Hum Along

The mornings are too cold, and dark. The sun doesn’t rise until about 9am and the heat from it doesn’t seep through until about midday, so beautiful as our location is we need to begin heading south, seriously south. But an inexplicable intrigue draws us first to Santiago de Compostela, the great Catholic pilgrim destination. And thank god for intrigue… or was it a calling from a higher power?

What a city! The best by far on our little journey, the stunning medieval town, centred on the magnificent cathedral is fully in tact yet it operates as a thriving, living, bohemian city overflowing with cafes, bars, restaurants and the sense that there’s stuff happening here, stuff we want to know about. Only our meagre budget forced us to retreat to our van before an evening of pinxtos and cañas blew an irreparable hole in our budget.

Stopping off the next lunch time in Afife for an unsatisfactory bumpy, high tide surf before pushing further south into Portugal coming to rest in the tourist town of Mira.

It’s surprising how busy one’s days are in this transient life, driving, blogging, photographing, finding camp spots, surf spots, food, toilets, water and the occasoional wash. The time and space, to reflect, contemplate and work on the various projects I have in mind has hardly materialised so far, but recently I have noticed a subtle background hum of unease sitting beneath the chatter of my mind. My initial reaction on noticing this just-perceptible anxiety was of disappointment and a sense of unfairness. Leaving the maelstrom of work and life at home, with the 101 things to do in a day which will only allow 74 to be done, was an attempt to leave such feelings behind. But then I realised three things.
The fact that I can notice this ‘hum’, like feeling a distant generator vibrate, is due to some time and space opening in my life allowing me to observe the phenomena. Since deciding to do this trip the level of activity-induced adrenaline to make it happen has been so high and stress- producing that I couldn’t even detect what was going on within me. The unease is a positive sign of slowing down.
Noticing this ‘hum’ is to be distinct from it. Being distant enough from it to observe it is proof that this unease is not actually ME. At overly-busy and stressful times I don’t notice it because I am consumed by it. This mind-made anxiety is just that, mind-made and is not the deeper, inner me.
Time in the water quells the hum. There’s no dwelling on past events, now worry about the the things I ‘have’ to do in the future. The generator, splutters out of fuel and stops for a while as I am content with the hear and now.

Onwards and inwards.