Kia ora koutou, there’s been a plethora of people lately telling me how to keep healthy and happy now than I’m old.
‘Walking – the pleasures of walking,’ they rave. Diet. Meditation. Yoga. Singing. Am I lonely?
FFS. I want to grab my phone (where today’s radio voice is coming from) and chuck it. Yes I still walk but no it doesn’t make me feel exhilarated, it doesn’t make me feel great, it makes me feel sore, okay? It is simply not true that arthritic joint pains feel better after exercise so get a grip. I walk because its good for my heart and lungs and other organs but, I want to yell at them, I already have a mean little voice inside nagging me so I don’t need your voice as well.
I know about diet okay? God knows I should. People have been telling me about it for nearly a century.
I also know there are times when the only food that interests me is a hot pie or some crackers liberally heaped with peanut butter and jam. Nga Purapura Cafe down the road sells great lamingtons.
I also know these times will pass so I don’t worry. After all I have enough sense to eat something. And I’ve also got enought sense to give myself a break from time to time. Some days its gets excessively tedious deciding what I want to eat. This is not new, its not because I’m old, I have always had times when I’ve had to nag myself to eat.
Exercise. Take this morning. I got up, walked to the kitchen, made tea, walked back. Thought about the day, the novel I’m writing. Thought of a few lines for a scene near the end which is not even written yet. Felt pleased.
After a little while I got up, walked to the bathroom, showered, cleaned teeth, stuck towels etc in the washing machine, turned it on. Cleaned glasses.
I walked back to my bedroom, got dressed, stripped my bed, changed the sheets and pillow slips, made the bed with clean ones. Lifting and bending, folks, lifting and bending. Thinking. Planning.
When the washing machine peeped I lugged the towels, tea–towels etc, out and hung them on the line. Stretching, bending up and down. Thinking.
Then I put the sheets etc in the washing machie and set it chugging. Then I…
Later I’ll go out and take the stuff off the line. I’ll fold the towels and tea–towels, sheets, and put them in their respective drawers or on shelves. I fold the rest and will iron them either today or tomorrow. These days I hate ironing so I do it fairly soon after the wash just to get it over. I found out a long time ago that there are no fairies who do the ironing while I sleep.
All this means I’m on the go, moving, bending, carrying, thinking, planning, probably for at least two to three hours daily when its all added up. Okay mate?
I get out the ukulele, strum some chords and sing a song or two. My voice is terrible now but I like singing so tough shit if you’re walking past and hear me. The strumming is probably good for my hands too although they get plenty of exercise writing vitriolic rants about advice and advisors.
I look up at the sky, inspect the strawberries in their bins. They don’t care about advice either, they only want sun and water to do what they do.
My point is, I suppose, that I don’t need to be told these things, don’t need to know they’ve found the answer to the way the universe works, nor do I need to know about their discovery this very minute.
I’m pleased they found this thing they love and happy for them to go ahead doing what makes them happy, just don’t tell me I should do it too, okay?
Lonely? Are you serious? I have ebooks to read, work to do, characters to mull over, stories to write. I have friends who pop in with plums from their tree and someone I met at the dunes the other day sends me a recipe for Apple cake. A kid stops and asks about the apples on the tree. ‘Not ripe yet,’ I say, ‘and they’e really cooking apples.’ I look at his eager face, say, ‘But lots of kids eat them, I did when I was young, so when they’re ripe…’
He grins and runs off. I smile at the tree, the strawberries, the roses which all need deadheading and in that moment the world shines and I am happy.
Okay…grizzle over, smiling now…just don’t tell me what to do okay?
