Rembering better days and Jim Fixx

Ran a slow 10K (58 Minutes) early yesterday and passed the time thinking back on better days (38 Minutes). Jim Fixx came to mind, in 1977 he wrote the bestseller "The Complete Book of Running" and in 1978 I took up jogging. Unfortunately and surprisingly he died of a heart attack in 1984, the year of my first marathon in the Black Forest. 

To read his book now is to see how much he foresaw. Some parts are dated. But much of it reads as visionary. Cut out white flour and sugar? Practice self-care? Find a flow state? Exercise regularly, even for short amounts of time, to live better and longer? It’s like reading 20 years of modern studies 40 years before the fact.

Fixx wrote about the barefoot-running Tarahumara decades before Born to Run.

His homemade mileage counter was basically an early Fitbit. He was right on the big points too. A Stanford study later found jogging is effective in increasing lifespan and mitigating the effects of aging. Running can help ward off all manner of diseases—including lowering the risk of lung, prostate and colon cancer. 

And, in a study the printed this year, “among a generally healthy but sedentary group of adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s, working out lowers levels of depression, hostility and other negative feelings.”

Wherever I go ...

For Joyce basically, now approaching 14 and growing up too fast.

The final words from A.A. Milne’s stories of Winnie the Pooh. The anguish of Christopher Robin as he tries to explain his going away and the incomprehension of poor Pooh are beautifully human.

Then, suddenly again, Christopher Robin, who was still looking at the world with his chin in his hands, called out “Pooh!”

“Yes?” said Pooh.
“When I’m – when – Pooh!”
“Yes, Christopher Robin?”
“I’m not going to do Nothing any more.”
“Never again?”
“Well, not so much. They don’t let you.”

Pooh waited for him to go on, but he was silent again.
“Yes, Christopher Robin?” said Pooh helpfully.
“Pooh, when I’m – you know – when I’m not doing Nothing, will you come up here sometimes?”
“Just Me?”
“Yes, Pooh.”
“Will you be here too?”
“Yes, Pooh, I will be really. I promise I will be, Pooh.”
“That’s good,” said Pooh.
“Pooh, promise you won’t forget about me, ever. Not even when I’m a hundred.”
Pooh thought for a little.
“How old shall I be then?”
“Ninety-nine.”

Pooh nodded.
“I promise,” he said.

Still with his eyes on the world Christopher Robin put out a hand and felt for Pooh’s paw.
“Pooh,” said Christopher Robin earnestly, “if I – if I’m not quite” he stopped and tried again – “. Pooh, whatever happens, you will understand, won’t you?”
“Understand what?”

“Oh, nothing.” He laughed and jumped to his feet. “Come on!”

“Where?” said Pooh.

“Anywhere,” said Christopher Robin.

* * * * *
So they went off together. But wherever they go, and whatever happens to them on the way, in that enchanted place on the top of the Forest a little boy and his Bear will always be playing. The anguish of Christopher Robin as he tries to explain his going away and the incomprehension of poor Pooh are beautifully human 

Hermann Hesse’s 100-Year-Old Love Letter to Trees

Memories of years of running in the woods.



A Virtual Walk Through Kew Gardens.

Bored?

If you’re under 14: “Good.” It’s good that you’re feeling bored.
Bored is an actual feeling.

Bored can prompt forward motion. Bored is the thing that happens before you choose to entertain yourself. Bored is what empty space feels like, and you can use that empty space to go do something important. Bored means that you’re paying attention (no one is bored when they’re asleep.)

If you’re over 14: “It’s up to you.”

As soon as you’re tired of being bored at work, at home, on lockdown, wherever, you’ll go find a challenge. You don’t have to quit your day job to be challenged, but you do have to be willing to leap, to take some responsibility, to find something that might not work.

Being challenged at work is a privilege. It means that you have a chance, while being paid, to grow. It means you can choose to matter.

I’m glad you’re feeling bored, and now we’re excited to see what you’re going to go do about it.

Angelo on Corona

Zitat Angelo von heute:
„Auch wir als Familie versuchen, in diesen beunruhigenden Zeiten stark zu bleiben. Kira hat dieses wundervolle Lied geschrieben, das eine Art Gebet darstellt. Wir merken deutlich, wieviel Kraft es uns gibt, gemeinsam als Familie zu beten und zu singen. Und wir hoffen, dass unser Song viele Menschen berühren und ihnen Hoffnung schenken wird.“

„Stay With Me“, die erste Single aus ihrem am 22. Mai folgenden Album „Coming Home“.

Für mich das schönste Corona Lied bis jetzt.

(Und echt tolle Aufnahmen von der irischen Landschaft!)

Social distancing

“Social distancing,” yes indeed. It’s basically what June and I consider ordinary life. We’re retired, we’re home a lot, and don’t have the energy to cope with huge events like concerts, parades, sport events and so on. We don’t go to pubs. 

So we’re doing our part by basically keeping on keeping on. I’m working on techniques to avoid using my hands as much in public places. If I’m going through a door that simply pushes open, I push with my shoulder.  After I wash my hands in the gents, I dry them on a paper towel and then grip the door handle through the towel. I’m all for flattening the pandemic curve. What I don’t think is a good idea is flattening the economy. More here about this from David McWilliams.

So we’re wandering around the living room or the garden, reading, writing, working in the garden, pulling weeds, and so on. Life continues.

Best TV Series 2012-2020

Last Tango in Halifax is pretty much the perfect family series. Beginning in 2012 Series 5 came on the iPlayer in February this year. It's based on lead writer Sally Wainwright's personal experiences. She described it as "the most personal thing I've ever written". Her mother, Dorothy, lost contact with a childhood friend, Alec Walker, when she was 15, but they reconnected on the social networking website Friends Reunited 60 years later and within six months were married. Alan and Celia's romance is depicted alongside the troubles of their own grown-up daughters, and the series' official description says that its portrayal of family is "as dark as it is comic". There’s real beauty in seeing amazing characters depicted by equally amazing actors in a real life setting. 

Discussing the casting of Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid, Wainwright stated: "we went for the best and we got them". Great stuff indeed.