I fell of my bike again last weekend, in what can only be described as the worlds lamest biking accident. The bruise to my ego was worse than the physical damage, resulting from the fact that it was 2am in front of about 50 people outside a club. I hadnt even started cycling yet, i fell at the proverbial first hurdle, the mounting of the bike. I was a little suprised by my reaction…
first i wished that i’d drank more. Probably not a common response to a drunk person falling off his bike due to an alcohol induced balance malfunction. I wished i’d drunk more as when I hit the deck, I felt it and that can only have meant that the powers of my alcohol blanket were waning.
Secondly from the moment I knew I was about to hit the deck, a strange feeling came over me. Firstly I laughed, then I started to think how lucky i was, to be there, in the middle of nowhere (connewitz to be exact, calling it nowhere is actually a compliment), falling off my bike. Perhaps it was a severe case of over-reaction and the worlds lamest life flashing before your eyes moment, as my drunken self-concious prepared me for exit from this world, forgetting I was actually about to fall three feet, onto my elbow.
It produced another one of those moments, those strange seconds when you can detach from your enviroment, and our able to just enjoy that enviroment as an onlooker. The result is that sense of feeling a little bit more alive than normal, like giving yourself a pinch, a full body pinch.
I think the quality of your life can be measured in how many of these moments everyday life brings you. In Leipzig i’m priveledged to have these moments with great regularity. I’m not sure why, maybe because I never thought I would be here, or because of how great the standard of living i have is here, or because im constantly struggling and doing things for the first time, without the numbing effect of routine. Or maybe its the friends that ive met here. I expect that its all these things. But now, these moments follow me like lost sheep, whether its singing beach boys with mone doing 160kmh on the autobahn, cycling to a party with nettski, getting drunk and philisophical with friends, eating in acapulco, going to some strange houseparty in a falling down building, writing and listening to music in my favourite spot in the park, writing this blog, thinking, plotting and planning where and what i’ll do next, even though those thoughts or plans make it no more likely i’ll do them, but that the fact that i have options enough to make those plans brings me so much enjoyment.
I know what your thinking, stop the post, I want to get off. You’re making me sick!
Fine by me, writing this at 1:35am, listening to music, in the dark, on the sofa, has given me another of those moments, so its purpose is served. Im off to enjoy that moment now, but i’m sharing it with you, so consider yourself pinched….