Tale of a Saturday Ride

Saturday afternoon on the bike path, and the sun is golden and the trees rush past, and I hear a beep from a passing station wagon and a friend waves heartily.

Cruising through the park three boys in footy shirts kick a ball around. I wonder briefly why one has turned away, then the light catches a liquid arch. Ok.

Turning down a quiet street, a granny watches patient from her tidy porch - the little patchwork world goes by.

As I pass a smallish figtree, I see a man, arms stretched to guard. A small voice cries,
"I can see the whole world from here!"

Another little person waves madly at me from the cosy grasp of mother's arms. Dad smiles,
"Hola".

A huge pom-pommed, blow-dried poodle trots by, owner in tow. I see a large man with a small dog, and a small lady with a large dog.

Among the rows of lonely boats, a cheery bunch of blokes enliven one craft - a tight rowdy circle, sipping their beers.

Down by the fish shop a mop-haired toddler dances on a grate while dad looks on.

I sit by the pearly water in my own mind as the waves crash and the sun ebbs.
The pebbled stone is warm beneath me.

Coming home two girls are faced away from the road, peering through a fence. One catches my quizzical glance and turns around. Lurching toward me, arms outstretched she intones,
"It's the end of the world", and collapses into giggling.

I laugh back.

What's not to laugh..

Today I went to a laughter yoga class run by a friend of mine. It was pretty damn funny. Everyone's fake laughs were so ridiculous that we'd keep bursting into real laughter! Plus we did lots of random things like pretending to be starting lawnmowers and being dragged away by them, or mad scientists, or posh tea-drinking chucklers.. all of which were very amusing.

We had to tell a story at the start about what made us laugh. The first thing that came to mind was myself. I thought of a couple of instances from two days ago which were small but entertaining:

I and a bunch of social work girls were driving up and down a road trying to find a particular service that just didn't seem to exist. Finally, as we were on our 4th lap, we spotted the name of the place in smallish print on some sliding doors. We all (especially me) screamed and pointed with joy..only to realise we appeared to be screaming and pointing at the two young guys walking by our window!! d'oh.

Later in the day I was walking home. Trotting up the hill in my fairly low heels, I somehow managed a major stumble, only just saving myself from face-planting. On the way back to vertical I glance at the car parked beside me and what do you know? There's two guys sitting in it, staring.

oh the gracefulness of me! haha