the weekend came and setlled down, in a flash of gold, as if to stay. after months i saw the sun shine so bright. so bright that my eyes hurt. and i remembered once more the sweet pleasure of cursing the heat.
saturday, i was up at 7 and on the water by 9. It was such a wonderfully warm day that even scary jo sitting bang behind me didntget me shivering! But seriously, everyone at the club is wonderful ... everyone who tries to teach you something, everyone who works his own energy to correct a mistake you are making / have made, to show you something they have seen, everyone who becomes a teacher
after the practise we walked along the banks for a bit, loath to go home on such a pretty day. I took the bus in the other direction all the way to 'hunters trsyt'. something about that name always called me
sunday, i watched 3 movies and read my book. in the evening i went for a walk, down a a well known path and inexplicably took a small sidelane i have never taken before. Like many roads here it was a dusty (grey, someone would have said), stone lane (or what we would have called a gulley), with shabby / comfortable houses on the right side and a wall on the left. From the main street I could not see where it ended or what it ended in. As I walked in, I found a gate at the end of the gulley, leading to a quaint, tiny park, with a old stone __ and a lake crowded with swans and ducks. The lake was surrounded by trees and benches and the whole place was full of people feeding the birds, sitting on the benches, running, walking. A small boy stood at the edge of the water frowning hard at the birds. Maybe he was wondering why these swam instead of flying like normal birds. I wonder too. The sunligh drizzled down from the shaggy, unruly canopy atop. the lake smiled a gracious welcome to the people in soft undulating waves. The birds sang in the trees.
It was beautiful. Still. Peaceful. Like the calm at the edges of worlds, between the real and the surreal. And yet I didnt feel like stopping there, There was another creaky old gate to the right. Its burnished metal warmed by the afternoon sun. I went through it. I found another tiny park and two men practising karate, like they show miaggi san teaching daniel on the beach. The slow, graceful, balanced dance. And a tiny little girl, sitting solemn faced on a park bench next to a lady, perhaps her mother, in earnest, serious conversation.
And yet I didnt feel like stopping there, I walked on and found a opening in the hedge. Walking through it, a huge park. It was the Inverleith Park. Full of huge dogs, tall trees, acorns in the grass and families strolling silently in the dawning evening.
Beyond the park I found the Royal Botannical Gardens, which I had been looking for for so long. And it had just closed. I guess Serendipity has to stop somewhere ;)
I visited. I remembered you. :-) Pele
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