20 February 2021

A Whole New World

Today was a Spring day here. With temperature reaching 15°C (59°F), I didn't wear a warm coat, actually spent a lot of time outside  in the patio with no coat at all. We cycled to, and from, scouting, I washed the motorcycle, took out the side wheels from Amélia's bike (now it's hers), although she quickly gave up on trying to cycle without 'em, we cleaned and we played.

Since I washed the motorbike, I decided it was time to start it up and it's a good thing I kept the old battery, and charged, from last year. It's been several months the bike was left abandoned and not only because it was Winter. Since the bike's engine was running I put outside on the public parking area behind the house to minimize the gasoline smell in our patio. .And once it was already outside, with the pleasant Spring weather, having cycled in the morning, hearing motorbikes revving in the distance but all around me, I had to go for a spin.

It was the first time in may months that I really felt I wanted to go, I actually felt I needed to go, that I couldn't even wait for Sunday morning. It's one of those urges that forms in your head and you're absolutely certain that you must follow through in the moment or else it might go away and you're not sure when, or if, you'll feel the same way again.
I still needed to vacuum clean our living room, take out the recycling and do the weekly shopping but none of that drove the urge away. When I was finally done it was past 5:45 PM, the sun was already setting but I still went for it. I was out for around 30 minutes, rode for 32 km (~20 miles), with a bit of urban traffic, a bit of motorway (highway) and a bit of open road. Only missing was a stretch of a mountain (our country) road, a stretch on a narrow and curvy road, but this is The Netherlands, what can we do?!

It felt good. At one point, with no vehicles nearby, I found myself raising the arms in the air while singing inside the helmet "I can show you the world; shining, shimmering, splendid" (from Disney's Aladdin). After that, I did some typical accelerations, hearing the Laser exhaust crackling and popping and with that I concluded another stage of the recovery process...

PS - It was also a long time ago that I stayed in the living room at night, writing and having a drink (this time a belgian wit beer) while the rest of the family already sleeps upstairs...

Note: This text was originally written in Portuguese and published on Feb 20, 2021 (hence that published date) but only adapted to English on Apr 27, 2022. 

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