I am beginning to think that I am spending too much of our life running full-tilt through it, if you know what I mean.  It is often photo galleries that make me realise this.  There was one I saw in the UK’s Daily Telegraph recently that really brought this home to me.  Here’s a link to it.  I found the pictures absolutely stunning, and they made me think.  They made me think about the speed at which one must live in order to see the beauty in such small places and the fact that, for most of the time, I live my life at such a helter-skelter pace that I wouldn’t see the beauty of the bark even if I had been brained by the entire tree!

Now, I have to confess that despite having seen this and registered the thoughts a full 8 weeks ago I haven’t yet made big changes in what I do and how I do it.  But I’m thinking that having realised (independently) that I’m missing things is at least a start.  Isn’t it?

We had some lovely English guests staying at the house last year.  They took the time to go into the Tourism Office on rue de la Republique where they bought a walking tour map of Sainte-Foy-La-Grande.  I found it after they left and read it (it’s in French, needless to say, so I got only the jist of it).  I was ashamed to learn that there is an abundance of very old architectural features in plain sight but, because I spend my time rushing from point A to point B and thence somewhere else instead,  I’d not seen most of them.

Trudi takes a weekly walk around Sainte-Foy and sees all sorts of quirky things in which she delights and loves to share.  Had it not been for her telling me about them over a glass of wine, or a game of Scrabble, I’d never see them.  Aileen sees beauty in odd things and strange places too.  I guess that what sets me apart from them is that they are both intrinsically artists while I am cut from much more pedestrian cloth.

So, I am making a plan for trying a “slow life”.  When I get back to Les Terraces this spring, not before.  The bicycle is, theoretically at least, an integral part of the slowing down.  But I accept that I could go slower on foot.  My rationalisation is that it is slower than the car and will bring me closer to life than I might otherwise be.

Can I do it?  Honest answer – probably not.  Will I try?  Yes.  Hard enough?  Probably not.  Watch this space!