The art of ambling
Today I ran into the legendary Ian McShane in London.
Ok, not strictly true, I walked past him and did the slow-motion look you do as someone famous walks past without airs and graces. The man just has presence. At a glance he was walking down the road, going about his business, in his own world just like everyone else.
Except as he walked past me and off into the distance I realised, Mr McShane wasn't walking, he wasn't even strolling, he was ambling.
amble
ˈamb(ə)l/
verb
gerund or present participle: ambling
walk or move at a slow or relaxed pace.
Naturally, when one is a star of Mr McShane's magnitude, one does not need to strut about like one has a point to prove. If you started this article asking "Who is Ian McShane?" I am confident that you have, by now, looked him up on IMDb and realised you have seen him in something.
But watching him go past I realised the art of ambling has become lost and that it has a great power as a way to move through life.
I myself often favour the purposeful walk but that has a lot to do with trying to look energetic. But ambling, when done properly, makes you look like you are going somewhere, you have many things to do but you are important and in control enough that you do not need to rush.
Now, done wrong, an amble will probably slip into a stroll - equally respectable, but less purposeful. A true ambler is in their own world because they have things to do, whereas a stroller is paying attention to what is going on around them.
Here is your challenge for this week; find a day where you have both time and things to do and see if you can master the amble.