Nookish

The other day a friend had come over to spend the day studying at my place, and after a very intense afternoon of doing readings we decided it was high time for some fresh air.  The area around downtown Ottawa is just gorgeous, if you’ve never been, and it’s fairly easy to start taking a walk and just get lost in the beautiful places the path can take you.

I live near the Rideau Canal, so quite often at any given time of year, I find myself walking along it.  In some ways it’s more convenient than taking transit.  It cuts straight through from near where I live, all the way to campus and then further on to the downtown core.  I’ve got quite a few memories of us slipping and sliding all the way home on the iced over canal in winter, just for fun.

Anyways, so I’ve been here for my entire undergraduate degree (this will be my 4th year), and I’ve taken numerous walks around the city starting at that point.

So imagine my surprise when we got to the canal and my friend stops just before we turned right, and takes a good look on either side of the bridge and suddenly asks, “Have you ever been walking the other way?”.

To be honest, no, never.  I’d always turned right to go towards downtown, and for whatever reason it had simply never occurred to me to turn left.  Apparently it hadn’t occurred to her either, so that’s where we proceeded to go.  To just walk in the opposite direction and see where it took us.

I felt a bit ashamed that I had never made such a simple observation before.  It wasn’t so much that I was afraid to take the opposite direction, but more that life kept taking me downtown, to school or to shop or what have you.  And then it became a routine.  I find it relaxing to go for a walk beside the water and the trees, and often do so without really thinking of where I’m going.  And apparently without thinking where I’m going, I often walk down an old, familiar route.

Fall is my favourite time in Ottawa because of all the beautiful autumn colours.

Is this representative of my life?  Yes.  Entirely so.  I’m a dreamer in some senses, but more often than not I’m the practical person who weighs her options and then tries to pick the most efficient route to the end.  To the point where I feel like efficiency is the default, even when it comes to leisure or daily life.

I’m glad we “took the road less traveled”.  Of course it didn’t really lead anywhere in particular, but the scenery was beautiful, and it kind of compounded the idea that this is my last year in this city (maybe), and there’s so much about it that I haven’t seen and experienced.

I need to make a list.
I also need to turn left once in a while.  Apparently.