enjoy nature? Simply because I think for many it is a health exercise for them - with no concern for the environment per se. It is a means to get fresh air. But what of the very wildlife that lives there? Stamping on the ground with heavy feet and the plastic (or whatever it is) that swishes through our windbreakers are not necessarily the most conducive to a real appreciation of nature.
I know. I'm a bit close to the line of pretension. I understand. People like to exercise outside, and for some people, it is a must (the military, the long-distance runner in training, the explorer who must be prepared for harsh conditions). OK, fine -
Do what you will, but let me bask in the environment, minding everything about me, noticing it's every move as it would, as it does me. I would like to be one with it, represent it, camouflage myself in it... because in times of peace, why dress for war? Why dress for trekking? I like to breathe the air freely, not at force, and will do this wherever I choose to go.
(at Kew Gardens in Surrey)
(at Hyde Park in Kensington)
(at Richmond Park in Surrey)
(smelling heady roses outside the Sunken Garden at Kensington Palace)
- F
