Mindful Listening, Rain and Painful knees

It's been so good.

I've not been thinking or doing anything else but Walk and Play....Walking the dog and Playing harp. Trying out new repertoire, finding out I don't remember all the old repertoire, looking up, listening... ...it's been really, really good...no walks under an hour. Tuning, endless, endless tuning and the silence and pace of live improvised on a theme like a Medieval Ave... ...I'm fascinated by the way time passes when all you're focussing on is the quality of the sound of each stroke, pluck, jerk of each string and the reaction of the strings around it...the echo of the soundboard... ...It makes me feel good... ...

But you can't just listen and write about sound and what you do with it all day. Guide Dog Yeltsin likes the longer walks... ...and when it doesn't happen and walk brings him home sooner rather than later and lays there moaning a little often, jumping up every time anyone gets up.

It's been raining all morning but then it cleared up and now...now it is misty, low clouds, and there is wind...worst case scenario I'll get wet.

And that is what happens.

We set out towards Ring. I'm not warm yet and am feeling a little cold. It isn't cold but my bones are saying it is... ...I can see light on the other side of Inchydony Island.

'Maybe I'll have sun later...' hasn't passed my lips when the drops start coming down big and hard... ...

'Surely you're not going to stop now... you're only getting warmed up... ...this is what it's going to be like, there's going to be rain nearly every day of the winter and that is going to make you stop walking because?... If you give up now what's the point in talking about it anymore?... ...you have to push...just a little harder.... ....'

We turn off toward Darrara and the rain resumed with increased vigor... ...

'Don't stop...not for rain.'

There's water running down my neck, jeans...worst wear for walking... ...feet drenched... ...but the bottom of my back is warm and dry.

Walking up to Darrara church I consider turning up and back... ...

'If it stops raining when I come to the church... ...I'll go on... ...'

It isn't dry but I go on... ...uncomfortable...uncomfortable bearable but uncomfortable and aware. Aware that I'm out of practice... ...aware that if the weather had been colder I would not just be uncomfortable.

I don't go all the way to Timoleague... ...my head is giving me such a hard time that it is time to turn around and head home... we walk uphill and around... ...closer to town just above Darrara on the R600 the water starts pouring down again. Traffic is regular enough and they're not slowing down or sparing me in any way. A man stops to ask if I need a lift. I say no. He shakes his head and goes on.

It's crazy. All of it...they're getting in my head. The whole thing in my head. And as I walk down towards the N71 my knees start to hurt. I'm so tired and distraught when I get back. What am I thinking?


I am thinking:


I've never walked in anything but warm conditions. So I need to learn to walk in rain and cold.

When I walk in difficult conditions it is better for me to avoid main routes because of traffic.

Traffic is not out to get me but when I'm uncomfortable and others are mindless it starts to bother me and it gets in my head. If I'm going to get wet I don't mind nature pissing on me or me sinking into a bog...that's all part of the walking. Cars are not. when I walk I need to have my head in the walking.

Glucosamine. I need to start taking it again. The painful knees are a symptom of not being strong enough yet. Practice, practice, practice... ....enough.... ....but never too much (cause that's where the real injuries lie).


It is easy to forget that challenging your body is never going to be straightforward, easy or painless...