Well I turned around and I said ho, ho
And the northern lights commenced to glow
And she said, with a tear in her eye
Watch out where the huskies go, and dont you eat that yellow snow
– Frank Zappa Don’t You Eat that Yellow Snow
Why is it that she can treat me like shit, and at the end of the day it’s me asking her to stay?
Thought I’d try out some on-the-spot blogging. I usually cannot be bothered taking my laptop with me when I go off to the beach, but pulling a sicky means I still need to check mail. So here I am, feet in the Unawatuna sand, nose still in the web.
Yesterday, on a whim, I decided to take the bike out for a spin. I only ever ride on the weekend now, given what a pain in the backside it is to navigate Colombo on a motorcycle these days. Have you noticed that very few people ride for fun anymore? I remember a time when I was in my teens and tweens when I’d come out of a club or musical show, and the pavement would be lined with hot bikes — XT250s and XLRs, CBRs and YZRs. Now it’s all utilitarian Hero Hondas. People spend their fun money on cars. Anyway. I usually take the old XT out either early on a Sunday morning or late in the evening and thrash her out to Mount or Wadduwa, but yesterday it just felt too tedious to face another five-day week. So I call up SO2.
Me: “Shall we skip work tomorrow and push off to Hikka or something today?”
SO2: “Hmm, ok I think I can call in sick or whatever.”
So, change of clothes, swimwear, snorkel gear, weed, a full tank of petrol, and we’re off. SO2′s got an XL250, so we keep pace. He’s already got a bottle of Rockland rum stashed in his backpack and we stop off at the Cargills in Mount to grab a liter of Coke so that we can have a drink whenever we want. It’s not even 10am.
We swing south along the Galle Road, but before we even get up to speed, SO2′s slowing down, waving at me to stop. I pull up alongside and he points back over his shoulder. SWFs. Two of them. Standing at the bus stand we have just passed. Well, they’re white and female, but since they are together, we can’t tell if they’re single. One’s blonde, and the other’s got sort of dark brown hair — brunette I guess is still the word. Read more…
So after years, she’s an older woman. Not by much, but still, there it is.
And I had forgotten what that was like. I had forgotten what it was like to listen to the same songs. Not just the same kind of music, but the same songs, many from when we both were teenagers. It used to be that whenever I started to see a new woman, with her would come new music, new songs, often stuff I had never heard of before. A lot of it — particularly when the women were much younger — I didn’t really like, but sometimes, good stuff too. I cannot ever now hear a Skunk Anansie song without remembering Elle in ’96. But unfortunately, I also cannot hear a Britney Spears number without remembering ES from more recent times.
I love being with her. Every single moment. From the quickly grabbed coffee in the garden to the stolen moments in bed. I care for her in a way that I’d forgotten was possible for me to do. And I dare not tell her for fear of spooking her like a deer in the dawn. I don’t know if she feels the same, and I wonder sometimes if she doesn’t dare tell me either. I’d forgotten how delicious uncertainty can be.
I had also forgotten what it is like to be unsettled by a woman, to have my boat rocked in a way that a younger woman cannot do. It is scary at times, and disconcerting, but also very exciting, like swimming out beyond the reef. It forces me to work at things, but also to let other things go in a way that the control freak in me never allowed me to do with younger women.
For the first time in a long time, I realize that I’m with a woman who does not necessarily need me in her world. And that’s a relief.
