Pink 🗞️ Slow News Day #62

Hey,

The air is warm and the sky is pink. Crickets and grasshoppers ring on both sides of the country lane. Cacophonous, shrill, furious. Blades of wheat, filling the fields and horizon besides me, strike softly in the breeze and cut the soft evening into ribbons of night.

I’d spent most of the day in Caen, taking in tall buildings and throngs of people after a month of pure chateau solitude, in 29C heat. 14,000 steps, a lot of sweat, and plenty of my old heat-health anxiety had wrung me out… but I got home, made dinner, and noticed that the run still called me.

Before I knew it, I was changed, hydrated, and taking an energy gel to get my frazzled body out the door for a gentle 5k.

I couldn’t really believe that I was doing it. There are many, many versions of me, close as brothers, who would have collapsed into bed in pure exhaustion and post-anxious fragility. Maybe they were there, still. Maybe they gave a quiet cheer as I laced up my shoes.

There was no penance to be made at the church of the Sunday Long Run this time, but I knew I wanted to move through the air as the sun set and the world quietened. After an uncomfortable first kilometre, something clicked. My pulse rose. My self softened, settled.

By 4km, the air around me was blushing. Sunset hit its nadir and the world came alive in peachy bliss. I was in a dream. Gentle, steady footsteps in perfect flow. No need to check my watch or form. As I went, bits of my body argued and I argued right back. We met in the middle. Step by step.

Thank you feet. Thank you knees. Thank you legs.

Bless this body and the miles it carries me.

Slow down guide

Need a little help moving slower?

Ease your way out of Friday afternoon with this newsletter, a nice cup of something, and a little background music. Steal my setup if you aren't sure where to start.

After I press send, I’ll be getting back into the Aponte Honey roast that Bex got me from Crankhouse. It really should have been finished by now, I’ve had it for long enough. I might even brew up a bigger pot and share it with the Château. It’s more than good enough to share.

I’m on a run of good discoveries recently, so it’s a bit hard to choose a recommendation this week. I’ll go with Lewis Coleman’s Indigo — a beautiful track that’s got hints of Flyte and other dreampop classics. Made for putting your feet up with a nice filter coffee. Doctor’s orders.

Take it easy,