Five minutes from here

Today was much cooler, and extremely windy, but I didn't realize that when I decided to try something during my lunch hour that I have thought about doing for a long time.

I first had this idea when I lived in Haddon Township, New Jersey. I realized then that I could walk ten minutes from our front door and, depending on which direction I chose, end up in a small town, a suburban neighborhood, a strip mall, a lovely park with a lake and sidewalks, or one of the only old growth forests on the East Coast. It seemed sort of fantastic, how drastically the environment changed in such a short distance. I thought I would do a series of timed walks in various directions and take a photo of wherever I happened to be at the end of a predetermined amount of time.

If I were an artist,perhaps I would be an aleatory one.

So today I decided to try this during lunch. Starting at the corner of 38th and Market, I would walk five minutes in each direction (north, south, east, and west), and take a photo or two of whatever I found in each spot. That way I would get a good 40-minute walk for exercise, and have an excuse for wandering around.

So, five minutes north and what do I see?

An old cabbage plant (I think) in front of a bank.

Five minutes back to the starting point, and then five minutes south. The Wharton School of Business, and a yin/yang picture in one of the windows, which I never would have noticed without the camera.

Also, Penn students on their way to class, I presume. See how unexpected the change in temperature was? Some people wearing coats, some coatless.

Five minutes back to the starting point, and then five minutes east. Now I'm in food truck territory. Below you can see the lunch crowd in front of Chewy's Lunch Truck.

Also, this spot is pretty close to the big gold face in front of the Monell Chemical Senses Center.

Five minutes back to the starting point, and then five minutes west. A street vendor is selling handbags. At the end of the day he packs everything up into the white van parked behind the table, and goes home.

What you can't see in these pictures is that it was so windy that I saw little old ladies walking down the street clutching each other to avoid being blown down, and so cold and windy that I had a bit of an earache when I was done.

I think I'll try this again, with two 10-minute walks in two directions on consecutive days, and then four 20-minute walks on four consecutive days.

But I'll wait for the weather to change.