I find that the winter months can feel like an endless loop. My days are structured, and end with a circuit walk, symbolic of the perpetual trudge of the small business owner, before the light fades, before the rituals of dinner, bath, and bed.
On my walks, in the bath, and tucked up in bed, my head is filled with unharnessed thoughts that I wish I were intelligent enough to articulate; to be able to share in some comprehensive way, although I’m sure they wouldn’t be of much interest to anyone else should they indulge me by listening.
Perhaps it’s my love of the film “The English Patient”, perhaps it’s my past visits to Egypt, but I’m often struck by the figures in the Cave of Swimmers, gliding with ease across the rock face. Today, for some reason, the images of the swimmers blended in my mind with the song “Rings of Saturn” by Alann8h, making a tranquil cerebral escape from the mundanity of latter January.
Out on my woodland walks, in my old coat, I find enormous peace walking amongst nature in concentric circles. Each lap brings something new, no matter how slight. Each circuit can bring about an altered state of mind, a renewed sense of happiness, a subtle shift in season, in light. I’m content with the chilly circularity, content with the closed completeness, knowing that the advent of spring will bring a break from the spiral, and set me off on a new path.
