Wrong place, I know, but I need to rant a little.
I got spooked on my walk this morning, in the one area that I walk where I'm not surrounded by houses. I tend to stay in the neighborhood, but toward the end of my walk I like to walk a block beside the railroad tracks and then turn and walk a block beside the high school baseball field (although on that block there are houses on the other side of the narrow street.) This morning I suddenly came upon a furtive looking skinny guy carrying something up close to his chest just as I was turning the corner to go beside the tracks. I said my usual cheery "Good morning!" because I'm a firm believer in looking people in the eye and exuding confidence, but he didn't reply which put my guard up a little. He had appeared to be going in the other direction, but I felt that prickly feeling on the back of my neck so when I got to the corner of the ball field I looked back, and saw that he was matching my (pretty fast) pace and looking at me, seeming as if he were trying to catch up with me. I carry pepper spray in my pocket only because my nephew insists, but I've never felt the need to even get it out. I did today, though, and crossed the street away from the ball field and over to the houses, and walked up some stranger's driveway to their front steps, then turned around. He had disappeared, either behind the dugouts or back the way he came. I went on home, but my beautiful cool cloudy walk was really spoiled by this. I REFUSE to let one person mess up the joy I get in my early morning walks, but I guess I'll skip that part of the route for a few days anyway. Or maybe just avoid it on weekends, when it really is pretty deserted over there.