Tooty toot toot
Tuesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
After all of the uphill and downhill efforts described in prior posts, your humble narrator next found himself wandering through the South Side Flats section of Pittsburgh during a medium length scuttle.
This was the easy part of the walk, as it is quite obviously ‘flat’ in this area, and I took the opportunity to take long strides in obeisance to my ankle problems.
The orthopedic surgeon has ‘released me into the wild’ after my last set of X-Rays and the concurrent consultation. Saying that, a year later, the joint still aches and moans regularly. The Doc said it could be up to two years for a full recovery, but I thought they were joking and offering a worst case scenario. Sheiste!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
If a wall is inserted in front of me, I will throw myself bodily at it until either it shatters or I do. I’m an idiot like that. The ‘will to power,’ it outweighs all discomfort and turns obstacles into sand.
Saying that, the ankle was ‘singing’ at this stage of the day, and I required a ‘sit down.’ I’d been walking solidly, with a brief break while riding the T light rail, for a few hours at this point.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
A point was made, while transiting through this increasingly familiar area, to scuttle along streets that I don’t normally route through.
The South Side Flats remind me a great deal of the East Village during the 1980’s, and Williamsburg during the early 2000’s. Gentrifying, but still edgy. I’ve had a few encounters with ‘creatures of the street’ in this area, but I can out talk anybody and I’ve had far more dangerous encounters with random strangers coveting a camera in NYC than anything Pittsburgh has thrown at me – so far.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
I turned down ‘Cabot Way.’ In Pittsburgh, if a street is called a ‘way’ then it’s an alley. Dark alley? Yeah, count me in.
One was leaning into the last mile, as it were. Needed to use ‘the loo,’ and also I was extremely thirsty and somewhat hungry. I made the best possible decision then, and decided to have a glass of beer for lunch.
My toes were pointed in the direction of that brewery by the train tracks which I often visit, the one with the trains.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The remaining plan for the day, thereby, involved one last session of shooting trains while drinking lunch, followed by a walk over the Monongahela River via the Smithfield Street Bridge would occur, and then I’d shlep over to a T station for a ride back to Dormont. Fun.
All of that crossing the river and catching a train business is pretty minor, exercise wise, about a half hour of more or less of walking relatively flat ground. This is also the part of the walk where I was ‘striding’ and trying to move as fast as is possible these days.
I still cannot run. A quick scuttle is all I can maintain. This means that I have to wait for the walk/don’t walk signs at intersections, which is weird.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Pittsburgh is so damn visually interesting. The accommodation and adaptations of the terrain for the demands of everyday life… it’s neat!
Back tomorrow.
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