Evening walks in May have provided a peripatetic contraposto to current geo-political events. Light and shade, the circumstances that allow me to be here rather than elsewhere, the space to think and breathe. Nature left alone costs nothing but it means the world. In Ireland, we love to complain about the weather and the lack of heat and sun in what is meant to be summer time. Everywhere, the fabled forty shades of green. We yearn to feel some warmth on our skin. But how much is too much? In other places, on other continents, it is already too hot. For some people there is no respite from temperatures that test the limits of human endurance. In other places still, shelters are on fire and there is no refuge in the shade because all of the buildings have been bombed and reduced to rubble. For both, where is the respite from such heat? Here, in the North, we are more fortunate than we think to have such weather, such 'soft days' where others know only daily hardships. As I walk, and think of the present moment - my feet on damp grass, my head covered by a soft grey sky - I take a moment to acknowledge those who can only dream of such things. I include them as part of my journey.
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