2007 - May

[Sweder]

I too appear to get Sheahan, though I think I get Vonnegut more.
Kilgore Trout has been part of my upbringing. One of my favourite Vonnegutisms has to be

I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different.

Another that may have more resonance here and now is

I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all the kinds of things you can't see from the center.

That's funny, because 'the edge' was very much in my thoughts as I battled unseasonably stormy weather on my morning plod. David Lee Roth sang about it in the excellent Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love (Van Halen). It's a line I've quoted here before, perhaps in one of my earliest ever rambles on a tour of my home town.

I've been to the edge
Man I stood and looked down
You know I lost a lot of friends there baby
I got no time to mess around

There's a lot to be said for pushing our limits. One man's limit is, of course, another man's bread and butter which is why comparing endeavour is so rarely fair or ever truly revealing. Your mountain challenge last year exceeded anything I may have accomplished so far because of the ugliness of the odds against you at the outset. Likewise Andy's five hour epic in Zurich. These are peepholes through tears in the fabric of normal life, a snapshot of what we might achieve. I have this feeling that if I really knuckled down and stopped faffing about I might one day make a decent effort at one of these races. I catch fleeting glimpses of my potential, like a wispy figure meandering along a perfect beach, only for the vicious tide of everyday life to crash in and erase those delicate footprints even as I try to focus on them.

The trick is to know there is more and, whilst accepting that for us the pinnacle will always be a horrendous struggle it is within that struggle that our victories lie. The Spartans knew the gig was up at Thermopylae, but they also knew the telling of their valour would be the making of their nation. Even in the faith of certain death Leonidas understood the value of spin, so sent Dilios, the finest yarnsmith amongst the three hundred, home with news of his 'victory' against the mighty Persian hoards to rally the council and ensure Greece stood firm against the invaders.

Steely resolve; it's here in spades