Walk thereEveryday life

unbry

Walk there

A short book about driving or taking the lift for distances your legs could cover

26 chapters11,731 wordsAbout 53 minFirst edition

What's inside

·Before you startThis is a short book and you can read it in two or three sittings. It's about one habit. You need to get somewhere close, and your hand goes to the car…2 min
1The car keysYou've run out of milk. The shop is half a mile away, which is about ten minutes on foot. You pick the keys up off the hook. You don't decide to. Your…2 min
2Why the keys seem sensibleI want to be fair to the default before I argue with it, because it isn't stupid and it isn't sloth. It's what a sensible person does when nobody's asked…2 min
3"It's quicker to drive"Start with the belief that does most of the work, because it's the one that feels like arithmetic. Walking a mile at a brisk pace takes about twenty…2 min
4"Walking isn't real exercise"The next belief is that even if you walked, it wouldn't do anything. A stroll to the shop is nothing. Real exercise is a run, a class, a session with a…2 min
5"I'm on my feet all day"A lot of readers have an answer ready, and it's that they're already active. They're on their feet all day. Teaching, nursing, the shop floor, the…2 min
6"It doesn't count unless it's a proper walk"There's a quieter version of the last two beliefs. Fine, walking counts. But a walk means a walk. Boots, a route, an hour on a Sunday. The ten minutes to…2 min
7"The lift's right there"Two floors. The lift is in front of you and the stairs are through a door. It's not a decision anyone makes, and I'd like to make it one. The NHS…2 min
8"I've got shopping and kids to carry"Now the reason that's sometimes true, and I want to give it its due before I take most of it away. The big shop is a reason. A week's food for a family…2 min
9"I need the car for after"There's an objection that sounds like logistics and mostly isn't. The shop is half a mile away, yes, but after the shop you're going on to the school, and…2 min
10"It's raining"This is Britain and it rains, and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. But the objection does more work than the weather does, and I'd like to separate…2 min
11"I'll arrive a mess"Here's a belief that's mostly about a picture. You imagine arriving at the office, or the meeting, or the school gate, red-faced and damp from the walk…2 min
12"I don't have time"This is the belief most readers will land on when the others have gone, and it deserves the best answer I can give it. The first answer is chapter 3. For…3 min
13"I'm too tired"The last objection before the social ones is the one you'll have at half past five. You're tired. The walk is one more thing. The car is the kind option.…2 min
14"It's too late to start"Some readers are past sixty, and the objection they'll have is that this is a book for younger people. Whatever the walking would have done, it needed to…2 min
15"Everyone drives, it's how things are here"Some of the default isn't yours. It's the place's. The road outside the school is a queue because everyone queues. The lift lobby is full because everyone…2 min
16"I'm not one of those people"Under some of the resistance there's an identity, and it's worth naming so that it can be put down. You know the people who walk everywhere. The one with…1 min
17What the default costs youI've argued the reasons. This chapter is the bill. The distance. Chapter 5's step count, if you took it, is the first line. A person in the bottom quarter…2 min
18The children in the backIf you drive the six hundred yards to school, the children are in the car, and they're learning something. Jordan Carlson, James Sallis and colleagues, in…2 min
19Setting the lineThe next two chapters are the method. This one draws the line. The next one moves the keys. A mile and three floors. That's where I'd start, and I'd start…2 min
20The keys and the buttonThe line does nothing on its own. The default runs on the keys being on the hook by the door and the button being in front of you, and the method is to…2 min
21The decisionYou've got the argument and the method. What's left is to decide, and I'd like the decision to fit in one sentence. If it's under a mile, I walk. If it's…2 min
22Hills, hips, dark lanes, prams and when to check with a GPThe rule holds everywhere, but some bodies and some places need their own paragraph. Joints. If knees, hips or ankles complain, the NHS advice is to…3 min
23When you droveIt'll happen, probably in the first week. You'll be back from the shop with the milk and realise you drove, and that you never thought about it, and the…2 min
24The car keys, againYou've run out of milk. The shop is half a mile away. The shoes are by the door and the bag is on the peg and the keys are in the kitchen drawer, and you…2 min
·NotesThis book gives general information about an everyday habit. It isn't medical advice, and it's no substitute for a GP or a physiotherapist who knows you.…5 min