Saturday, October 19

I had always understood that this blog would come to an end one day.  I knew it would end with a bang or a whimper, but not which one.  Perhaps I would made the decision that it had fulfilled its purpose and deserved a decent burial so I would construct a one-off spectacular last hurrah, a post which would leave a positive lasting impression.  Or, more likely it would creak to a halt like a derelict bicycle, with flat tyres and squeaky handlebars.

Looking back over the past week or ten days I think the second possibility is the more likely.  There's not one post which could claim to leave any lasting impression, nor claim any relevance.  There have been almost as many vacant days, where I haven't posted a single word, as days when I scratched together a reasonably relevant comment.

However, I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet.  After all, what would I find to replace it?  I've always known that I don't write for the audience; I write for my own satisfaction.  Having realised that, the blog will continue but with a clearer focus.  Of course, it started as a travel diary and morphed into something else, without any real understanding in my mind what that might be..

In future, I'll write only when I have something to say, it won't be a diary of what we are doing but more a vehicle for putting down my thoughts on issues which flit through my brain from time to time.  I don't expect anyone will find it interesting but I might and that's all that matters.

I'll start with my thoughts on a video I watched this morning on Youtube.  It was of one of my 'regulars', Steve who, with his wife Alicjia, was in Switzerland, climbing up the Matterhorn to a restaurant high on the slopes.  It was breathtaking and surprisingly difficult.  The two of them must be reasonably fit but they were certainly stretched by the experience, especially Steve who almost threw in the towel.  Only Alicjia's 'positivity' kept them going.  It was a good lesson in how people can rise to the occasion when it is necessary.  And, of course, although I have never been to Switzerland, the video helped me recall experiences I had in the Snowy Mountains and in Tasmania.  All positive!