Edmonton is not a particularly walkable city. And neither are four-inch heels a particularly walkable choice of footwear. And several feet of snow being converted to water makes for some not so particularly walkable streets. But on Sunday afternoon, I walked. In this city, wearing those shoes, through those slushy streets. I walked down Whyte Ave, where everybody was out in the sun, and then I kept on walking, across the Highlevel Bridge.
The North Saskatchewan has broken free – there is a current on the southern half of the river, and the ice on the northern bank looks more like marble as it softens and cracks.
Upon reaching the north end of the bridge, I kept on walking – to Jasper Ave, and down it, enjoying the alternate click and splash of my heels as I navigated by the newly-revealed sun.
By the time I reached my destination, my feet had had enough, but the rest of me was just beginning. There’s something about these first warm sunny days, when the winter breaks. I’ll complain about the cold and snow like any self-respecting Edmontonian, but here’s the reverse side of Seasonal Affective Disorder, the thing that makes the winters worth their (very long) while. Spring euphoria.
Time to go buy rain boots.
So - I had exactly this experience today (well, ok, almost this experience): I decided to walk downtown in my Tsubo wedges, even though it's an hour's walk and they're (relatively) new and my knee is still a bit iffy. BUT. You see so many things, even the things you drive by all the time, even the things you've walked past a million times before. The skyline looks different to me every spring, partly because, well, it IS different (gaining interesting contours, esp from the NW) but partly because I look for different things. What makes all of this possible is the sun, and the end of winter: there was a virtual stream across one of the sidewalks near the cemetery and the sun sliding across the water just blinded me with happiness. You know?
ReplyDelete