It is an odd inclination that many of us appear to share; namely, the proclivity upon reaching a destination to get on one’s horse and to ride off in all directions. The putative desideratum seems to spring from the urge to consume everything possible for fear of starvation or other metaphorical inadequacy. I have concluded that the violation stimulated by this anxiety is ignorance of what is before one’s eyes.

Unfortunately this is a subject I have often addressed without resolving the matter. The underlying mischief to behaviour is the same no doubt that invites one to accumulate beyond need. It is not precisely the same as greed. But it resembles greed being as it is akin to over-consumption. Yet I fashion greed as purely visceral; whereas relentless motion is more intellectually inspired. This may be a distinction without a difference but I persist to excuse the fortuitous ambition as ephemeral and therefore less objective. Nonetheless the goal of endless pursuit – howsoever palpable as a means of discovery and improvement – is a virulent ambition in the end because it poisons what one perceives within one’s perpetually narrower scope. Eventually we have to face the gripping reality that there is only so far we can run.

This paradigm of travel is likely not what most people fashion as either ideal or pragmatic. Travel invites constancy of motion; it is by definition directed to limitless horizons. Yet the logical deduction is that by maintaining eternal passage and transit one risks losing the depth of acquaintance and knowledge which comes only with limitation and familiarity. Naturally I am not promoting immobility.  There is nothing wrong with globe trotting, to employ the vernacular. What I am advancing is instead the value of confining oneself within the immediate environment of one’s destination. Technically there is always time to see whatever else is nearby.  But for the moment there is unquestionable advantage to strengthen one’s acquaintance with what is at hand.

Clearly there are so many ways to debate this resolution. What is important is not the discussion of the value of travel but the value of limitation of travel upon reaching a destination.  To be specific, the application to my present circumstances is such that I actively force myself  – or reinforce my motive – to navigate every particularity of what is immediately before my eyes. The casual result of this convenient and dawdling pursuit is unfailingly an enlargement of detail. Not the least of these details is the unblemished majesty of the azure sky, yellow sunshine and emerald sea.  It is a picturesque image complemented by the verdant grape leaves and gnarled tree trunks. Colourful geckos and iguanas occasionally make an appearance to the watchful eye. And of course there is not to be discounted the element of human conversation and brief association. My personal aspiration is a more frequent familiarity with the sea.  I am awaiting the increase of ambient temperatures and reduction of northerly winds before regularly re-visiting the sea. The sea, as boundless as it is, exemplifies the theme of my proposition.