— पांच हजार सात सौ सत्रह —
Shobhit and I went for a walk last night, a bit late and when
it was quite cold (37°), for really no reason beyond getting Shobhit and extra Social Review point.
Sometimes when we do this, it feels unduly forced, and not necessarily worth it otherwise. Strangely, last night, I quite enjoyed the walk more than I usually do, in spite of the wearther.At least it wasn't raining. Also, we both had hoods—Shobhit wore a winter coat with a hood; I wore layers with my red hoodie beneath my pea coat. We both had our hoods up for much of the walk and that helped a lot.
Shobhit had asked which direction we should walk, and I couldn't decide. North on Broadway? North on 15th to Volunteer Park and back? Down Pine Street? Down Pike Street? All of these ideas felt overdone, with the slight exception of Pike which is largely overrun with homeless people and drug use. 12th Avenue was also an option but just doesn't have as many businesses once you get past a few blocks and I didn't want to just walk down a residential side street.
It was Shobhit who came up with the new idea: why don't we walk up 19th Avenue? Great idea!
We walked from home up 15th to Olive, where we turned right and then walked the four blocks east to 19th.
Here are some impressions of 19th Avenue E after the early sunset of late fall in Seattle.
1. It is
very brightly lit. Street lights galore, illuminating intersections so brightly it almost felt like daytime. I wondered if that was annoying to residents of homes right next to the lights, but as a pedestrian, it was wonderful, and a sharp contrast to so much of 15th which is irritatingly dark at night. There are some streetlights, but there's also a tree canopy which darkens a lot of the street a great deal in spite of them. While we were walking last night, we did go through a couple of residential blocks and residents there had strung lights up between the trees that night otherwise have blocked streetlamp light, which perfectly illuminated the sidewalks for us. I thought it was great.
2. I was really struck by Miller Community Center—which I have been to many times before, but always in the daytime. I'm not sure I've ever walked past it at 9 p.m. before. The public sporting facilities were all very brightly lit and, most surprising to me given what time it was on a Monday night, being well used. We saw several people playing tennis, and I think there were people down on the playfield as well. The whole vibe had a real sense of a neighborhood providing useful amenities for its community. To be fair, Cal Anderson Park is used in much the same way, but the vibe over there is a lot more sketchy—it's only a block over from Broadway, and has a history of encampments in it. No one's camping there right now, but it's still pretty frequent to come across people who'd probably choose to if they could. Suffice it to say, very broadly speaking, "street crime" is far more likely to be encountered at Cal Anderson Park—a park I really love, for the record—than at Miller Community Center.
3. Which is to say: also, encountering homeless people, just 10 blocks east of Broadway, was far less common. 19th has a fair amount of business of its own; it's kind of its own business corridor. And at 9 p.m. on a Monday, nearly all the businesses were closed. We walked past the Windermere Real Estate office on 19th and Prospect, and we did see a homeless guy sleeping in a sleeping bag on the sidewalk there. But he was the only one.
We walked a couple of blocks further north so I could get a look at the home of one of the guys who regularly comes to Action Movie Night every other Wednesday. But then we walked back, and turned right on Aloha to walk past St. Joseph Parish and on to 15th, where we then turned left to walk back home again.
I suppose the best thing about the walk, really, was just having new stuff to look around at. Shobhit takes walks far more than I do so he has more recent memories of the north end of 19th than I do. It had been so long sicne I'd gone that direction, I suspect a bunch of those blocks were wholly different from the last time I was there. There's something fun about feeling like you're walking through a new city.
— पांच हजार सात सौ सत्रह —
— पांच हजार सात सौ सत्रह —
Beyond that, my evening was uneventful. I did leave work early yesterday to go see my doctor, this time for my annual physical. It was very brief and uninvasive, aside from the throat swab I get every three months anyway. I got several things tested for the annual physical that haven't been tested in five years. So far, everything is normal, with just a few things only barely outside the parameters of normal. Dr. Means clearly didn't find anything worth being concerned about.
My appointment was at 4:00, and I didn't see him until probably 4:45. I didn't let it bother me much; I expect things back up over the course of a day. Still, I left work at 3:15 and got there by 3:45. Aside from the form I filled out, I killed the time just scrolling apps on my phone.
I took the RapidRide G line home afterward, and was home at about 5:40. Shobhit and I heated up leftovers and watched last week's episode of
What We Do In the Shadows, which was better than usual for this current, sixth and final season. It was after that ended that I suggested we go for that walk, which Shobhit had already suggested before we had dinner.
I leave work early again today, but later, at least: about 4:00, to go see a 4:15 movie at SIFF Cinema at the Uptown on Lower Queen Anne. Tomorrow we have our "Foraged Feast" at work, before Merchandising goes to the Seattle Art Museum at 2:00, and after that a Happy Hour at Fonte Bar at Rainier Square, one level above where the new office will be, something I actually helped make happen. I even made the reservation (last week) and I sent out the calendar event to the department (yesterday). I won't be getting more than just a couple hours of work done tomorrow.
Oh well!
— पांच हजार सात सौ सत्रह —
[posted 12:36 pm]
