Friday, September 26, 2003

high noon



i have a very sedentary job.
it is stimulating, and challenging, and sociable, and i love it...but i face a keyboard and a monitor the livelong day. spending my lunch-half-hour sitting inside, despite the admirable salad bar, is totally out of the question.
so i walk. come rain, come snow, come sleet, come hail (we're talking the postman-pledge here): i get out and about.
i either head off to the douaneloodsen, because that particular environment inspires me immeasurably, or i stroll the haarlemmerstraat - usually starting at the korte prinsengracht.
i pass the posthoorn church, tucked quietly off the street, and café restaurant "dulac"; i buy bread at "crusts and crumbs"; i check out the shop window at "mas".
this neighbourhood is absolutely unique.
if you follow thomas schlijper's daily wanderings - and you SHOULD - you will already be aquainted with this - HIS - stomping ground..
so: between noon and half-past-twelve, i get my exercise.
and i refuel my spirit in the process.

9 comments:

  1. I like to stomp around to all day, alltough I don`t get paid for it like Schlijper (his pictures are amazing) but I prefer this then sitting behind a desk all the time.

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  2. ah...but your pictures are just as amazing!

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  3. just for you, barbara! and i have so enjoyed your images of western canada: beautiful..

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  4. i'm infront of the computer at work too but since i haven't been getting enough sleep lately, i find a nap refreshes me. need to go exercise though.

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  5. I wish I could walk. I've gotten fat working at the computer all day and then driving everywhere else.
    The US (other than a few big cities like San Fran and New York) are just not built for walking. I remember when we moved to Madison I was surprised that in many places the city didn't even have sidewalks. I lived two blocks from my high school, but there was no sidewalk for me to walk on to get there. They expected me to take the bus.
    During my brief visit to Amsterdam, I loved how easily you could get lost along the canals and roads - there's just so much to explore on foot. (I promise to eventually get to those pictures :)

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  6. excellent policy! i love to walk. i walk to and from work now, and it's wonderful.

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  7. Outside of my work building there is nothing worth walking to see... it has all the charm of a mullet. : )

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  8. I'd never skip my lunch walk. Even though the surroundings here in Zeist are just not Amsterdam, the fresh air (enough of that here), birds, squirrels etc. can really freshen me up again. And I love the pictures you come back with. Pity my big D100 is a bit bulky to carry around all the time.

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