There's more to life than work

Being made redundant for the first time is a bit like having your first child; even strangers feel they need to offer you helpful advice on how to cope with those first few tumultuous weeks. Everyone is well-meaning, and some of the advice is actually good. Such as the importance of exercising regularly.

But I could buy an exercise bike today and cycle myself into depression by the end of next week, so there's more to find in exercise than just doing some. Those of us who are used to the corporate goal-oriented world can find it pretty bewildering to wake up (late) in the morning and face a day, a week and even a month with no structure.

So I've found my structure in commencing to walk my way through "Sydney's Best Harbour and Coastal Walks", a book that I have had for a while now, and walked from occasionally. But now it's on in earnest. I've gone through the index, sorted the walks by length (starting with the shortest of course), doubled the length of the ones that aren't circuits, since there's no-one to drive that second car to leave a car at each end, and sub-sorted by grade, from easy to difficult. I'm sure I could make an Excel spreadsheet from it, file everything in folders and never get out the door, but I know about prioritisation, so today is already Day 3.

If I were to be a proper walker, I would of course kit myself up with an ipod, or preferably an iphone, strapped to my arm, wedge the earphones firmly in place and stride off grim-faced, looking neither right nor left. But instead, I look. And I listen. And I smile. And I think. I'm not sure what I thought about while walking from Watson's Bay to South Head, though perhaps I spent all my energy trying not to look too closely at some of those nude male bodies strolling with studied insouciance along the sand at Lady Bay Beach. Or worrying about the very overweight man who collapsed onto the sand at the water's edge as I watched. (How do you give CPR to someone who is nude? Where do you look?) But it was just his way of lowering his corpulent body into the water to wash the sand out of the multitudinous crevices....

And Day 2 brought the encounter with the snake at Greenwich, so perhaps I can be forgiven for not thinking about writing it all down until today.

Today was a quick 3 km turn around Cremorne Point, on Sydney's lower north shore. I thought I'd been there before, but it turned out I hadn't. Getting there involved the obligatory wrong turn around Neutral Bay, but I found Cremorne Point wharf without too many U-turns, so my navigation on the other side of the Bridge is improving.

It's almost a cliche, but the sky was clear and bright blue, and the Harbour sparkled in the sunlight. The path is a standard suburban footpath for the whole 3 kms, but apparently some people still need to dress in lycra and wear expensive running shoes to walk on it. In the height of dressing down, my apparel consisted of an old pair of denim shorts that are too big for me, a threadbare T-shirt, and thongs (of the footwear, not the underwear, variety). Oddly enough, I could still make it round the path despite this. I was surprised and pleased to find that, even though I was clearly lowering the average for the class of walker on the path, almost everyone I passed smiled at me, and offered a "Good morning".

If you haven't found this walk, and you live in Sydney, make a point of going. Shell Cove on one side, across the ridge of the peninsula and down along Mosman Bay back to the wharf. Kookaburras and clanking boats to listen to, many beautiful houses to envy, and a good cup of coffee served by a cheerful barista at the wharf at the end. The highlight though is the cliffside garden established by Lex and Ruby Graham, that overlooks Mosman Bay. Take your time, climb down the stone steps to the water's edge, and sit for a while to appreciate their years of volunteer work.

Next up, an excursion to the wilds of West Head......