A walk in the fresh air can be good for the soul: Kevin Page

A walk in the fresh air can do us all good. Photo / Getty Images

Kevin Page is a teller of tall tales with a firm belief that laughter helps avoid frown lines. Page has been a journalist for many years and has been writing a column since 2017.

OPINION

It’s often said a bit of fresh air is good for the soul.

Physiologically speaking, and I’m no doctor, I gather it helps with all manner of ailments by getting a bit of extra air into the bloodstream that then does something beneficial to the circuitry up top and you feel invigorated. Apparently.

I find handing Mrs P a towel as she hops out the shower does pretty much the same thing. Even better if I drop it accidentally on purpose. If you know what I mean.

Regardless of my naughty inclinations, I think we’d all pretty much accept a walk in the fresh air helps clear away the cobwebs and is good for you.

I mention this because in the past week I have had cause to take several such walks in a bid to deal with a rather unfortunate family situation.

I decided some time ago should this moment arrive, I would not plunge headlong into a full explanation of what has occurred in the pages of this noble publication or indeed write anything that could be seen as making light of it, so I’m going to stick with that.

What I will say is that someone at the heart of our family has suffered a rather quick and gut-wrenching change of circumstances that has required everything else in our lives to be put on hold as we’ve dealt with it.

For my part this involved some sudden out-of-town travel, a lot of meetings and paperwork to sort and finally, a couple of long, hard days of physical labour.

It would be fair to say now I’m home and sitting in front of my keyboard, there is not a lot of fuel left in the tank.

That there is any at all is down to the fact No 1 Daughter — a hotshot in the field of insurance risk management — took control in a time of need and made sure some time away from the seemingly endless drama was included.

By going for a long walk in the fresh air.

We ended up doing it twice. That was when I realised life does go on and there are a variety of circumstances you come across that can help take your mind off your own issues.

Take Walk One for instance.

We’re in Christchurch. Absolutely glorious weather, but we’ve been stuck inside in meetings. Ones where some hard decisions have to be made. Tensions are a bit high. Heads are pounding.

By mid-afternoon on that first day I’m flagging, and a bit emotional if the truth be known, and No 1 Daughter can see this.

With a tone and confidence that suggested nobody should argue — and one that made this dad immensely proud I can tell you — she calls a halt to proceedings. People who do this sort of admin stuff for a living are banished from my immediate proximity with the instruction they can return tomorrow, same time.

There may have been an “or else ...”, too, in there. I’m not exactly sure. But the point is nobody argued and they all went and before I knew it, No1 Daughter and I were confidently striding away from the legal end of the city past a whole load of new buildings.

Which is kind of what you’d expect in post-earthquake Christchurch I guess, isn’t it?

Anyway.

On the way we come across a variety of characters and sights.

There’s a kid in tennis whites with what looked like 10 racquets, all in their individual covers. He’s on a scooter and struggling to keep them all together and ride one-handed.

We watch as he drops one, then two, and doubles back to an old bloke on a seat at the bus stop who has picked them up for him.

A conversation begins as we watch and right there and then the old guy, who is dressed like he’s been dragged through a hedge backwards, starts to show the kid how he needs to follow through on a topspin forehand.

I’m left wondering what level the old fellow had played to. He certainly seemed to know his stuff. The kid listens intently before thanking his new “coach” and continuing on his way.

As we grab a coffee I’m left thinking that actually, the kid might have a bit of ability himself if he’s got that many racquets. Or maybe not. He might have pinched them. Who knows? The possibilities are endless.

On the way back from our walk, which turned out to be somewhere around 6km in the end, we went through Christchurch’s main park and alongside the river.

There, crouched down in front of a flock of what I think might have been Canada geese, a young Asian lady is attempting to take a selfie. One of those cellphone pictures with herself in the foreground and the bored-looking geese behind.

As we walked by, a dozen or so long necks sprang up in unison that I’m sure will make that one selfie to be treasured. I’ll certainly be watching out for it on YouTube or TikTok or whatever the flavour of the month is on social media now.

Anyway, the walk did us good and recharged the batteries for the next couple of days, which were similarly stressful.

We took another walk on the second-to-last day when the physical demands of the visit hit home.

This time we went in a different direction and happened across a quiet, small suburban space where I’d say half a dozen people of mostly elderly disposition were going through their tai chi routines.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve never really “got” tai chi. I get yoga and calisthenics, which I see mostly as stretches under various levels of tension.

There just doesn’t seem to be any tension of the body when they do tai chi, so I can’t see how there’s a benefit in it other than gentle movement. Though, now I’ve just written that, I suppose that could be the point.

I recall many moons ago on a writing assignment in Hong Kong, getting up at sparrow fart to stake out a favourite tai chi hangout in a downtown park. It was somewhere between 4am and 5am and a hundred or so people turned out, I kid you not.

While I struggled with the tai chi bit, the absolute serenity of the scene blew me away. Coming as it did in the middle of one of the craziest, busiest, madcap cities in the world.

Not a word was spoken, either before or after, as people drifted off to their daily lives. As I say, it just felt like peace had descended on the park and nothing was going to shift it.

Anyway. Back in Christchurch, we watched a bit of the tai chi and then headed back to finish up.

I’m guessing some of the peacefulness rubbed off because the last bit of our task went by smoothly and before I knew it, the drama was over and I was back on a plane and soon back with My Beloved.

On touching down I relayed the stressful events of the week and she suggested we should go for a walk in the fresh air to clear our minds and help give us a fresh start.

And so we did.

And the first person we came across was a lady walking a goat down the street where we are staying. Which kind of made me smile and helped me forget some of the stuff I’d had to deal with.

As I say, a good walk in the fresh air can be good for the soul. Even without the tai chi.