Out of the way

I have a guitar, but it is truer to say I play with a guitar than that I play it well. For years I would pick it up about every other year, and play with it for a day or so, and put it down again. Now I am trying to play it more often (although travelling with a guitar isn't much fun. There are in fact travel guitars, but I haven't thought of buying one as a good investment).

So I went down to the Dubliners on Saturday, for their afternoon session. A few hours of trying to play along, trying to play stuff I know myself, and just getting used to the idea. Playing by ear is more or less a failure. Occasionally I pick up a chord, but I will have to practice a *lot* more before I think I can just follow along the way some people seem to manage. I will also have to practice playing more. But it was fun, and the folks there, despite playing very well, are also friendly and accepting of someone who clearly can't keep up the skill level. This is something I have found often with musicians - and especially the jam-in-the-pub crowd, who are intially intimidating by virtue of being in public and being obviously competent.

On Sunday I walked, with a group of people from Opera. 5km up a forest track to a small lake, where we had a barbecue (with too much food), messed around in boats (well, canoes), a few of us went for a brief swim (really. A minute or so was plenty to realise that the water in the mountains is still very cold), before splitting into a couple of groups (short way, long way) to walk home.

It was nice to walk with a group of people. I am hoping to do some of it in Maraña later in summer. So it was distressing to find that I huff and puff as I lug myself up hills, and that I am no longer the fit young man of my youth. Still, it seems that despite puffing and sweating all the way I make it in the end, so carrying some clean clothes for hanging around should be enough to get me through. And maybe moderating my general tendency to overcater. Despite giving away a bunch of what I prepared, and having people for lunch again today to try and clean up the leftovers I still have salad, guacamole, and some odds and ends taking up my fridge.

It was nice to go canoeing, too. It has been a long time since I have done that, and like skiing, walking, and other ways of getting out into the bush I remembered why I had put it as one of my interests on my CV - almost a decade ago.

I found that the forest track was mostly a slog - there is no real view until you get to the top, so it was important to have a destination that meant something. (Lunch! ). Walking is a strange thing - I am inclined to take a tram or bus around town, especially if it is hot or I am in a hurry. If my apartment wasn't close to work I might get very little exercise - especially since I no longer have a bicycle (it seems that when I was not at the work day for the building, they decided my bike was rubbish and got rid of it).

I don't mind walking, or riding a bike, to get somewhere. But I find it hard to get excited by going for a walk just for the sake of it. Occasionally I will do it for the sake of spending time with friends. On the other hand, I do like riding horses, and will happily do that for no particular reason (when have I ever had a reason?), when the opportunity is there. The worst is running. Running is what I do when I need to move a short distance in a hurry - to catch a tram, or arrive somewhere early. I end up really sweaty, and lately (i.e. in the last decade) puffed after even a relatively short run. So running nowhere just fails to attract me as an idea.

Walking past people running on treadmills and watching television, as I do whenever I go to the office, makes me wonder about what kind of a world we live in. Those people pay good money, and buy expensive gear, to get some exercise. I may only walk normally, but it is free, gets me around the things I want to do, and doesn't require much that is special. I miss out on the chance to watch television, but then I don't have one anyway. I don't have a walkman or iPod either, so I don't have to worry about getting my headphones sweaty... Maybe this is what makes running so boring, and if I bought an mp3 player I could do it.

Or maybe not. I think tomorrow night I will go down to the pub with my guitar again and see if I have learned anything.And maybe walk up the hill afterwards, as a concession to the exercise obsession.