No one forgets a bruise!
This week: Posthumous Postumus, weekend marathons and the art of skateboarding...
Happy Friday!
And welcome to edition 260—coincidentally the same year CE in which commander Marcus Cassianius Latinius Postumus revolted against the Roman Emperor and assumed control of the provinces Gaul, Germania, Hispania and a little backwater called Britannia.
Word of the Day: Postumus was a relatively common Roman name given to children born after the death of their father. The modern spelling of posthumous, referring to something that occurs after a person’s death, is a corruption of the Latin.
Appropriately enough, Postumus was killed by his own troops.
Now, on with the show!
🛹 Read this story on my website
The art of skateboarding
Or: Mild cognitive impairment and the beginner’s mind
Last weekend, I did a marathon. Not all in one go—that would be such hard work—but I did cover 46 kilometers in the 48 hours I granted myself as time off. (Don’t ask me off what?)
There wasn’t any good reason for the weekend marathon, aside from a desperate need to spend some time outside the box, doing something active, something new that stands half a chance of standing out in the time swamp.
That’s the same reason why I’m going to cut my own hair later tonight: something needs to change around here and I’ve already reorganised my spice rack.
You see, yesterday marked a year since a remarkable night on Merseyside, when Liverpool were knocked out of the Champions League by Athletico Madrid.
It was remarkable not because of the astonishing number of shots missed by the Reds (32), but because of the 52,267 people crammed into Anfield, including thousands from Madrid only two days before the Spanish government declared a national State of Alarm over this thing we rather quaintly called Wuhan Novel Coronavirus.
The UK government would fatally wait ten days longer to annouce our own lockdown, but I’m not concerned here with their incompetence. I’m concerned with the state of your brain. In the UK, for most of us, it’s a year since our brains were challenged with the everyday normality of negotiating the world.
A year of ‘mild cognitive impairment’
It’s easy to forget how much our brains need normality. It’s easy to forget how much our brains get out of navigating street traffic on the walk to work. It’s easy to forget how much exercise our brains get in awkward social situations. Heck—it’s straight-up easy to forget.
A year on, don’t you feel like you’re ‘walking around with mild cognitive impairment’?
I know I do.
That’s why we’ve spent lockdown frantically picking up new hobbies and hurling ourselves into pointless challenges like my weekend marathon, right? As neuroscientist Mike Yassa says:
Based on everything we know about the brain, two of the things that are really good for it are physical activity and novelty.
Everyone’s a runner now and everyone’s got their lockdown thing: knitting, veganism, family history, ukelele, cryptocurrency, kimchi, drawing, baby-making, gardening, podcasting, online poker, online yoga, online dating, online anything, please god, no more online anything.
Whatever you’ve got into over the past year, it’s given you a chance to tap into the beginner’s mind: that healthy headspace where you give yourself permission to fail hard and learn hasty.
And there is no hastier fail curve than slamming your body onto concrete and taking pratfalls in public. I’m talking, of course, about the art of skateboarding.
Skate at 38
You may say that 38 is too old to learn how to skateboard. You may say that my sense of equilibrium is shot, that my bones are too fragile and my courage too frail. And you would be right. But no one forgets a bruise: they are an excellent way of marking the time to unlockdown.
My skateboard came from the back of a cupboard in Dulwich, a relic of flatmates long-gone. When I took it to a skateshop in Boscombe last weekend, the shopkeeper nodded: whoever had owned the board knew how to skate. The nose, the tail beat up in memory of far-off skateparks, the trucks scarred from years of railing.
Time hadn’t been good to the bearings: the wheels barely turned. That wasn’t a bad thing for a beginner, who could never build up enough speed to fall too hard. But I got them replaced anyway, and bought some fatter wheels to give much-needed stability.
Since then, I’ve been skating most days, including a fair few kilometers of that weekend marathon. The slips and falls have become notably less frequent and I’ve started learning to ollie in my kitchen, as I wait for the kettle to boil. (Progress so far: I can almost balance with both feet and all four wheels on the floor.)
Learning in public
Skating is perhaps unique in its possibilities for public embarrassment. Thanks to its well-known California-inspired subculture, people expect skaters to look cool. The British, however, have a highly developed sense of hubris and I suspect most people secretly hope to see something spectacular and exceedingly uncool.
I am usually happy to oblige. It’s okay, I tell myself as I admire once again the sheer speed at which my board can disappear from beneath me, I am Learning In Public.
As well as publicly learning how to fall spectacularly (tip: buy wrist guards), I have also learned how to get the board moving, how to ‘carve’ around gentle corners and obvious obstacles, how to stop without always throwing myself into the undergrowth and how to annoy dogs (that one’s easy: skate). I am yet to learn how to stop crapping myself on even the gentlest of downhills.
Why am I telling you all this? Simply in the hope that it encourages you with the small idea that, even in these slumbrous hours of late-stage pandemic survival, the beginner’s mind can lift our spirits, make our days stand out on stalks, and help lockdown leave its mark in a good way. And also in a bruises way. Rad!
Obscene vegan chocolate banana bread
The basic recipe for this obscene vegan chocolate banana bread is from Sweet Simple Vegan, but add chunks of dark chocolate and don’t bother with the sugar except for a sprinkling on top for that caramelised look. Make sure you hold off eating until at least 30 minutes after baking, otherwise it’s weirdly crumbly and mushy. Serve with vegan block and honey (if you swing that way).
Happy weekend!
I’m off to another volunteer shift at the local vaccination centre this afternoon. Every time I step inside the hall, I get a sobering reminder of the scale of the emergency response. The NHS is effective, encouraging and, despite big promises, still woefully underfunded. Imagine what would be possible with wholehearted backing from government.
The busy beaches of Bournemouth tell me that, outside the vaccination centres, many people are already relaxing their grip on lockdown—myself included. Skating around the long queues for ice cream last weekend, it was easy to forget that we’re still supposed to ‘minimise’ the time we spend outside and to stay two metres clear of people not in our household. I don’t know too many people sticking to those rules.
After a year of confinement, I think we are all shifting the point of balance between protecting the vulnerable and protecting our own mental health. Where you find that balance is none of my business. I’m lucky to have these volunteer shifts on the front line of the NHS response: social occasions that make me feel useful. I’m also lucky to feel like I can wait a little longer for the salt-smack of full-fat freedom.
As long as I’ve got my board, yeah?
Have yourself a great weekend.
Big love,
dc:
CREDITS
Hello, I’m David Charles and I’m a UK-based writer and outdoor instructor. Say hello by replying to this email, or delve into 500+ other articles on davidcharles.info.
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