The Tree of Magic

I didn't do the fell race. My legs felt very heavy this morning and I didn't want to risk pulling something, trying to race on tired and unconditioned muscles. I also felt I might have tweaked something last night, waking up in the early hours with a wicked cramp in my calves. It's possible I didn't drink enough yesterday. I've spent most of the day in the office, the last few jobs before going live taking an inordinate amount of time. There's one thing still left to do so I'm going to have to get in early to sort that one out. I got to the point this evening where I was too tired to think straight.

I'm reading a new novel on the train right now and I haven't been so captivated by a book in a very long time. It's called "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern. It's ideal to read at snatched moments because the chapters are short and the storylines are not all told with a strict chronology. Indeed, each chapter almost stands alone as a mini masterpiece of the imagination. For a short time each day I'm swept away totally and utterly to a whole different universe. I love stories that do that. The book is essentially about magic, and these last few days it seems almost as if some of that magic in the book hangs around me when I stop reading. I felt it yesterday (thanks so much for your reaction to those two blips of Abir and her family), and I felt it again today.

I decided to cycle in to the work, by my long route, and with the forecast set for rain to arrive in the middle of the day I thought I'd better try to get my portrait in Ilkley. I stopped on the Grove (the main street) and cast a quick eye around. I immediately spotted a very striking figure ambling towards me, talking to a friend. I made eye contact some distance away and immediately found a camera being pointed at me by the friend (Riaz). They introduced themselves as street photographers. I told them that I was too, loitering for a shot. So I grabbed Shaun and got the portrait I was after and then it dawned on me that these two guys were the very photographers that Mr.John was talking about in the pub last Thursday. He had met them on this day. It was hard to believe the coincidence. Or is that a bit of magic?

I carried on my ride to work and it soon became clear that the rain was arriving sooner than expected. As I got to the top of the rise over the climb to Silsden the clouds broke momentarily and I decided to make a small detour up the fell to grab a shot while I could. Because of the connotations with magic I was keen to post a hawthorn today and I knew a spot not far off the road where I could find some. This shot in the bag I returned to the bike to find I'd picked up a puncture. I pumped up the tyre and managed to descend down to the valley so as to fix it in a more sheltered spot.

I'm not very good at these things. I'm far more at home in the abstract world, fixing software rather than hardware. Anyway, to cut a long story short, I was almost there but was struggling with the tube being pinched near the valve, my fingers having become useless in the cold and my head having lost all patience. In that moment of frustration, when about to be tempted to do something silly, who should appear on his bike but my good friend Ged (God of the local cycling world!), and voice of perfect calm and reason. Within a minute he had told me what to do and it was fixed. It felt like I had summoned him to my aid. I'm getting to quite enjoy these new found powers of mine!

It's 11.30pm and dinner awaits. I had to write that down for the journal today. I don't want to forget these kinds of story. Thanks for reading.