Not that incoherent, and actually interesting. Friends do drift off into nowhere, as I've found in 76 years, usually due to my inability to answer letters promptly, or find where I put their last address.It comes as a surprise to hear news of them, or their departure from this life, at a later date, but at least it provides a neat ending. What did happen to the woman who engaged herself to 3 men and asked me to break it off on her behalf, then disappeared to South Africa? I will never know.
I like what you said about having conversations with what we read. I don't always feel that way, but that's how I feel about your posts on Substack. I look forward to hearing about your walks, your moves, and your thoughts on writing. And I'm so glad you include pictures!
Thank you Tom. This piece has really connected with me. The lockdown era very much changed my approach to life. I also took the opportunity to retreat somewhat from the whirlwind of “normal” life and embrace a more introverted and less busy approach. I started reading a lot more, actually listening to full LPs properly again rather than just using them as background noise, resumed dabbling with my own music, watched a lot less tv, listened to the radio (remember that?), played more board games with my partner (who also has an introverted inclination), walked more, spent less time checking into places on social media, spent less time looking at photos of my friends’ breakfasts, etc. on social media, texted and messaged people less, spent much less time at social gatherings or worrying about missing out on them, but had a much better and more meaningful time whenever I did catch-up with friends. I don’t feel that I’ve retreated from life, but have certainly backed away from a lot of the hoo-haa (technical term!), that I can now see had been stressing me out. Less unnecessary baggage I guess you could say. Who knows, I might even start writing again one day too. Thanks again and cheers.
Whenever I read these long pieces, I do it in chunks. I read, then think, read more, think more, etc. At the end I usually feel that I’ve been on a walk listening to a friend. Thanks for lifting my eyes and my heart.
Right, let's get the total number of comments up to 11, so Tom can say without a doubt that he was talking to folks on his phone during his ramble!
I became more social during the pandemic, myself, coming from a life of introversion. Having been furloughed from work, living in a low-density coastal mountain area in California, and seeing the same people over and over at the coffee place (to-go coffee consumed in a tiny public park right on the street, with room to talk at a six foot distance), I got to know folks in a way I had been afraid to in the past. What started out as joking about life and death and politics turned into seeking comfort and community to recover from the wildfire evacuation we all endured, and the ensuing strange feelings. Survivor guilt mixed with a clarity that THINGS are not important, people are, the ones we love. Even just this week, now four years out, I was overhearing a fellow who lost his home say, "You can replace your toothbrush."
Tom, always entertaining! I am glad you found your mojo!
(I have a strange envy of people who found solitude during the covid years. As a healthcare worker, I ended up with more work than ever! Being generally good at avoiding people, I managed not to get sick, which meant I had to spend more days at work covering the sick leave of others. And learn to wrangle zoom meetings for the days of Uni teaching, so even home became work!)
I reckon all your early days and wanderings have provided good fodder for your writing though. I love your quirky heartfelt take on your world, and the colourful way you send it out. And most of all I love the inclusion of your parents, and their quirks and works. 👍🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
I have been a follower/ subscriber for a longish time now and Substack has made the whole experience even better because not only do we get all your fabulous writing but also the interesting thoughts from people who respond to each piece. I have said it before, but they really are the best.
I love the idea of authors, living or dead, talking to you directly or indirectly through their writings. I’ve added a few you mentioned to my ever growing list. The pandemic allowed me to remove myself from the social obligations I never felt comfortable with in the first place. This despite most people thinking I’m an extrovert (I’m not, I’m an ambivert at best). To quote a former podcast favorite of mine, Merlin Mann, “I only have so many Saturdays left”. Being mostly retired, I have more than Saturdays now, but the principle still holds, I want to, in your words, “squeeze each and every one of the good things in life into my remaining time on the planet.” This essay meant a lot to me and I think I’ll save it to read again later. Thank you!
Thanks Sally. I have also been mistaken for an extrovert several times in the past. All these things are just labels and attempts to organise personalities which ultimately don’t really work.
This is true. It also makes people think I’ve changed, and maybe I have, but not in the way people think. I think I’ve become more “me” and less someone’s idea of “me”.
At times I want only to be entirely 'me' - to please myself. I want remote places to walk, to observe, write, reflect, read, draw, ponder and chat with cats. I envy Tom and the life he has carved out for himself.
AS I grow older that seems an ideal way to be.
I quite like the idea of being a hermit, but gregarious me also needs people and the occasional fun activity and an event to look forward to.
That our time on earth is finite reminds me constantly that Nike's 'Do it now!' could be a meaningful slogan. I need to make more effort to cast off lots that occupies me in order to gain the quiet, quite self-indulgent but more authentic life (and me) that I seek.
Glad you like Sherman Alexie. I've just read his very short essay on his basketball team when he was a teenager. Very funny and a bit sad. I liked your ramblings as well.
