Ava

597km/weekend


Hitting the roads for a nice trip up north in Ava most certainly helped to satisfy the need to wander. And wander I did. The car has always been the ultimate symbol of freedom, at least for me. The car's status as a symbol of freedom does not stem solely from its ability to spirit one away. It is also very much about be able to choose, for being on the road means having to make choices; turn or go straight, stop or keep going. And in choosing we are free as much as we are (always) free to choose. We are always defined by the choices we make; and not choosing, is also a choice. 

Alone

can be loneliness. 


"That was one of the things again: you saved time. You walked quicker, you got home and drank a beer quicker, you ate your supper quicker. And then the sex you had with yourself, that was quicker too. You gained all this extra time, Geoff thought - extra time in which to be lonely. Stop that, he said to himself. You aren't allowed to be a sad person; you're only allowed to be sad."
~Trespass, Julian Barnes

Conversation

I've always been a sucker for conversations


"You mean you're not in love unless you're in pain?"
"Of course I don't mean that. I just mean that, well, its like jealousy. Love can't exist without the possibility of jealousy. If you're lucky, you may never feel it, but if the possibility, the capacity to feel it, isn't there, you aren't in love. And it's the same with pain." 

Tomorrow

To be understood, as to understand.


Shiraz bound, tracing the spine of the Zagros mountain range. That was a long bus ride but ended with such wonderful memories and new friendships. Life really is about the connections you make. Its been so long since I last took a long bus ride into the unknown. I am prone to bouts of occasional longing; a composite feeling of restlessness with a liberal dose of that need to wander. Perhaps this is in keeping with the associated feeling of not quite belonging. And the fact that the views through my windows are now far too static.

Sky

Simply, breathtaking


Things used to be very simple. And maybe they still are. Just that we like to complicate matters. A few days in the countryside seemed to reinforce this belief. I always find it easier to think whilst away from everything else, no mobile phones, no blackberry, no connection. Just open space, blue skies and rolling clouds to allow one to reconnect with oneself. I often wonder if complication is a function of growing up? The more we think or try to apply our minds the more complex things become. Our words are no longer simple, laden with layers of complex tones and nuances. And this perpetuates as we apparently gain more wisdom with age. Maybe it is not that complicated. Maybe it really is because we start to use our heads more than our hearts, when they should at the very least be used in tandem. 


"Great simplicity is only won by an intense moment or by years of intelligent effort or by both. It requires one of the most arduous conquests of the human spirit: the triumph of feeling and thought over the natural sin of language." 
~T S Eliot