Eureka!

I didn't know what it felt like to be a caged bird until today. You don't see them as frequently now, but you must have seen a parrot or a budgie sat in its cage. Perhaps hopping from perch to perch. Occasionally a peck at its cuttlefish.

Yet a parrot is a very intelligent creature: on the par with a dog or cat at least (most likely more intelligent). They're taken from the jungle and end up in a living room. Their only pleasure being the occasional taste of blood from a finger idly placed in the cage by some foolhardy person. Can you imagine the sense of freedom they must get when they're released? It's difficult, but I got a little of that today in the flatlands just east of Hull.

At last, after roughly 4 months, I've found a good place to go rollerblading. Or rather, to go long-distance blading. There being a world of difference between a couple of circuits in the park and the sense of freedom and space you get when you go a reasonable distance in the countryside.

And there it was: mile after mile of smooth tarmac. Very few, if any, cars. The crops in the fields either side moving gently in the breeze. Wonderful, heerlijk. It didn't matter if I had got out of practice. The leg muscles felt the unaccustomed movement a little. The rhythm taking a while to get re-established. In a quarter of an hour, I was once again a free spirit: the cage of pedestrian transport behind.

Not an earth shattering event maybe. May not be in the same league as the collapse of communism or the rise of consumerism, but it's these little pleasures that keep life ticking over. Splendid.

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