Tonight I had a most enjoyable walk home from work. It was especially enjoyable as I didn’t have to be somewhere; I could walk at a snails pace and enjoy the sights and sounds of the city. The weather was breezy but strangely balmy; the sky overcast and stormy but the sun shone through. Lot’s of people were walking or biking and enjoying the beautiful summer evening, smiling; laughing; enjoying.

I used to get dropped off at school when I was a kid, and picked up afterwards. In high school, I caught the bus and had barely 400m to walk to my door – which I regularly complained to my mother about. I remember walking home from school one night with a friend – almost 10km – just because we felt like it, yet at University I wouldn’t stay for my lecture if I couldn’t get a car space in the ‘top’ car park – the ‘bottom’ car park (located at the bottom of a huge hill) was a 15 minute walk on an incline and no way was I studying after that. 

It amuses me now that I actually choose to walk rather than drive, or catch a tram, because walking really is one of those things you can do and truly enjoy on a number of levels. You feel good because you are exercising which releases endorphins and makes you happy. You can people watch – ask yourself what that girl is laughing at; who that boy is waving to; why that couple are so much in love. You can appreciate the architecture in Melbourne, the immense number of people with backpacks and ladies wearing runners with business suits.

One of my favourite things to do is to switch off the volume of my ipod and leave in the headphones, listening to the sounds around me – the ding of the trams; the train running overhead at Flinders Street; the girls gossiping waiting for the lights to change. Can you appreciate all these things with your head in a book on the tram, or impatiently tooting in your car in city traffic?

This year has taught me to look for life’s simple pleasures, and a walk is one of them. Whether it is a lap of the lake among the joggers, a stroll to work on a crisp morning or dawdling all the way home, a walk can educate and invigorate. Put your walking shoes on and get out there. Summer is here!