CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. — Twenty years ago, Aaron Jarvis gathered up his own version of the last supper: a burger from each of his favourite fast food spots in Charlottetown.
He was determined to give them all up and start exercising.
At 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 1, 1999, in a sign of things to come, Jarvis forced himself out in the heavy rain for his first walk along the Victoria Park boardwalk.
On Halloween of this year, he completed day 7,305 — every day for 20 years plus five extra days for leap years — and the number is potent motivation for him, he said.
“I don’t want to lose the streak ... this year was more or less to make 20 years.”
Keeping the streak alive meant walking in some of the worst storms Atlantic Canada has seen, including post-tropical storm Dorian most recently.
Jarvis’ only concern was the potential for downed power lines, but he had been out in worse, he said.
“I didn’t find it as bad as White Juan.”
One particularly bad storm on Islander day in 2015 forced him into the parking lot of an apartment building across the street from where he lives.
The wind had drifted the snow and left a clear stretch of pavement for him to pace, he said.
“It was like 20 yards and I kept walking back and forth for an hour outside. I think the neighbours were watching me saying, ‘what’s wrong with him?’ ”
He’s seen a lot on his many walks — a car flipped, a man who slipped and knocked himself unconscious and plenty of weather that kept most people inside.
But he doesn’t just walk for the sights.
“It takes the stress out of me.”
Now, he prefers to go for his walks at midnight, something he started in the winter of 2017.
“The sidewalks are terrible ... so I walk on the side of the road, walking toward traffic, so when I see a car coming, I get off the road, then go back on the road.”
Jarvis says he falls eight or nine times a year, due mostly to the sidewalks.
“But the thing is, at nighttime, nobody sees you.”
Walking at night does make it harder to spot the only thing he worries about.
“The only really kind of scary thing is, this time of year skunks are out.”
Skunks or not, Jarvis has no intention of stopping any time soon.