Great chat Tom! Words and audio alike. That's me clambering out of another dozen rabbit holes chasing the links you kindly left scattered around. And what an excellent photographer Pete is.
I agree writing can be a lonesome task and I definitely see myself cycling through seasons of being shut away from the outside world, whether deliberately or incidentally / cosmically forced! I love that growing older allows us greater courage to go our own way and do what serves us best. Not that there's anything wrong with how we were in our 20s and 30s, those were times where we needed to be more reckless with ourselves I guess.
I loved this. Murakami's routines are my ideal for both running and writing but I've yet to approach the level of commitment of time and boundary that I want (and need if I'm going to finish a book this year). One Covid holdover: similarly, it was the time when the voice in whatever book I was reading became my main form of socializing outside of my family - an imaginary friend for a few hundred pages - and that remains. Unlike real life, we usually get along pretty well! Wonderful piece, thank you!
Thanks Kathryn. I reckon HM’s writing routine is one that would suit me quite well. However, I think I will give the running a miss. I might miss an interesting tree or badger.
Rings a cord with me, all of it. I look for your writing. It is essential to my wellbeing as much as my four leggeds are, the first cup of americano from my new coffee machine and that first plunge in the pool of an early morning.
Excellent piece, Tom. I'd like to leave a better comment than that, but my brain is filled with so many thoughts that I can't pull one out and form it into a coherent sentence. Who knew this was exactly what I needed to read today.
A very informative article, thank you. I enjoy following your literary and spirit of places journey over the years. The link with Murakami, another favourite other-worlds writer, is apt - the talking cats for a start!
Didn’t spot the audio until I got right to the end so am certainly going to return to that later. Something I really loved about Villager was how it felt like a journey taken with many different characters and I always love a journey whether that’s in book form or audio. Some of my favourite podcasts are Claire Balding’s Ramblings and Folk on foot where musicians get to take Matthew Bannister on a walk that’s important to them.
Your reflections on friendship in this piece really struck home with me. Like many, on my daily walk during lockdown I struck up conversations with people that remain in my life.
Not that incoherent, and actually interesting. Friends do drift off into nowhere, as I've found in 76 years, usually due to my inability to answer letters promptly, or find where I put their last address.It comes as a surprise to hear news of them, or their departure from this life, at a later date, but at least it provides a neat ending. What did happen to the woman who engaged herself to 3 men and asked me to break it off on her behalf, then disappeared to South Africa? I will never know.
I like what you said about having conversations with what we read. I don't always feel that way, but that's how I feel about your posts on Substack. I look forward to hearing about your walks, your moves, and your thoughts on writing. And I'm so glad you include pictures!
Thank you Tom. This piece has really connected with me. The lockdown era very much changed my approach to life. I also took the opportunity to retreat somewhat from the whirlwind of “normal” life and embrace a more introverted and less busy approach. I started reading a lot more, actually listening to full LPs properly again rather than just using them as background noise, resumed dabbling with my own music, watched a lot less tv, listened to the radio (remember that?), played more board games with my partner (who also has an introverted inclination), walked more, spent less time checking into places on social media, spent less time looking at photos of my friends’ breakfasts, etc. on social media, texted and messaged people less, spent much less time at social gatherings or worrying about missing out on them, but had a much better and more meaningful time whenever I did catch-up with friends. I don’t feel that I’ve retreated from life, but have certainly backed away from a lot of the hoo-haa (technical term!), that I can now see had been stressing me out. Less unnecessary baggage I guess you could say. Who knows, I might even start writing again one day too. Thanks again and cheers.
Whenever I read these long pieces, I do it in chunks. I read, then think, read more, think more, etc. At the end I usually feel that I’ve been on a walk listening to a friend. Thanks for lifting my eyes and my heart.
Right, let's get the total number of comments up to 11, so Tom can say without a doubt that he was talking to folks on his phone during his ramble!
I became more social during the pandemic, myself, coming from a life of introversion. Having been furloughed from work, living in a low-density coastal mountain area in California, and seeing the same people over and over at the coffee place (to-go coffee consumed in a tiny public park right on the street, with room to talk at a six foot distance), I got to know folks in a way I had been afraid to in the past. What started out as joking about life and death and politics turned into seeking comfort and community to recover from the wildfire evacuation we all endured, and the ensuing strange feelings. Survivor guilt mixed with a clarity that THINGS are not important, people are, the ones we love. Even just this week, now four years out, I was overhearing a fellow who lost his home say, "You can replace your toothbrush."
Tom, always entertaining! I am glad you found your mojo!
(I have a strange envy of people who found solitude during the covid years. As a healthcare worker, I ended up with more work than ever! Being generally good at avoiding people, I managed not to get sick, which meant I had to spend more days at work covering the sick leave of others. And learn to wrangle zoom meetings for the days of Uni teaching, so even home became work!)
