Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Hi and welcome to the first episode of the I Walk Toronto podcast. My name is Lorrie.
Why a walking podcast? Because I walk everywhere. I walk to and from work every day and that’s an hour each way. And that’s just the work commute. I go out a lot, and I’ll walk wherever I’m going as well.
In a nutshell, I take the TTC when I have to, grab the occasional Autoshare car or taxi when I need to, but otherwise, I walk.
I’m going to take a moment to introduce myself and why I decided to make this podcast and Tumblr blog and Facebook group and Twitter and Instagram accounts.
The last year of my life has been challenging – the most challenging period so far, and I’ve spent a lot of time trying to make sense of it all.
Now, I’ve always been a walker, so this isn’t a new thing, but rather than walk at my normal breakneck pace, I’ve slowed down a bit. I’ve tried to take in the sites. I’ve tried to find some beauty, or at least some unusual in the usual. It’s been inspiring. There are interesting, beautiful, funny, ridiculous and strange things everywhere you look and I thought it would be fun to share.
Now, I don’t know if anyone is actually going to listen to this podcast, but the cost of entry is low, and I need a hobby – besides walking – so why not? I’m also a runner, but I’m suffering through some tendonitis and have to take some time off of training, so this will help to fill the gap.
The format of the podcast is as follows:
First, the introduction. I’m going to talk about something I’ve seen over the last few days of trekking around. For example, today I walked by 14 Division on Dovercourt and I saw a traffic cone on top of the Police Station sign. Why is it there? Why hasn’t someone taken it down? I took a photo and have used it as the icon for the episode, and posted the pic on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter if you want to see it. I’ll list the account handles at the end of the podcast.
Next, what I’m listening to – podcasts, music, et cetera. Like everyone else, I’ve been listening to Serial. Now that season one is done, what am I going to listen to? I walk for two hours or more a day, so I burn through a lot of content.
After that, I’ll cover what I’ve been thinking about while I’m walking. Lots of thinking. Recently, lots of ruminating about the holidays and past relationships. I get pretty down around Christmas, and this is the first Christmas I’ve been alone in a long time. I’m not going to talk about being depressed though. I’m going to talk about fighting depression. Or talk about municipal politics. Or music. Or the news. Or life. The universe. Everything.
I’ll also provide some tips. How to stay warm. What I’m wearing on colder days, how to stay healthy and happy as a walker – especially in the winter.
Finally, I’ll have some closing thoughts.
So, that’s about it for episode one. It’s Sunday, December 21, 2014. The shortest day of the year. And, the first day of winter. It was a beautiful day for a walk – sunny and bright. Finished off my Christmas shopping, watched my beloved Arsenal tie Liverpool and spent some time with friends.
Thanks for listening. If you want to get in touch, you can send me an email to iwalktoronto@gmail.com. Or follow me on twitter @iwalktoronto. The Facebook group, if you want to join, is iwalktoronto – one word. As is my instagram account.
Bye for now. Remember: be awesome.