That's precisely what I did (minus the walking stick) this afternoon in Hyde Park... on what felt like the first consistently sunny day of 2013 in London! Oh, and I'm 25... I'd beg to differ about the 'wisdom of old age' comment.
Reminds me of my dear, departed grandfather. He'd walk his couple of kilometres every day, pausing to sit for 15-20 minutes on the stump of an oak tree he'd cut down decades earlier. He'd rest for a while, waving to the occasional passerby and quietly watching the birds and animals that come out of hiding when you sit silently. He died in 1985 at the age of 87 after a lifetime of hard work on the farm, fighting in two world wars, and patient, hard-won knowledge. I still miss him every day.
Happycrab, that is a very touching story. Many old people with a European heritage lived through hard times that most of us can barely imagine. (I'm not saying that people with other backgrounds did not have similar experiences, but we in "the west" don't grow up with that so know less about it). There was an old man living a few doors down the road here, and only by chatting to him did I learn that he had been among those soldiers who were first to discover what had been going on at Buchenwald.
A moment, appreciated only possibly with wisdom of old age.
ReplyDeleteThat's precisely what I did (minus the walking stick) this afternoon in Hyde Park... on what felt like the first consistently sunny day of 2013 in London! Oh, and I'm 25... I'd beg to differ about the 'wisdom of old age' comment.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of my dear, departed grandfather. He'd walk his couple of kilometres every day, pausing to sit for 15-20 minutes on the stump of an oak tree he'd cut down decades earlier. He'd rest for a while, waving to the occasional passerby and quietly watching the birds and animals that come out of hiding when you sit silently. He died in 1985 at the age of 87 after a lifetime of hard work on the farm, fighting in two world wars, and patient, hard-won knowledge. I still miss him every day.
ReplyDeleteHappycrab, that is a very touching story. Many old people with a European heritage lived through hard times that most of us can barely imagine. (I'm not saying that people with other backgrounds did not have similar experiences, but we in "the west" don't grow up with that so know less about it). There was an old man living a few doors down the road here, and only by chatting to him did I learn that he had been among those soldiers who were first to discover what had been going on at Buchenwald.
ReplyDeleteReminds me of the spring I spent in Stockholm. The first nice day, throughout the city people were outside striking this precise pose.
ReplyDelete"blindly the uncertain soul asks to continue"
ReplyDelete