Living Contentedly

Noted bikepacker Ryan Van Duzer, yes thats his name, and no, he's American suggests fear may be holding me back.  I don't think its   the principal reason because I was waiting to get my eye surgery done and dusted, and to get gear together and then do some testing.  One of RVDs suggested fears may be 'wild animals", particularly bears. Well no bears in Australia, but I did just buy a bear bell. It only cost a few bucks and when I heard one on the Camino walk, it was effective in gently alerting walkers to the approach of a bike and sounded quite nice. In Australia it wouldn't help for snakes but would help with people and other critters.   RVDs other fears included mechanical or equipment failure, and weather exposure. Basically his position was that I should prepare well, without getting bogged down on the detail, and accept that occasionally things will fail, but will be overcome.  I just want to get out for a 24hr run to get the wheels turning, and take...

We all know there is a lot of rubbish on the socials, that's eben when we exclude the ads. Knowing that more than half is generated by bots is a reveal on our culture. People are paid to sit in a hot room generating messages of division within communities they will never visit in real life.  Yesterday, while waiting for a tube to be fitted to the Royal, I visited an old cemetery at Telarah-Rutherford for a gem. There were many surnames I knew, but one headstone stood tall for its inscription:-           We do not see with           eyes, we see with            our soul. A guide for our viewing of social media.  In the evening, on a social feed I saw an older Japanese woman, looking positive, sparky and healthy.   Part of her lifestyle is to exercise one hour every morning. I can report that ive tried it this morning and it feels good. But I will have to jog later on because an our is not enoug...

18 March Maitland: Rode train to Waratah.  Where i encountered a foolish old man with a trolley trying to negotiate stairs with a load lashed to a trolley, 4m from a perfectly good lift!  Waratah: found a nice path to stadium and linked with known path to join Fernleigh Track. Saw older guys on racers, like Fernleigh -only riders.  Redhead: meet a lovely little lady in the mini mart, struggling with mopping in the humidity. Bought kitkats on special and bananas. Are held at the beach, it looked really flat but the breaks were crappy.  Rode around road resurfacing to find the Coastal Path. An overgrown Sandy trail where bottle brush bloomed. A bit magic.  Dudley: Rode to the bluff with panorama++. Up through village an older toguy steps,  on ebike overtook. Lumpy exit to Whitebridge, kindergarten children were blocking the Gly up labar tracl local Bearded Dragon sk, roads bumped into poo farm fence, turned right toenrock trail so i Rode the service road . ro...

14 March 2026 Wow! I removed the eye cover first thing this morning and was immediately stunned by the clarity & colour range. I had to drive to make my appointment against hospital instructions, but I was very confident my sight had improved on the previous day. I have this weird shimmying on the edge occasionally, but surgeon said I had significant swelling. So I'm expecting that to settle.  With regards pain, I had been convinced this was a thing, bit apart from it feeling like a bruise earlier, this afternoon I have lost that sensation.  I have drops to take, I suspect to ward off infection, & although there is no infection evident, the drops are quite soothing.  I go back on 8 weeks to plan work on the right eye, but so far I am ecstatic. No glasses required & the restoration is beyond my best expectations. There were many activities I was told to avoid,including strenuous exercise, bending over & heavy weights. But to celebrate my new lease in life, ...

I think of this occasionally. A small bunker, with light streaming in weakly, while I dwell serenely on the belly of mother earth.  I bought a small excavator a handful of months ago with intentions to dabble. But last night I had a dream of actually living underground.  The context; I was temporarily studying away from home. I could imagine, living away from home, with strangers like this would cause great stress.  One day while out walking, I saw my grandmother Dot, just as she entered an underground dwelling! It was situated into a hillside just before a bridge over a river. At a later time I met her, she kept her circumstances private, except that she had to go away soon.   Chosing my time carefully I took up life there. Initially I was shocked at the difficulty entering, but realised this was a security measure, created by whomever built the dwelling. I remained there peacefully for the duration.    Isn't it amazing how the thoughts from deep insi...

If you say this word among my old surfing buddies, they will smile proudly & then shake their heads.  Its a word we used to describe dry sores we developed on our legs mostly, but also arms. We gathered, after a while, that they came after surfing at a place we knew as Point X.  It was a handy walk from our local break at Merewether into what is now known as Glenrock Nature Reserve. When the swell had too much north in it for The Rocks or Ladies to break well, small groups of surfers would quietly go south. Point X was never a great quality wave, it was at best an ok break with an average ride. I'm suspect the secrecy, novelty & the walk itself created an appetite for surfing.  But Point X had a catch. It was a mere 200 yards away from Newcastle's largest sewerage outlet to the sea. You could literally see a steady stream of pure sewerage belching into the sea beyond the shorebreak. On the beach little poo bombs waited to stick to your feet, & thousands of tin...