I reckon all your early days and wanderings have provided good fodder for your writing though. I love your quirky heartfelt take on your world, and the colourful way you send it out. And most of all I love the inclusion of your parents, and their quirks and works. 👍🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
I have been a follower/ subscriber for a longish time now and Substack has made the whole experience even better because not only do we get all your fabulous writing but also the interesting thoughts from people who respond to each piece. I have said it before, but they really are the best.
I love the idea of authors, living or dead, talking to you directly or indirectly through their writings. I’ve added a few you mentioned to my ever growing list. The pandemic allowed me to remove myself from the social obligations I never felt comfortable with in the first place. This despite most people thinking I’m an extrovert (I’m not, I’m an ambivert at best). To quote a former podcast favorite of mine, Merlin Mann, “I only have so many Saturdays left”. Being mostly retired, I have more than Saturdays now, but the principle still holds, I want to, in your words, “squeeze each and every one of the good things in life into my remaining time on the planet.” This essay meant a lot to me and I think I’ll save it to read again later. Thank you!
Thanks Sally. I have also been mistaken for an extrovert several times in the past. All these things are just labels and attempts to organise personalities which ultimately don’t really work.
This is true. It also makes people think I’ve changed, and maybe I have, but not in the way people think. I think I’ve become more “me” and less someone’s idea of “me”.
I couldn't have expressed it better! Thank you.
At times I want only to be entirely 'me' - to please myself. I want remote places to walk, to observe, write, reflect, read, draw, ponder and chat with cats. I envy Tom and the life he has carved out for himself.
AS I grow older that seems an ideal way to be.
I quite like the idea of being a hermit, but gregarious me also needs people and the occasional fun activity and an event to look forward to.
That our time on earth is finite reminds me constantly that Nike's 'Do it now!' could be a meaningful slogan. I need to make more effort to cast off lots that occupies me in order to gain the quiet, quite self-indulgent but more authentic life (and me) that I seek.
Glad you like Sherman Alexie. I've just read his very short essay on his basketball team when he was a teenager. Very funny and a bit sad. I liked your ramblings as well.
I liked that essay, too.
Great chat Tom! Words and audio alike. That's me clambering out of another dozen rabbit holes chasing the links you kindly left scattered around. And what an excellent photographer Pete is.
I agree writing can be a lonesome task and I definitely see myself cycling through seasons of being shut away from the outside world, whether deliberately or incidentally / cosmically forced! I love that growing older allows us greater courage to go our own way and do what serves us best. Not that there's anything wrong with how we were in our 20s and 30s, those were times where we needed to be more reckless with ourselves I guess.
I loved this. Murakami's routines are my ideal for both running and writing but I've yet to approach the level of commitment of time and boundary that I want (and need if I'm going to finish a book this year). One Covid holdover: similarly, it was the time when the voice in whatever book I was reading became my main form of socializing outside of my family - an imaginary friend for a few hundred pages - and that remains. Unlike real life, we usually get along pretty well! Wonderful piece, thank you!
Thanks Kathryn. I reckon HM’s writing routine is one that would suit me quite well. However, I think I will give the running a miss. I might miss an interesting tree or badger.
Most beautiful, stirring photographs, so many details and things to see in each one.
Does National Geographic know about your photos? They surely belong there 💯👏👏🥇
Rings a cord with me, all of it. I look for your writing. It is essential to my wellbeing as much as my four leggeds are, the first cup of americano from my new coffee machine and that first plunge in the pool of an early morning.
Excellent piece, Tom. I'd like to leave a better comment than that, but my brain is filled with so many thoughts that I can't pull one out and form it into a coherent sentence. Who knew this was exactly what I needed to read today.
A very informative article, thank you. I enjoy following your literary and spirit of places journey over the years. The link with Murakami, another favourite other-worlds writer, is apt - the talking cats for a start!
Thanks Pam. HM is brilliant!
Didn’t spot the audio until I got right to the end so am certainly going to return to that later. Something I really loved about Villager was how it felt like a journey taken with many different characters and I always love a journey whether that’s in book form or audio. Some of my favourite podcasts are Claire Balding’s Ramblings and Folk on foot where musicians get to take Matthew Bannister on a walk that’s important to them.
Your reflections on friendship in this piece really struck home with me. Like many, on my daily walk during lockdown I struck up conversations with people that remain in my life.
Thanks Angela. I enjoyed doing Ramblings in autumn 2018: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000nfw
Yes, I often return to that episode, thank you. This was a favourite folk on foot one and I remembered that you know / mention Jim Ghedi in one of your books. https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/folk-on-foot/id1413850820?i=1000521651001