The Ring

 
Comfort

Last night while I was driving to the office in the ISUZU I got a real sense of how chronic our addiction is to energy. The vehicle is incredibly comfortable and luxurious. It's a pleasure to drive, because the steering is featherlight, the engine whispers, and inside it is cool and the music crystal clear, while outside the world sweats and beats its brow. It is easy to forget that this illusion of comfort all depends on fossil fuels. It's also easy to see why Cheney said something like 'the American way of life is non-negotiable'.

Yes, it's a feeling close to having withdrawal symptoms (associated with addictions) when you start to think you might have to give up luxurious travel like this. You begin to think about the options. In the end it becomes the rape of resources in faraway lands to maintain a way of life that has no future. It's like a drug addict stealing to keep up his fix - something has got to give. Except the world has a huge population addicted to cheap oil. Withdrawal is going to hurt. There's going to gnashing of teeth, and shaking of fists, and kicking of car tyres. We're going to want to eat the rich.

Meanwhile, I swapped the ISUZU (I felt a little like Frodo giving up the Ring)for a Justus' Ford and used it to travel to the pool, to lunch at the mall, and to gym this evening. It's a simple, unassuming car. It doesn't float over the road. I think I am not someone who is that impressed with stuff, possessions. They're nice toys for a while, but they become mere accoutrements that pile up around us until we find ourselves in a canyon, or a hole. Things should serve us, not the other way round. But, not all things should serve us. Precious things ought to be seen as precious. Like children. Like black liquid that took millions of years of magic and alchemy. Something that can be used to make everything from bubble gum to medicene ought not to poured into long haul trucks (one of our most wasteful habits) - use railways.

Company

I've been meaning to cycle for a few days, and each time possible companions either pulled out or I did.
Today I went swimming at the Varsity. It was quite funny. We were chatting in the pool about a guy who was last in Bloem about 6 years ago - Benedictus Kok. He apparently came back and found Franna and the guys at the pool (which was how things were when he left), and he said boldy, "Nothing has changed." So that was our mantra. "Nothing has changed." Of course, a lot has changed. It just so happens that after half a decade a lot of the original group of triathletes have sort of reassembled.

Turned down an invitation to a movie and instead went to gym.

Swim: 0:45
Distance: 2km
Best 200m: 2:50

Swim(at Virgin Active): 0:48 (included kicking)
Distance: 2km
Best 100m: 1:16

Cycle: 0:32
Distance: 14.5km
Maximum Heartrate: 168 (went very hard at one stage)

Weight: 85.1kg

Some positive feedback on the Bushman article I've (just about) finished (see link for continuous chapter additions in Half Full Moon, go to http://halffullmoon.blogspot.com/, or click on the title of this post).

I might be going to Pazzazz tomorrow. Just one or two drinks as I have a 98km cycle race early the next morning. Might also take part in a 10km run at 5:30pm.
Am also starting to organise my trip to the Drakensberg. The weekend is almost upon us.