A case in point...
I skated an epic roller blade in Hamilton the other day. On my last lap I stopped along the trail at "Baranga's on the Beach" for an amazing Greek salad and a tall, refreshing soda - anything more in that heat would have invited disaster on roller blades! A solitary diner, I sat at the patio's edge, smugly comfortable among the groups of chatting business lunchers and day-trippers. I was euphoric in fact, after logging 40 exhilarating kilometres on my skates. The sun was still high and scorching but I did not fight it. I met it joyfully but with compromise and respect! Every 8 kilometres or so along the trail, to the surprise of anyone standing nearby, I rested briefly and conducted a ritual self-baptism to keep cool. Filling up my water bottle with fresh cold water I poured it over my head, neck, shoulders and body - a mini version of a daily water dousing ritual practiced by many eastern Europeans and martial arts practioners.
When I stopped for lunch I was nevertheless hot and depleted; anxious therefore, to compose and recharge before completing the last 6 kilometers of my skate. I took off my skates and socks stretched my legs and arms and relaxed all muscles. I turned my face towards the lake and let my eyes feast freely on the hazy horizon of the distant shore. I experienced perfect peace...
The view was incredibly beautiful - an expanse of blue water, sandy beach and a vague, distant skyline in front of which, in the haze and smog, looked like a ridge of low purply mountains. Knowledge, a priori, informed me that I was in Hamilton, Ontario but a capricious muse convinced me that I was on the Bulgarian Back Sea Riviera. By view alone I could have been in any one of a dozen or more exotic locales. That was a very comforting and peaceful thought; it banished any wish to be other than where I was at that precise moment - it fixed me joyfully and satisfied in the present. Of course my muse prodded my imagination to transcend the present. While I continued to drink in the distant skyline, the idea of a globally generic scene started to populate my mind with a curious character named George; a legend in his own mind, a mediocre sales type - bored with his own existence who fabricated other personas with whomto interact with others on a larger than his own life scale. George's exploits kept me amused and entertained for some time. He is a very captivating character with whom I may one day further acquaint you.
Quiet my inner voices?? Not any time soon!
