Archive for August, 2009

If You Have To Live Anywhere Make It The Country

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

I had to decide where I wanted to live a few years ago after some time overseas.

I decided to live in the country. I love living in the country, Ive been here for quite a few years now and I wouldn’t live anywhere in the city again, though that’s where I grew up.

There’s so many things in the country that you just cannot get in the city. For example I love to ride bikes. It keeps me fit, and I know I need to keep fit. It gets me outdoors and I love the outdoors and getting out on the road.

I ride past so many wonderful things, and so many good views. I love to see the cows in the fields and I see sheep and other animals as well. I even have my own cows and they give me calves which is great too, both for selling them and for watching them.

Having cows and calves around just makes me feel good. It makes me love nature, it makes me see the cycles of life, and I really think life is all about cycles.

Its summer right now and its very very hot. We’ve had some really hot days lately. Now of course if I lived in the city it would still be as hot. But here I see the cycle of the seasons so well. I feel more at one with the seasons and with nature now and that feels good. I see the grass grow then die when summer comes, I see the grass regrow and get green again for winter. It see snow and I see drought and I see rain.

All the leaves turn such wonderful colors, and they fall off and they look so good all on the ground around the base of the trees, and the trees drop seeds and new baby trees start to grow underneath them all. I get to see the old and the young, all cycling, all nature.

Nature cycles just like me, and I love to watch it all happening right through the year, winter and summer.

Maybe if I lived in the city I’d have a little garden or maybe a big garden, maybe even no garden. And I might not even have a tree or shrub. Maybe all I’d have is some concrete in my back yard and no more, except a BBQ perhaps. I do love BBQs.

Apart from the temperature I mightn’t even know which season it is.

It’s so sterile in the city and I spent a large part of my life there so I’ve been there. Of course it’s just me that thinks it’s sterile, others don’t  Well not everyone.

My own family still live there now, including my brother. He’s a doctor and he’s single and he like the city so he’s happy with the social life there. He likes all that stuff and so he’s happy living in the city, but I’m not.

I’ve lived in the city for quite a long time, I grew up there and I really feel now like I’ve wasted so many years. Now of course I didn’t waste them I had my time and I lived my life but it feels like wasted time a bit. I should ask my brother if he’d like to live in the country, it would be nice if he lived nearby. But even if I suggested that to him I doubt that he’d move here.

Give me the country any time, give my brother the city, we’re all different.

If You Want To Keep Fit Why Not Ride A Bike?

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

I knew I had to keep fit, I was approaching 50 and I was putting weight on. My friends were getting fat, one had been told be the doctor to lose weight,  so I knew I had to do something.

Cycling is it.

I came to cycling a little while ago. Well no not that long ago actually, considering that Im not young. Like I said, near 50.

I tried swimming but it just never worked for me, I never took to it at all. I just found it really boring stuff and it was a real effort to get up in the morning and go swimming down the pool. You just go up and down and down and up and up and down and a minute feels like an hour or 2.

There’s this black line and you just spend your time watching that line, because of course there’s nothing else to watch other than that black line. Now that’s what I call really boring.

So after trying swimming I knew that wouldnt work for me, though it does for some. I knew I couldnt spend 4 or 5 days a week trying to make myself swim. Because if youre going to keep fit youve got to do it about 4 or 5 days a week or you’re just wasting your time.

And you’ve got to do at least half an hour. Less than that and its a bit of a waste of time really.

So when I decided I didn’t like swimming I really had to find something else. And like swimming I found running pretty boring too so that was out. What to do? Then I thought about cycling.

But I had a problem. I didn’t have a bike. So I wasn’t going to be cycling too far with no bike to ride on. Well actually I did have a bike but it’s really really old and all rusted, so no good. So I had to get hold of a bike and and they aren’t cheap, in fact quite expensive.

But I found out that there was a cycling club near me and they were starting up a new cycling group for recreational riders. The ideal time to buy a bike and take up riding.

So I joined the group and got riding. And I loved it. They did long rides and short rides and I did all of them. But after while I started to get a little frustrated with the speed of the riding.

I’m not exactly young but despite that I really felt that I could ride harder than the recreational group did, that it was a fun social situation but I wanted to get fitter and do a workout and it was too slow for me. So I started riding on my own to get a faster ride in and workout more and start getting fitter.

So after a time riding on my own I found that it was nice to ride hard but a little lonely. I was getting a bit of a workout but on my own. So I made some enquiries and found out that there was a group of cyclists that rode out of town a few days a week that used road bikes and rode hard. It went on sundays and I decided to go along and see what it was like.

But the bike I had was a hybrid, half mountain bike and half road bike and they all rode a good road bike so I would have no chance of keeping up riding my hybrid. So again I was stuck without a bike, or without the right one. But I knew I liked riding now so I bought a road bike and joined the. They’re good riders and sometimes I can’t keep up but mostly I can if I really try. (more…)

Hello Hello From Stan

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

I’m Stan Heath and this is my website. I’m just an ordinary guy, but I like to think I have an extraordinary life, so I plan to tell you about it here.

I have to say that I’m no expert about the internet, a friend made this website for me and showed me how to drive it, so I’m just doing the writing.

Follow on and enjoy.