heat assault.

 The cat lies flat on top of the forlorn jeep in the car park… awaiting my arrival (at least, this is what I believe) with a bowl of food that I place beside the jeep. The cat gazes into my eyes for a moment or two and then elegantly descends from the jeep to the bowl and begins to eat. Once satisfied, she strolls across the car park and leaps up into the comfort of her favourite truck where she will sleep until the heat drives her to a cooler place. My duties done, I sip a cup of coffee and read before setting out for a short jog. The heat launches an assault, and I am grateful to be jogging on a heavily shaded path. Endurance is not there yet, I only survive twenty minutes before heading directly to the pool where I swim for ten minutes before showering and feeling entitled to laze a while and write and read and listen to music… all of the things that ground me, all of the things that make life seem worth living. 

                  I’m half-way through Bread of Angels by Patti Smith and, to be honest, I have lost my faith in it a little. In the beginning I found it inspiring in that it is a girl growing up and discovering her love of writing and reading and then art, now it is the phase of music and her band… and I love this, too, the ‘three chords and the word of a poet’ concept, but there is something about the need to control so relentlessly and to resist any proposal of change in the studio, for example, that makes me become a little wary of how difficult that it must have been in many ways. It’s also sometimes difficult to keep in mind that a memoir is always one-side of a story and there are no external perspectives. Anyway, overall, it is inspiring and beautiful, and I will persist until it is finished… then I will provide a final verdict.

    Time to cycle to get some beer and pizza...