Walk the third will be after I finish this and have a call with Rafe. He and I will be talking about a course called “Range and Radar” we mean to build as continuing education for those just out of university. Developing your external range, your internal radar. That sort of thing.
Walk the second, completed as it was falling dark, meant the crescent moon was clearly visible in the sky. The shape is relevant because I often think of Amsterdam as a half-moon city, discovering every crater-like street of its semi-circle a life-changing experience when I first came here. Now, walking all-too familiar streets made all-too quiet by lockdown, the adventure has slipped. There is still plenty of beauty to be sure, but nothing unknown and less reason to explore. I walk out of routine. I walk for meditation rather than excitement. I walk because during a pandemic with no cafes to go into walking gives me something to do. I walk because wallking is better than sitting all day and helps fight off, a little, the weight and stiffness of age. I walk, but I walk with a sense of eclipse.
This morning I walked to Eline’s. Eline runs a little coffee kiosk that sits, you might say, on the river of water which cuts the full moon city in half.
I had not been there in some time. Too long, in fact, and Eline and I were happy to see each other. We asked after each other and each other’s health and so forth. This led to an brief conversation with another customer, also of middle age. The three of us talked about being healthy and how lucky we were and the brilliance of the clear winter sun on the water all around. We said the light was glorious and worth treasuring. Life is beautiful and is, we agreed, all we have.
On, now, to discuss Range and Radar and then, as you know, off to the last walk of the day, through whatever waxes, under all that wanes.