Hilton Head Island was unexpectedly calm today, something I hadn't anticipated in view of the upcoming RBC Heritage PGA Tour to be held at Harbour Town this week. I read somewhere that 100,000 visitors are about to arrive. But apart from a few decorations and the occasional road sign there were not many other indications of a looming festival.
Apparently there was a parade earlier today. But because we were en route from Jekyll Island, GA (where we spent the weekend) we didn't pass through the security gates of Sea Pines until after noon today. Once again there were no indicia of any alteration. In fact things seemed quieter than usual.
And it wasn't until almost two o'clock that I straddled the bike for my daily constitutional ride (which I deliberately - though with some hesitancy - directed to Harbour Town to see what was going on). Apart from a number of "Rent-a-Cops" sitting idly in small collapsible beach chairs at numerous intersections, there was no evidence of activity. I can't explain why the security people were still at their posts because nothing indicated that anything was about to transpire; they were so lethargic they were on the edge of dozing. Harbour Town - though the parking lots were packed - looked pretty much as usual, tourists aimlessly strolling about. There were however various pedlars setting up tents for the sale of memorabilia (T-shirts and baseball caps) and popcorn. I saw a number of people walking about with convention-style tags hanging about their necks. There were signs designating parking for media, standard bearers, contestants and bicycles. But generally speaking there was nothing happening on the golf course. I believe the major contenders aren't due to land here until the latter part of the week.
Yesterday on Jekyll Island we cycled around the entire Island, about a two-hour expedition.
The Island is only 7 miles long and 1½ miles wide so the enterprise is hardly Olympian. But it was an exceedingly pleasant outing. We confined our ride to the cemented pathway that borders the Ocean, partly because it is so pleasant but also because the bike rental agency made it clear that we would be charged an additional $50 for cleaning the bikes if we rode them on the beach (which we have done in the past when using bikes from another agency). But the elevated pathway along the dunes is so persuasive that it was no sacrifice to avoid the beach.
Anyway, the point of my Jekyll Island diversion was to recount that the two-hour ride just about killed me. I could hardly walk when we were done. And I had no resistance to a further two-hour lounge by the pool afterwards during which I regularly awoke myself with my own snoring. Later that evening I collapsed into bed shortly before nine o'clock. I subsequently had a fitful night's sleep, plagued by disturbing nightmares (which of course had no connection to anything and were merely disturbing, involving being chased on my bicycle, fear of some unknown pressures, that sort of nonsense). When I at last got out of bed this morning I was stiff in my lower back; my legs seemed exceptionally taut. Oddly however after we had a very satisfactory little breakfast of croissant, bacon and egg, with a hot cup of café latte, I recovered remarkably. By the time I got on my bike on Hilton Head Island this afternoon, I was feeling no discomfort at all. I queried whether my former unpleasantness was because of some sense of emotional stress as opposed to physical wear. Lately I have had a number of concerns about my aging mother and perhaps those worries were haunting me. I telephoned my mother as usual this morning and she was in good spirits. I also spoke with the Director of her retirement residence (concerning my mother's care) and it is likely that those communications succeeded to assuage some of my anxiety. The icing on the cake was a telephone conversation I had with my sister who is now in Naples, FLA with her husband. This has been a long-awaited sojourn for them and I am pleased to learn that it is going well.
Refreshed as I was by the compendium of favourable events today I revelled in what is one of our last few days on the Island this season. Even though I wasn't able to get onto the beach (the tide was too high) my leisurely tour to Harbour Town and back home couldn't have been more uplifting. Unquestionably the exhaustion of the "March Break" and Easter celebration meant an evacuation of the bulk of teenagers, children and parents. The bike paths were virtually empty, quite contrary to what they have been for the past month.
Just being back on Hilton Head Island meant something too. Even though we cannot claim entrenched resident status we nonetheless felt as though we were returning home. I even missed the substantial water pressure we have here! We contemplated a winter on Jekyll Island sometime in the future though I confess it will take a lot of convincing to pry us from Hilton Head Island and the very agreeable relationship we have with our local estate agent.
Meanwhile I continue to obsess throughout the day upon my favourite annoyances. It is shameful how glacial my progress is in the advancement of these matters. I am like an ant building a structure out of grains of sand. At times I pretend to dismiss the relevance of the "issues"; other times I fashion there is some compelling pragmatism in prolonging the agony. In the end I just go in circles and accomplish nothing. I will however admit there is strength to the value of time as a healing tool. Just being removed from some the people who vex me has provided a degree of relief. And the longer the estrangement persists the less likely it is that the severed bonds will be healed like old scar tissue. The mere act of having had nothing to do with those people enables further distance, which in turn diminishes whatever previously existed. Eventually one forgets what the fuss was all about in the first place. I prefer instead to reaffirm what it is I enjoy about my life. This is never an effort, there is so much about my life these days that I relish.
Refreshed as I was by the compendium of favourable events today I revelled in what is one of our last few days on the Island this season. Even though I wasn't able to get onto the beach (the tide was too high) my leisurely tour to Harbour Town and back home couldn't have been more uplifting. Unquestionably the exhaustion of the "March Break" and Easter celebration meant an evacuation of the bulk of teenagers, children and parents. The bike paths were virtually empty, quite contrary to what they have been for the past month.
Just being back on Hilton Head Island meant something too. Even though we cannot claim entrenched resident status we nonetheless felt as though we were returning home. I even missed the substantial water pressure we have here! We contemplated a winter on Jekyll Island sometime in the future though I confess it will take a lot of convincing to pry us from Hilton Head Island and the very agreeable relationship we have with our local estate agent.
Meanwhile I continue to obsess throughout the day upon my favourite annoyances. It is shameful how glacial my progress is in the advancement of these matters. I am like an ant building a structure out of grains of sand. At times I pretend to dismiss the relevance of the "issues"; other times I fashion there is some compelling pragmatism in prolonging the agony. In the end I just go in circles and accomplish nothing. I will however admit there is strength to the value of time as a healing tool. Just being removed from some the people who vex me has provided a degree of relief. And the longer the estrangement persists the less likely it is that the severed bonds will be healed like old scar tissue. The mere act of having had nothing to do with those people enables further distance, which in turn diminishes whatever previously existed. Eventually one forgets what the fuss was all about in the first place. I prefer instead to reaffirm what it is I enjoy about my life. This is never an effort, there is so much about my life these days that I relish.
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