Dodging showers and

Dodging showers this morning but really enjoying being in the open air and passing through 3 parks. I get a memory that turns up like a Unicorn of staying with Mary and Pete on the edge of the North York Moors. I step out of their cottage early one morning and I am right in the landscape. The usual separation between me and the world has gone. I felt a bit vulnerable and scared but it was good feeling.

That was the feeling - without the scaredness -last summer on the Norfolk Broads waking up to the sounds of wild life and the water gently moving our boat or waking up in Kenya and hearing exotic birds.

Now my friend Francisco Brazil emailed me to say that he gets this experience every morning where he lives. This led me to reflect on my childhood in a small town where the countryside was a walk or a short bike ride away. So I was one generation or two removed from the land.

I think my first paragraph might work as a poem, let's try it:

Dodging Showers

Dodging the showers
On my bike
this morning
But really enjoying
being in the open air
And passing through 3 parks

I get a memory
that turns up
like a Unicorn
Of staying with Mary and Pete
On the edge of the North York Moors.

I step out of their cottage
Early one morning
And
I am right in the landscape.

The usual separation
between me and the world
has gone.

I feel a bit vulnerable
and scared
but it's good feeling.

I quite like that. Try reading it out if you can be arsed!

Best to all,

Bill-on-bike