Older, but no wiser

Ah, those far-off days of summer! Time was when motorcycle journeys were fully in accord with the traditional image of freedom: leathers over a light shirt, gloves that fitted… er,… like a glove; warmth, sunshine, grippy tarmac.

Now I feel like the archetypal Michelin Man, tightly bundled in multiple layers against the sub-zero temperatures*, cocooned from the outside world. Gone too is the easy-going, flowing style of riding. Today I was steering gingerly round bends, wary of losing traction on icy surfaces. I haven’t been so conscious of the weight of the bike since the day I rode it home for the first time.

All in all, that’s not a bad metaphor for the seasonal cycles I go through with this blog. Time was when thoughts and ideas and feelings flowed freely from head and heart, through fingers and onto page and screen. Extending the seasonal metaphor – and in keeping with the original name of this blog, now only remembered in the URL – this was a place of germination and growth and maybe even occasional flowering.

But now, here in this blog, it’s mostly winter. I’m bundled up within layers of issues and concerns and things-to-do. Wearing them all everywhere, all the time, I feel slow and clumsy, just like that Michelin Man; every metaphorical movement becomes an effort; it’s so much easier just to submit and be constrained.

Maybe spring is just around the corner, or maybe it’ll be a while yet. But it will come.


* deg C that is.