Walking Commentary
Thoughts and cycling from Manchester to Rome in 2023
You probably have enough oxygen to realise that conscious thought becomes increasingly difficult as the level of oxygen decreases. You’ve probably always known that brain death happens very rapidly. You may even know that decay starts within 5 minutes of an interruption to the supply of oxygen. In short, you might not know it as hypoxia. Yes, brain hypoxia can cause severe brain damage or death surprisingly quickly.
Things repeat if you journal every day for more than a year. This, for example, is my second International Women’s Day. Last year, I wrote of ‘… stories out there about the hordes of women trapped into unrecognised care roles. You know these women. They are your sisters and your daughters for whom these roles are harder to accept than for your wife, mother and grander-mothers.’
I was very disturbed by the recent image of a scion of Irish horse trainers sitting on a dead horse, smiling and finger signalling V for victory. I truly grieved for the horse. I can’t say why this two year old picture ended up in the recent news but it had a huge effect on me. So much so that this is my third journal in a row driven by my reaction to that single photo and the relatively mild sanction imposed by governors within the equine industry.
There may be a photo out there somewhere of me sitting by a deer, holding the rifle I used to shoot it dead. That’s because I was brought up as a hunter and such a photo would have been a trophy. In truth, my family started my hunting early.
It’s generally agreed that it takes about 10,000 kilocalories per day to feed meat to one person who needs 2,500 kilocalories to survive. You should know this if you are concerned about the well being of the planet. What’s often overlooked in our perception of dietary needs is that the animals we eat need to eat and drink before we do. They need to to consume thousands of calories in order to deliver hundreds to your plate.
Posting every day has become a ritual though not on a schedule like breakfast or bedtime. It’s something I do in between those two daily milestones and have been doing for almost a year. I really would have preferred to walk from a milestone in Manchester to end at the start of the Via Appia in Rome. More significantly, like you, I wish none of us were in the middle of a two year pandemic.
