all-day walk

Some people suffer from a lack of empathy, while others like me have more than or fair share. When Albert isn't getting on well with Mrs A, I really feel his pain, so yesterday I took off on a walk, not knowing where I was going.

I was passing a library where my card is valid, and borrowed 3 different books, figuring that at least one of them might lift the spirits: a book of quotes by Hitchens; some humour by Sedaris; and one by Eckhart Tolle, a Bavarian who has made a fortune, arguably by repackaging spacey spiritual theories for the Oprah crowd. One book reviewer dismisses his "spiritual mumbo-jumbo", but another reviewer wrote, "Tolle's clear writing and the obvious depth of his experience and insight set it apart".

I stopped a couple of times in cafes, where I read a few pages of the Tolle book, describing ego as an "illusory sense of self" based on unconscious identification with one's memories and thoughts. It may just have been the tea, but suddenly the world was clear and simple again.

Walking on, I got lost a few times, and discovered some areas new to me, including a great park, and a ukulele shop. 

Under blue sky, I crossed the big bridge into the city, where there's another library with armchairs. You can read the daily papers from around the world. What fortunate creatures we are really.

On the bus home, I overheard a young Bavarian couple loudly discussing, in Bavarian, how to find an address they were looking for. So I offered, in Bavarian, to help them with their map. At first they were a wee bit stunned to hear their own language from a New Caledonian, but the conversation got going and I was even a little sad when I had to point out their stop and say goodbye.