Walk!

Once upon a time, I used to walk home from the office after work. Those were the days when work ended at 5pm and the skies would still be sunny and bright when I stepped out of my office building.

I chose to walk home because this gave me a little aerobic exercise (and 'endurance' training); I was never comfortable with the idea of embarrassing myself in front of those sleek and well-toned health fanatics sweating it out in a gym. The various equipment looked quite confusing and too sophisticated anyway. Besides, gym memberships cost money.

Walking home, I figured, would also allow me the opportunity to explore the little nooks and corners that I would so often pass by on my morning bus rides to work but never quite had the chance to check out 'properly'. By walking home, I could check out the small lanes in Kampong Glam, for example, and feel almost like a 'local back-packer tourist'.

I was at first not certain of the distance I could tahan walking. So I started out telling myself that I would just cover about a quarter of the bus route that I would otherwise have taken to get home. On most days, I did a walk-then-bus-ride routine; occasionally, I took a bus first then walked the last quarter of the journey.

Gradually, my stamina built up and I became a little more ambitious. The 'walk' portion became extended and before long, I found myself walking home the entire journey.

The savings in bus fare was, of course, a bonus (although in those days, bus fares were very affordable). But more importantly, what made me feel even better about getting home completely on foot was the feeling of being 'in control'. I could quicken my pace if I felt it was getting late or dark; I could also check out different routes (cutting across big, empty fields or void decks etc) if I felt like it. In short, I totally enjoyed the 'freedom' the walk home brought me.

The best time I had ever clocked for the brisk walk home was about 45 minutes. Not bad an achievement, hor?

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It was a pity, however, that I hadn't kept up with that walk-home resolution and discipline. Some time after getting married (and then expecting WY), I went back to the bus and MRT.

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Then, some time before WF came along, we got our Mazda. From then on, I took the 4-wheels to go home almost everyday. It soon graduated from being a luxury to a necessity because office hours were extended first to 5:30pm, then to 6:00pm.

These days, it is also quite common for me to be able to go off only nearer to 6:30pm. (And to a large extent, R's late knock-off time also contributes to this.)

But whatever time it is, the truth is that I have gotten used to getting on the car at my office building's main driveway. What walking? No more, lah!

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Since last week, however, I have been 'forced' by a Big, Evil, Ever-Hungry Monster to start to walk a little distance again. 'Forced' because if I don't get out of the CBD on foot, we would have to incur a total of $5 every day just so that I can hop onto our own car at my office building's driveway.

$5 = $3 to get in + $2 to get out, of the CBD. $5 just so that I can get onto our car to go home = ridiculous, isn't it?!

And so, nowadays, the SOP is that I will take a 10-minute walk out of the CBD to wait for R along the roadside. We will then take the CTE to connect to PIE and head towards CH School to pick WF (and also WY on some days) up. Cost of taking this route = $1.

In case anyone is still wondering, what Monster?.................

(picture borrowed from flickr)

Monster's been closing in on us in the CBD from NSEW, Top and Bottom............