Yesterday

I had a few near misses on the road

For once I’m travelling in areas with high concentrations of traffic on the road

Yesterday was particularly intense

With people moving back and forth 

From Australia’s long weekend 

And I was winding down long long stretches of several mountain ranges

With someone always revving behind me in their car

I was doing the speed limit and being cautious on the bike

But someone is always revving in their car

So I would pull over when safe – let them go through then continue on till the next impatient person came along

So many impatient angry people

And I seemed to cross paths with 

All of them

I had a few near misses

Things that instantly cloaked me in a waterfall of sweat

Threw adrenaline around my body like lightening

After one such incident I pulled into a town for a quiet breather

A

Coffee 

A

Think

A strong drink

Would have been nice 

And I craved steak

Meat

Veges 

Comfort food from when I was a child

Solid food

Not ephemeral and light

Substance – I craved substance and I had been missing it for so long

Hadn’t realised it 

Considering the morning and the odds of me making it to my destinstion unscathed by the roil and rant of the traffic around me

I thought

Stuff it and had the steak

It settled in my stomach like fortitude

Then a dry voice said “that was a long walk from over there”

It was the man adjacent

Eyes like starbursts 

They almost got lost in wrinkles as he smiled

Frazzled beard 

Kind

We talked for two hours

(Luckily it was his wife’s cafe)

Not about death or nerves

His own hand shook

Parkinson’s perhaps

I didn’t ask

There was no negativity in our long conversation

We talked about life

How it had changed

What was important

We talked about bikes

Why Harley riders didn’t wave

(He rode a Harley:)

We talked about the places that we’d been 

Or he did

And I listened enraptured

He finally asked what about me?

I was feeling a bit down low

Unable to cope with how fast everyone was zooming around me 

The human race

(And it literally seems a race at times)

Had humbled me

So I began to tell him a little in a mumbley tone

Of my favourite ride of late last year 

A rambling long outback stretch 

With no rubber neck

People

Just the sky

And the trees

And the endless road

“You rode all that – out there – on your own?” 

I had been staring into space relating a tale of how small and vulnerable one feels riding beteeen towns

Three hours apart

In the heart

Of the Australian outback

Yet how free 

How spacious life could be

I had been lost in a delicious reverie

I looked up

Saw respect

Felt it in my bones

From this kindred travelling soul

And it meant the world to me

I have no need for the liking of others much

People 

Are

So

Very 

Negotiable

You see I learnt a while ago that while some will be there when you’re sad

Few enjoy other’s happiness, triumphs, wonderful moments

Truly

Sincerely

I say this not bitterly just clearly

And

It put me on notice

When I chose to curate my life

To relish it 

Make it happen just so

Like this and this

Well

It just pisses a lot of people off

So I’m quiet about what I do and where I am for the most part

To those that know me

Or think they do

So

There are only a few hearts with whom I share my happiness

My triumphs

My growth 

It can get a little lonely sometimes

Which is always the downside of doing things differently

Being different

But It’s worth it 

Later on the road

As the cars wizzed around me

The whole pointless human race

Raced and raced each other 

I became certain

I could not be disturbed

From there on

Because in my heart

I now know

I carry the wisdom of crows