C'mon folks, let's Walk the latest Way of Enlightenment...
Walking along with a trusty pal...
Twitter has many uses but one that I particularly relish is taking it for a walk. You see, the body needs daily exercise and it seems only sociable to invite Twitter along. So I step out of the door, get that nice rush of fresh-air feeling, and wonder what the topic is for the day. What indeed shall I tweet about?
I open myself to whatever comes along, inside me or outside, and the results tend to be half poetic, half humorous, half philosophical (which makes three halves – so probably not half mathematical). To give an example, some friends were kind enough to express appreciation of a shadow sequence. So let’s start by giving it a re-run:
- Taking my shadow for a walk – midday he just wants to point north. Doesn’t matter what I do – run, jump, stroll – he only wants north
- Sociable chap my shadow. Mixes it with whoever we pass – tree shadow, wall shadow, fence shadow – he just loves to get in there and mingle
- Started heading south – shadow sulked behind me like it’s the last direction he wants. I turned north, and he loved it, stretching way ahead
- I’ll say this for my shadow, he’s not choosy. He’ll slide over any sort of ground – potholes, dog stuff, mud – he’ll crawl over the lot
Another one I quite enjoyed was about some rather amorous air:
- Woohoo, air getting a bit fresh with me as I walk. Stroking my cheek, tousling my hair. Gerroff, you cheeky thing...
- Air says it didn’t do nuffin. It was me walking through it what caused the impression of being stroked. Accuses me of getting fresh with it.
- Oh yeah, oh yeah, says I, so how come you’re stroking my cheekbones while I stand here, eh? That’s definitely your breeze getting fresh...
- Air says if I’m going to pick a fight, will I kindly stop breathing it in and out. Doesn’t like unfriendly lungs and nasal passages (cheek!)
Now, I could get all theoretical and say this sort of thing is about Being In The Moment (The Power Of Now, that sort of thing). Or I could say it’s about Personification: infusing the environment with the Life of the Imagination. Or I could say it’s about being Entangled (quantumly or otherwise) with the Universe about us. Or I could say it’s Playing (cos that’s how humans learn – through play). But all this is theory and it takes us away from the real thing, so let’s go back to the tweets. Here’s another set, this time about birdies:
- I know what the birds are doing – they’re knitting a soundscape. You need special eyes to see it with. Mine are on the side of my head.
- What do the birds do with their soundscape? Slide along it, of course. You might think they’re flying but their wings are only for balance.
- You see, the birds stretch their soundscape from tree to tree – strands of it, webs of it – and then they can abseil along – whee!
- Yes, I know some birds fly high, but there are invisible anchor points up there. They drape their song between them and skim along on sound
All of these sequences have been a bit rural, but urban experiences can sometimes do just as well:
- Lunch at Wetherspoons, Harrogate. Close the eyes and listen. Murmur and burble of conversation, near and far, surging in waves...
- Play at sound-recordists in Wetherspoons food bar. Shut your eyes and hear the wildlife, the grunts and rumbles of a wildebeest herd...
- Human voices at wildebeest pitch, surging and murmuring. The herd is at lunch, grazing off plates, clustering round glasses...
- Lunch in the cafe-bar and the game is Wildebeests. Close your eyes, hear the Serengeti herd – braying and grazing, rumbling and grunting...
Sometimes, of course, I just walk along and there’s nothing special to say. So that’s the topic:
- I tilt my head as I walk, swing my shoulders. It’s that sort of day – nothing special, just swinging lazily along the road...
- Stretching the spine, ease back between the shoulders. It’s that sort of day – nothing special, just stretching and easing along...
- I feel the impacts of feet on ground, the echoes in knees and hips. It’s that sort of day – nothing special, just easy impacts as you go...
- Loose in the joints – let them swagger, let them sway. It’s that sort of day – nothing special, just swaying and swaggering along...
So there you are. Walking the Way of twitter can be taken as seriously or flippantly as you like. And what’s coming up next? I don’t know, of course, except for one thing: guess what happened yesterday?
- Hello, there’s a silverfish on a kitchen surface. Trapped it under a glass. Mm, shall we keep it as a pet? Call it Sid perhaps..?
I’m considering whether to give daily updates on Sid’s progress. For instance:
- Want the silverfish to feel at home. We’ve put a mat on its glass to mute the light. How about a feeding bowl with ‘silverfish’ written on?
And so, folks, it’s goodbye from me – and goodbye from Sid. (C’mon Sid, wave to the people...)
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May I invite you to make certain purchases? (I may? Why, thank you...)
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(a) The Salamander Stone (by my most excellent and trusty pal, Mrs Me) from one of these outlets:
Direct from the publisher, Burst Books: click here
Amazon UK: click here
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(b) The Two Worlds of Wellesley Tudor Pole (by Mrs Me’s most excellent and trusty pal, Me):
Amazon UK: click here
Amazon.com (US): click here
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(You’ll be getting both of them? Well, that is an admirable choice, if I may say so...)
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