Mobiles Walking Around Lake Elizabeth

Mobiles walking? In the land of California’s San Francisco Bay Area–in a city called Fremont–there’s a lake. It’s a human-built body of water  made for walks, running walking, a real walking park for mobiles.

People, their human companions called dogs and waterfowl called ducks and geese seem to like LE, walking around on a warm Spring day. Some folks even pay for pet walking, but it’s more fun doing it yourself.

Oh, they’re lots of mobiles called mobile phones, cell phones, smartphones. Like others surrounding the water, they walk. Mobile life, after all, is about talking and walking when you visit LE.

Observing the mobiles, dogs and waterfowl makes for a glorious day. Plus you just know that they’re more mobiles in pockets and purses, hidden from view. They have an easy walk, like  humans who carry their mobiles in their hands.

Dogs are tiny at LE, more so than I recall from earlier visits. I think lots of people love little dogs, their tiny legs and heads.

Taking the family dog out for a stroll also eliminates the need for dog walking services. Can’t quite fathom why loyal pet owners would pay someone to walk their dogs. But then, I live in Fremont, a suburb near Silicon Valley.

Small dogs are easier to take care of and walk, I’m told, and they’re  exercised quickly as their little feet rapidly move. Seems to me dog walking is just like mobile walking, except you can’t put your dog in your pocket.

LE must be quite popular. The online service Yelp has 97 reviews of it. Before you visit LE, you should read at least 25 reviews of the park. Makes you a better walker.

The definition or use of the term “mobiles” is quite interesting. The word also means “migratory” as in a “restless mobile society. Probably applies to the ducks and geese too. They come and go with the seasons, flying South for the Winter, returning in early Spring.

“Mobile” (that’s mo-beel) is also a river and town in southwestern Alabama. The river flows into Mobile Bay, like a lake but probably bigger.

Mobiles, I hear, prefer LE over bays, because LE isn’t very deep, unlike bays. So mobiles think they’ll survive better in shallow water than deep bays. That’s why they’re called “smart.”

Did you know that a mobile is also “a sculpture suspended in midair whose delicately balanced parts can be set in motion by air currents.” Lots of air at LE but, to my knowledge, the place doesn’t have any moving sculptures, unless they’re hiding behind the trees. Yes, LE has lots of trees; some are even walking trees, but no one notices.

There was a U.K.  pop band  in the 1980’s called “The Mobiles.” Their two singles “Drowning in Berlin” and “Amour, Amour” were quite popular and made the charts. But the walkers here wouldn’t like the title of the first (drowning). After all, LE is  a safe place. “Amour, Amour, meaning ‘love, love” fits LE. When the weather gets hot, you see lots of couples on the lawns  near the shoreline doing more than playing with their mobiles.

Some like to use the term “facially” as in “capable of changing quickly from one state or condition to another, ‘a highly mobile face.'”

You see a lot of faces at LE, some smiling, others straight-faced. Some of the dogs’ faces appear to change a lot more than their human companions’ oval faces, especially when dogs meet other canines walking around.

Mobile can also mean “fluid” as in “Britain is not a truly fluid society” or “upwardly mobile.” As far as I can tell at LE, the water is the only fluid thing.

“Upwardly mobile” in Fremont is likely desirable. At least I think so but I could be wrong. Real “upwardly mobile”humans have iPhones and Androids.  Non-upwardly mobile folks use flip or slider feature phones for talking rather than geolocating.

Their human companions, who replace their devices every two years or so, also think along the same paths (yes we have paths at LE).

Mobile geeks change phones as fast as underwear. Most owners of mobiles prefer middle-class phones, especially those who walk around the shoreline.

But mobiles believe  they’re upwardly mobile because they often get new cool features. They think they’re smart.

I entertain myself watching the mobiles  walking. You don’t see a lot of heavy texting on a warm day. Smartphone owners prefer reading stuff off the mobile Internet; feature phone types talk, sometimes a lot, like they’re at a mall.

Wonder what they’re talking about and to whom. commScore and Nielsen probably wonder too. But they don’t come to LE much. At least that’s what I’m told.

It’s invigorating to watch people–especially kids in their childhood life–communing with the water fowl at LE.

Food, of course, is the natural bait, but many people and children seem to bond with the geese and ducks anyway. That’s probably why they feed them, although they shouldn’t.

You occasionally see camera phones popping out of pockets. Makes great mobile wallpapers for cell phones. Others, I guess, feel if you’ve seen one lake, you’ve seen them all, like Ronald Reagan said about California redwood trees.

As I watch little kids–some in strollers–I wonder what future mobile phones will look like when kids grow up. Mobiles  will probably look different than today. Maybe they’ll get embedded in human bodies or clothing or bikes or dogs or trees or ducks.

In any case, mobiles will continue walking in the future, I’m certain. After all, it’s an easy walk around Lake Elizabeth.