Yes sir. Be well!

well truth be told, life is about the ends that keep moving… Live on!!

I think you’ve captured where I was going. There always seems to be something simmering beneath the surface regardless of how bright and cheerful I might seem. It’s alway best for me to be aware and take stock of it.

Denial is a wonderful thing. A fuzzy Band-Aid to make everything better. Problem is the adhesive sucks and it keeps coming loose. And then the wound is open. Best to just deal with the discomfort and pain has been my experience.

The Vespa, more often than not, is like a big eraser. It just wipes everything away and leaves me with a clearer place to deal with whatever is bugging me. Photography works that way too. If I have enough time to really engage the process.

Hope all is well with you.

I hope you find your way into the world on the Vespa. Not everything can be Brompton!

I remember my mother once told me she used to think in German. And then one day after she lived in the US for 20 years she started thinking in English. After she died and I saw her journals they switched from German to English about that time. Weird how things work.

I’m surprised anyone got anything from what I wrote. As I replied to Ken, I sort of just purged the thoughts from my troubled mind.

The Vespa is a means to an end. Unfortunately for me, the ends keep moving!

The piece was one of those sudden vomiting of words on the page Ken. Something was bothering me and I just had to purge. I’m glad it wasn’t too ugly…

The character of my riding has changed over the years. Age and circumstance largely in control. I bring the the machine a natural temperament which dictates when my energy is at its peak. That doesn’t seem to vary regardless of what’s going on around me. When I was working as a photographer I experienced the lack of regimentation to which you refer. Part of me relished the unpredictability and part of me found it irritating at times as well.

Riding now, some years after retirement, is different. I’m only now trying to wrap my head around it. But like you, regardless of when I manage to get on the road, it’s never a bad time!

I interpreted the first section as “those things I tell myself.” I am happy, content, thinking clearly, everything is fine… But beneath the surface is something unsettled. And it grows undetected, until…

The second section: I recognize that my thoughts have been pulling me elsewhere. It is when I recognize this is happening that my denial of some kind of discomfort or pain or mundanity is at play.

A ride on the Vespa is a wonderful outlet to briefly ponder these concerns (or a temporary escape from them), but as you mentioned, circumstances don’t always allow for it.

If any of this makes sense and applies to you, my hope is that you will be able to find another outlet that works its own magic.

And if this does apply to you, know that you aren’t alone in that feeling. Our circumstances are indeed different, but I can empathize with that feeling.

That said, my Vespa hasn’t ventured anywhere.

I have to deliver some stuff downtown, and that will be the next trip. Maybe tomorrow.