In my July 5 reply to a comment from Altadenahiker, I quipped (brilliantly), “Maybe your Hiker-mind has some reckless Biker-mind built into it. . . . . the topic of Bikers, Hikers, and Runners compared to Walkers, Amblers, and Sitters might be interesting.”
Now I’ve started to wonder if anyone else gives a somewhat serious hoot about the topic. I think we should, because it involves important aspects of love relationships and friendships.
What do you think about the following?
Hiker-Bikers are manic, unimaginative, muscled escapees outrunning their demons.
The Sit-Butt-Strollers are fossilizing, depressive visionaries, who are deaf to the ticking clock and chances dripping away.
There is no third or fourth type, only gradations within these two.
How do the two get along with each other?
I take issue with the "unimaginative" designation of hike-bikers. How many poems are composed whle hiking (read "principled walking") in the woods. And have you ever heard of Thoreau?--quite a prodigious mind.
ReplyDeleteHi, Slowmo,
ReplyDeleteI too would rather sit alone on a pumpkin than be crowded on a velvet cushion. Two "buts":
1. Notice that one word in that line is "sit."
2. I tried to tweak equally and hyperbolically the hikers and the sitters. Do I seem tilted in favor of one or the other?
I do wonder, however, how fast and how far Thoreau walked, and how much of his writing was done in motion--esp. compared to what he did upon returning later to his cabin. I haven't read a biography--or T. himself for decades--but I'll bet his writing was done in a manner along the lines of Wordsworth's "emotion recollected in tranquility."
I like "principled walking" as a phrase. Is that yours?
Thanks for stopping by.
Oh, she says, rubbing her hands together while running in place.
ReplyDeleteManic yes, unimaginative, no. I think the running and the hiking is to shake some thoughts out of the head and onto the ground.
Only by exhausting myself can I sometimes stop this infernal internal narrative.
But then, you were just baiting the hiker/runners.
I admit to maybe an ounce of baiting (but I didn't inhale). However, I was also baiting the walker/dozers. Their silence suggests they really are a bunch of depressed fossils.
ReplyDeleteHow's that for a gauntlet? But maybe they're all asleep, their banjos sadly out of tune, the rusted strings snapping, falling off . . .
How the hell does one get a discussion going in blog world? And baiting or no baiting, isn't the topic worth at least a little chat?
If hiker-bikers are the folks who tear through wooded paths on bikes and scooters, I really can't stand them. They're awful.
ReplyDeleteIf they're the ones who motor loudly through quiet neighborhoods, they're awful, too.
You can enjoy the outside without disturbing others. That's my pet peeve. As for the other stuff...if people want to tear through and not take in the beauty around them, that's their loss!
Kitty is rather judgmental. Must be a walker. They're generally rather dour. (I think Banjo bikes are motorcycles, not mountain bikes.)
ReplyDeleteI hope you three will check out the brief post today, July 8, and keep this going. Bring in your friends.
ReplyDeleteThere's still a lot of detail to cover.
Here's a dour walker. Sorry to muscle in yet again, AH.
ReplyDeleteI have never run. I used to jog. Now I walk. All good constitutional stuff. Do it for the heart and the arteries. BUT ...
It is good alone time. Good thinking time. Good composing time. Good to rid my mind of bad thoughts time.
How can one write whilst walking - whichever speed you choose. I can think. I can compose. I can argue positions with myself. But not record.
I am a languid thinker: I observe rather than comment. I listen rather than pontificate. I can too easily see both sides of the argument. Nasty habit.
As AH will attest: I am rarely frivolous. Neither is my writing. Neither is my thinking. Nor my character.
Not too keen on being judged or judging ... but interested to sit and chat for a while.
You're lucky now Banjo. Julie is brilliant.
ReplyDeleteThe internal narrative for me is more focussed when walking. It takes over completely. I try to concentrate on the pace and keeping it quick but once that is automated, the voices take over again.
ReplyDeleteSometimes this is a useful narrative ... oftimes destructive.
But at least I dont fall and scrape my knee ...