Sunday 16 March 2008

Diversion (2)

It feels good to be sitting in warmth and comfort, having just enjoyed the delights of a simple but tasty salad with pastrami. Whereas outside the sky is looking ever more threatening (well less a threat and more a promise I would have said, on the evidence of the previous 24 or so hours): any minute now the heavens are surely going to open and it's going to absolutely twat it down with rain (to use a meteorological term).

I managed to get out on the bike for an hour or two earlier on, and it was a welcome diversion: due to the aforementioned weather I'd all but written off the chances of going out, and was lucky to get out during a relatively prolonged dry spell. It' s not that I've a problem cycling in bad weather (though the ferocity of the gusts of wind didn't exactly add to the appeal), more the case that a lot of the places on my various cycling routes tend to get waterlogged/flooded to the point of being impassable on a road bike, which hardly makes for an enjoyable ride.

I'd forgotten about this tendency until I found myself cycling along a road which had huge puddles on it, the biggest of which was just under a foot deep (and about 25 feet long). Thankfully that was the only such obstacle today and it was easy enough to negotiate (he says blithely, not caring about the nearby house which had sandbags up against the door).

The point of all this is that the cycling has helped me to relax, it was much-needed. I had a very productive day yesterday and got a lot of work done that I needed to do regarding the music. It was also one of those times where beer helped a lot, it helped me just to concentrate and focus to the exclusion of everything else.

Today however on listening back to where I'm at with it, I felt a lot of doubt creeping in: is this/am I any good? Is it/am I ridiculous? - and so on. So I've definitely felt the benefit of a change of scenery, of doing something relatively strenuous and which doesn't exactly require much thought or self-reflection.

On the other hand the sense of urgency which I'm feeling from time to time can actually be helpful, but sometimes it's good to take a step back or a complete diversion from it all, and at least I've been able to do that today.

10 comments:

But Why? said...

Exercise (particularly in horrible conditions) is fantastic, no? But seriously, cycling in the wet is horrid. All that spray and grit being picked up by your wheels and deposited on bike and butt...

I wish I'd been a bit more organised and gone for a run this morning, instead, I spent the morning derigging (removing extraneous bits of) boats and loading them onto the club trailer in advance of next week's training camp. It's a miserable thing to do in the wind and rain, the cold metal riggers sucking all heat out of my fingers, and my blood evidently being a bit reluctant to make it as far as my extremities. I've just about de-frosted - hope you have, too!

Fire Byrd said...

There's something seriously wrong with you two! What's wrong with the sofa and too mucgh chocolate to sort out life's issues!!
pxx

Anonymous said...

Hi but why?, I must admit when I've been mountain biking it can often be absolutely great when the conditions are horrible: it's all part of it. It's different with road biking though, and (for me at least) you can only tolerate a bad conditions up to a certain point.

Wow - derigging a boat sounds strenuous and arduous enough on its own!

Oh but pixie there's nothing wrong with the sofa/chocolate approach: but how much more comfortable the sofa, and satisfying the chocolate, when you've been slogging your guts out against the elements for a couple of hours. Cycling really does work as a painkiller (when I don't fall off) or mood stabiliser for me. x

Neon said...

Pixie thank god you said something! I was sitting here thinking 'oh shit I am such a lazy git- and I thought spending and hour giving the kitchen a good clean this morning was hard work' :)

trousers said...

No, it's not just you neon :)

Now cleaning the kitchen is something I really ought to do...sooner or later.

zola a social thing said...

My dear Trousers : Just GO WITH the flow of the elemental. GO WITH and forget all this silly stuff about silly things like fighting the inevitable.
Fate will help you here - have faith me old.
However a beer helps, you are right there.
Good luck with the music hall bit.

Anonymous said...

True enough and I appreciate you advice zola - it wouldn't be me though if I didn't succumb to at least the odd moment of self doubt here and there :)

DJ Kirkby said...

Exercise sounds like a good idea but I vote to be allowed to take mine by having a leisurley swim in the green waters that lap against a whilte sandy beach of a sub tropical island.

Ms Melancholy said...

I think self doubt inevitably goes hand in hand with being creative. Thank goodness. Without it you would be creating from a very narcissistic place, and then we wouldn't be able to tell the difference between lovely trousers and Madonna. How horrible would thatbe?

trousers said...

A very good point ms M , though it wouldn't be quite so horrible if we were finding it hard to make such a distinction in financial terms...