Walking Commentary
Thoughts and cycling from Manchester to Rome in 2023
Forgive me cyclists for I have raged.
It’s been sixty minutes since my last encounters when I denied cyclists twice.
The incidents occurred while driving home along coastal along roads that I have used for fifty years. The constrictions, curves and cambers of these roads have been learned as I walked, jogged, cycled. I have driven cars and motorbikes around these once medieval tracks with their ever changing aspects and glorious views.
I’ve used metaphors throughout my life to illustrate how things work. I’ve come to realise that may be because the use of the metaphor helps me understand why we do the things we do. As Simon Sinek said ‘People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.’
When I was 59, an office based geoscientist, I had a BMI of about 24. I liked to maintain my fitness by long distance hill walking (though not fell running). I enjoyed good food and didn’t smoke or drink alcohol. So I was surprised when my PSA was found to have jumped to 9.7 in the sixteen months between two blood tests.
‘I must study politics and war, that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history, naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.’
― John Adams, Letters of John Adams, Addressed to His Wife.
I started today with flies on the brain.
I’ll start you with a whimsy to get you in the mood. That old saw, time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.
I’ve been thinking about Antony Gormley today. I can’t explain why Gormley is in mind except that his work is something I miss about living in the UK. His public work is just that, accessible to all.
