The Clocks at This Station
Dear friend,
I’m on the underground moving sideways at speed. There’s an Australian couple opposite. Somehow their conversation is pulling at my attention.
I call it back, but it’s like a dog that’s found something in a thicket. It returns only to scamper off again. Something about the sonority is compelling.
At the station the staff write little notices on a whiteboard by hand with dry wipe markers.
It’s nice when they write positive messages. Be kind. Or quotes that make you reflect.
Today the sign says.
“The clocks at this station have not been turned back. They’re still one hour ahead.”
Like a mind taken by worry, skipping ahead or struggling to accept to accept the approaching winter.
We marched here on foot with a friend and his son. Jeremy and me are on route for the river to run another event.
I’m fairly sure I’ve packed all the cables and adapters and pieces of kit we need to stream live. It’s been a bit of a learning curve working it all out.
Now there’s nothing else to do but stay in the moment, and see how it unfolds.
The Australian couple are now talking about work colleagues and emails. They’re just getting off.
My mental hounds bound back ready for more, but I am almost falling asleep. It’s warm and soporific. A tube is like if you rode around in your living room and people keep dropping by for one reason or another. To ignore you, or maybe say hello. To chat with a friend or a lover. Maybe show you a book they’re reading.
It’s nice in this moment.
Neither the past nor the future.
It doesn’t seem to matter what the clocks say.
It’s always now.
I wouldn’t have said that this morning and afternoon. There were lots of tasks to attend to and each one has a consequence. Thinking ahead, thinking things through. In the end you do the thing in the moment and it turns out to be a surprise.
Someone at the event asked how you connect with the universe.
I don’t recall exactly what I said but it was something like this:
“Maybe you do what you can to get comfortable in your own skin. You count the friendship you have known and let the rest go. Find ways to connect to your community, to natural things. Look after things. Fold your clothes. Maybe you’re not so bad as you tell yourself. Trust a little that things are working out. Keep learning. What you need will find you. Stay curious. The path and sometimes hard to see, but you are on it.
We’re all on it.”
It wasn’t that.
But something along those lines.
Till tomorrow
Love
Mikey