We at Old Broads Walking™ are frequently delighted, enthralled, and amused by the sights and people we encounter on our morning walks. If you follow our Instagram feed, you know that we don’t hesitate to stop to take pictures of sunrises, flowers, birds, squirrels, boats, or anything else that grabs our eye. The regulars we’ve come to know in nearby Memorial Park range from folks who live in nearby riverfront condos, to homeless folks, to a variety of doggos and their owners, and folks like us who have made it a priority to get out and move before we have time to talk ourselves out of it. There’s a lot more going on at sunrise than you might suspect.
The Riverwalk is always good for providing people and items of interest. We have witnessed and captured amazing sunrises, dolphins playing in the river, boats, trains, squirrels, flowers, and friends of many species. We have pictures of enough items of clothing left behind to create an entire outfit, including a pair of what appeared to be silicone boobages. I think the thing that keeps us going is that it’s never, ever boring.
The City of Jacksonville has been constructing new docks along the Northbank, adding stops for the St. Johns River Taxi. While we are excited about the additions, we were totally not prepared for the day when we ran up against a fence across our path, preventing us from walking the rest of our usual pathway along the river. Apparently, we weren’t alone in our surprise. As we stood by the newly erected fence trying to decipher which way the detour would take us, a young woman ran up and almost crashed into it. Said young woman, who was wearing a waiter’s apron and a backpack slammed up into the fence and dropped a huge “F-bomb.” As someone with 20 years in the Food & Beverage Industry who has a chronic tardiness issue, I could feel every ounce of her frustration. We expected her to figure out the detour and head on her way. But no. The show was about to begin.
She dropped her backpack, pulled out a pair of bolt cutters, and snapped that chainlink like it was butter. While we stood there in a state of shock and awe she then realized she had dropped her backpack in a bed of ants which were also now crawling up her legs. She proceeded to whack at everything until the ants were dispersed, put her tools back in her backpack, and kicked the fence open enough to squeeze through. With a wave and a smile she said, “Y’all have a great day!” and took off down the forbidden path. We were laughing so hard by that time that it took us several minutes before we stopped to think, “Who carries bolt-cutters in their backpacks as a necessary item?” And no, we didn’t capture any of it for posterity. You’ll just have to take our word for it.
Get outdoors. It’s never boring.