Snow Squalls

Though I don’t actively search for a reason not to exercise, I confess that the sudden gusty commotion of a snow squall dampens my athletic enthusiasm for bicycling. Happily the cycling ritual is so hardened that the re-appearance of blue skies and sunshine as quickly restores my erstwhile ambition. The predominant feature is that a breath of fresh air from moderate out-of-doors exercise always succeeds to enliven me.  Indeed without the prerequisite my day is assured to be muffled. The beneficence of exercise is a product not only of routine behaviour but also of manifest physical improvement – though I am willing to acknowledge the lurid attraction of habit!

The recognizable acquaintance of snow of any description with cold air does at least stimulate the use of a silk scarf and gloves when cycling. Traditionally I avoid what I consider excess apparel; but on a frosty day the advantage of wool is incontrovertible. Being properly dressed for the occasion is always elemental.  It enables one to retreat from petty discomfort and instead to absorb the character of the environment without restraint. As peculiar as it sounds, I welcome the opportunity to wear sweaters or jackets because I can hide beneath the cuff my favourite bling. For me the titillation of the bling is its texture not so much its appearance.

I have never wittingly flattered myself to trumpet this particular secretion as metaphorical of any other more personal disguise. For one thing, the attraction to others of this or that is seldom the same as one’s private admiration. Perhaps bling or whatever is like the balance of one’s chequing account; namely, a fact but not necessarily stimulating or otherwise useful. If nothing else the opportunity for small adventure is afforded by this mischievous sartorial alteration. The defence may be that it is the little things which count!

The exploration of this odd personality trait engages me in a somewhat more apt discussion of a current battle I am enduring. I hesitate to say that the probe enlarges the scope of analysis. It does however involve competing fundamentals – ingredients which always stimulate my limited intelligence because they are so substantive and therefore putatively digestible. On another level it could be advanced that basics are the foundation of experience and everything else is mere fluff or ornament.

To cut to the chase, the features preoccupying me are Nature and Reality which I think you’ll agree rank as rights beyond mere procedures. Historically many have dismissed the confusion of living by suggesting that whatever it is that presently confounds won’t matter in the end. Though the insight is axiomatically correct the more plausible rendition is that one mustn’t allow oneself to become entangled with pettiness.  Even the much maligned legal profession is the source of the judicial adage, “de minimis non curat lex“; that is, “the law does not concern itself with trifles“.

Restoring one’s basic tenets of conduct is noticeably more fluid if the weather cooperates. Naturally this is but a poetic description of life. But it works.  That and sleep are guaranteed to elevate the status of being. Meanwhile the fluctuation of those alleged trifling matters may subside into a less descriptive status of their own. It helps for example to see the bigger picture – to get out and enjoy the world!

The process may be nothing more than a complication of things but it strangely enables a less acidic view. One might capture an insight into the cycle of the seasons or the budding of flowers; it may just embarrass one to denominate the particular objections.