I used to walk to school for a little over a half-mile. Sometimes it was really cold (I hated that); and one day the air and wind were so wonderful and strange that I thought I was on Eleanor Cameron’s ‘Mushroom Planet’, which I’d been reading.
And I recall walking home one day, when the snow on the trees had been hit later by an ice storm, and everything was glittering like diamonds.
But one day, a dog followed me all the way to school, trying to get my lunch, which he smelled in my bag. He got it all - I’ve been a sucker for animals all of my life.
(I think I may have salvaged an apple for lunch that day, though...)
I feel kind of sorry for kids who don’t have to walk to school anymore - or whose parents are rightly afraid, these days, to allow them to do so. They are missing out on a lot of before- and after-school wonder.)
Agree. I lived in the city, and had to walk a mile to school. In the old days, there was a lot of shops and activity along the way. Two blocks away from home was a broom factory, always had these large barn-style doors open so I could glance inside and watch people at machines. Three blocks away was a bakery, with the fresh smell of donuts being baked. Then a park to walk through, and various mom-&-pop stores along the way. The daily journey was fun.