Saturday, August 28, 2021

how things change

I took another longer-than-usual walk last night, this time along the Yangjae Creek, which is something I hadn't done in years. Walked all the way out of Seoul and into Gwacheon, noting changes along the way. 

Parts of the creekside are now more developed than they'd been. There are new basketball courts under some of the bridges, not to mention new and obnoxious signage with the stupid "MeMeWe" slogan adopted by Gangnam as part of its campaign to market itself. Long swaths of the path have been resurfaced, making walking and biking slightly safer. Overall, the changes were a mix of good and bad. 

The one thing I didn't do, as I went along the old route, was climb the staircases. I might try that at some point, but I've got a good thing going with my current stair-training regimen, so I'm in no hurry to alter my routine. The Yangjae stairs do remain an option, though, should I ever get bored. 

Bike paths, I've noticed, are in a constant state of change. There always something new to develop, new lights or other doodads to put in, new lines and signs to be painted on the ground. When you walk a given path daily, these changes seem slow and gradual, but when you come back to a path you haven't walked in a few years, the changes hit you all at once.



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