Under the Weather

As Winter approaches and the evenings draw in the world of sniffles descends upon the unwary bystander. The lack of sunlight the scientists tell us is responsible for the darkness of our moods and our tumblings into misery and depression but our pagan animal instincts also move us towards the possibility of conserving our energy and even hibernating. The thoughts of huge open fires warmly inviting us to sit and stare into the flames are replaced by the functionality of the radiator and the central heating. Winter is however a time of not simply bland dormancy but hopefully recuperation. The garden sees a build up within the soil of the energy that the increasing Spring light levels and warmth will trigger to begin the cycle again.

This Wintry season is therefore a time of contemplation. It is a time to organise and to order (if possible) the chaos that surrounds us. I make lists; of ideas, of intentions, of schedules, schemes and plans. Not (for once) of world domination and how to spend my eight-figure lottery winnings but of simpler more creative concepts.
The death of Norman Mailer intrudes upon this solititude and those early discussions about the greatness (or otherwise) of the American Dream come flooding back. The potential (cruelly destroyed) of John F. Kennedy and his dreams for the Camelot administration pierced by an assassins bullet and decades of conspiracy theories. I remember considering this tragedy whilst reading "The Great Gatsby" and "The Catcher in the Rye" and thinking about the realities of the individual, the contributions each person can make and the impressions they can leave upon the world.

Winter is a time for such musings. In the semi-darkness the light can seem a long way away but cocooned within a nest of imagination, research and creativity the seeds of future productivity can be harnessed. If the outside is hostile then we can only retreat back inside - into an atmosphere which can sustain optimism and (to use a word sometimes corrupted by religious overtones) Hope. Under this duvet of re-invigoration the future may be mapped and in the strands of art or literature a vision may be glimpsed. There are no guarantees, of course sterility and stagnancy are by no means seasonal. It is as perfectly possible to fritter away the Winter as it is the Summer but because the weather and the climate and the immediate environment itself prevents alternative perspectives the best of all worlds is to rest and recover. To recoup the strength required and to plan your work under the weather, in the eye of the storm and in Spring; to come out running.