Rudderless

[muckefuck]

Yesterday began with a very difficult conversation with one of my oldest and dearest friends. Well, not quite--there was the getting there, for which I had Nuphy as a companion half the trip. Thanks to us, he was able to fully enjoy Bear Night, creeping in at 4 a.m. to crash in our guest room. monshu pumped enough coffee into him to make him mobile and then we caught the Clark bus together, which he planned to ride all the way downtown so he could breakfast at the Gage. We parted at Addison, and the bus came with such remarkable timeliness that I made it bang on time despite having overshot my stop due to messed-up announcements.

After two hours of chatting, then Talking, then discussing, then bantering again, I felt numb and directionless. A beautiful afternoon was peaking around me and I couldn't decide what to do with myself. I was so underslept, I knew if I went home I ran the risk of crashing and ruining my sleep schedule--not to mention annoying monshu, who was trying to get some work done. I thought about calling a friend and hanging out, but I realised what I really needed at that moment was some quiet time to process everything I'd heard and said.

So I simply started walking. North, towards home, and then east, for the same reason. At every corner, I let myself be drawn up the most attractive prospect, keeping to the shade and avoiding major thoroughfares in favour of quiet side streets lined with trim bungalows. The exception was when I hit Irving Park; I was very conscious of being on the wrong side of the North Branch, so I followed this into Horner Park for a short stretch just to make sure I didn't get caught in a maze of dead-end avenues.

Soon after reaching the far bank, I crossed Western and it occurred to me how close I was to Lincoln Square, so I headed towards there with the thought of picking up a few things. (More honey, perhaps? Oh, and shaving cream from Merz Apotheke.) But it turned out to be in the throes of Maifest and I wasn't in the mood for that many drunk Chicagoans. Instead I found a comfy spot in Welles Park to camp out and try to read a little García-Márquez.

Then it occurred to me that there would be more to distract my eye if I were at Hollywood Beach, so I went up to Lawrence and caught an eastbound bus. But there was a chilly breeze off the Lake, and it drove me inland to the arms of Big Chicks. Diego and Coleman were there, as well as a smattering of bar buddies I might've seen had I gone out to Touché the night before rather than remaining on the deck entertaining my guests until 1 a.m. (Not a single regret there, trust me!)

I got so broad on a couple of drinks that I forgot my backpack there and had to go back for it. When I got home, the sausage-stuffed pancetta-wrapped pork roast (inspired by that Canadian porchetta!) and spinach-mushroom lasagne were already out of the oven. The chill had followed me here as well, making it too cool to eat al fresco, but perfect for having some of the maya hot chocolate from Soma while the Old Man and I chatted about what to do when forced to face the fact that some things are not as you would like them to be and never will be.

Comments

[richardthinks.livejournal.com]

flaneur!

I haven't done anything like that for ages. I'm looking forward to doing a bit in Paris. Although maybe without the heavy emotional Talk to start off with.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I recommend forgoing that if you at all can. Although starting off with a fortifying drink (Guinness, in my case) is still highly recommended.

[mollyc-q.livejournal.com]

In 2003, Labor Day Weekend, I was so desperate for urban landscape that I walked from about 6-8 blocks south of you and west of the Cemetery to the Apple Store and then down to the Jazz festival to meet a friend. My feet still haven't entirely recovered from that day, but I needed to walk, and there is little else, save probably real hiking to clear one's head. It was overcast and slightly cold. I recall being amused that I couldn't lose my way because I was on the grid. I don't even recall the route, I was well west of Clark and didn't start to move east until somewhere around Andersonville, where I think I finally turned east and migrated down Broadway, drifting over eventually to the Western edge of Lincoln Park, and through Rush Street on to Michigan Avenue.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

I used to do a lot more of this kind of walking. It was something I started doing back in St Louis and then kind of suspended for a while when I came to Chicago and everyone warned me about how dangerous the city was. But old habits die hard. Now it's just a battle between my desire to wander and my creaky back's tolerance.

[mollyc-q.livejournal.com]

The thing I missed most about living on the Northside was the ability to hop the red line and walk in various neighborhoods on weekends. At various phases of life in Hyde Park I got more walking done, but it was purposeful and not per the comment up thread as "flaneurian."

San Francisco was good this way, and the cardio of the uphills kept me in good state. The downhills were murder on my knees. And all of this is part of why I don't consider Nashville a city.

As to the dangerous aspects of the city, the fact that their have been coordinated assaults and muggings in and around Michigan Avenue in broad daylight is not a good, sign. Aside from mild worries about pickpockets, it was for me along with the Gold Coast the 15-20 block stretch of the city where one could walk between things to do, mindfully but without worrying much about crime, even into the evenings.

[muckefuck.livejournal.com]

Yeah, in Hyde Park I would tend to walk south into Jackson Park or along the Lakefront. When we moved to Indian Village, then I would often detour into Kenwood on the way home from work to check out the mansions. Eventually I got to the point where I would sometimes walk a way back from the Garfield stop on the HoDaR when I got impatient waiting for the bus, but that I was it. I never went in for the long rambles of a co-worker who frequently got asked, "Do you know where you are, white boy?"

But even back then, I would sometimes come up to the North Side and just wander around seeing what there was to see, particularly along the Clark/Broadway corridor. When I moved to Lincoln Park, I enjoyed walking back through the park of a pleasant evening after classes at the Hancock and varying the route back to my grotty little apartment.

[mollyc-q.livejournal.com]

I was nowhere near as adventurous as you in Hyde Park. But last time I was there with my pal Barney, I remembered that its a great neighborhood for walking around. One of the things I liked about various points on the North side, is that one could opt to either hop transport or walk for large stretches and that there were multiple options, a choose your own adventure aspect to things that I associate with real cities, the very thing that made it easier for me to retire to my grotty little apartment, too. Its why I didn't feel trapped there.

Whereas in Nashville, I stopped going to the closest coffee shop because I was creeped out by the site of the ginormous roaches, large roach like tropical bug. A nice little spot, that reminded me a little of the Italian Bakeries in North Beach, opened up in the months before I changed neighborhoods. And I never took full advantage of the Belmont (local indie theater), a few blocks away.

Its going to be awhile longer before Nashville manages the right density of commercial/residential within neighborhoods to keep it interesting. Depending on the economy at least another 5-6, but that will depend on how willing people are to settle that close to the Cumberland. Its urban planning death by an ill-conceived highway ring, and among other things the epic dumb of stringing power lines over sidewalks, all pedestrian activity is about dodging Nashville's drivers and not getting it from the birds above.

I once walked from Alamo Square to my place on Balboa and 42, that was a hike, just a directed march, it was in the early evening - buses were going to be sparse - but the neighborhood was sufficiently residential and the Golden Gate Park was one side of it to keep it interesting and I guess, nutty enough for it to be in character for me.