A cycling mantra and memories

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22nd February

Sometimes the days go by and I don't know which way they go, it seems as if I didn't live them.

I woke up this morning with that feeling and I set out, as always, to do my chores at home, which is a kind of slavery in disguise... I also told myself that I would do just enough... I'll explain, it's not about procrastinating, but about planning a few tasks for each day, so that I can set aside a few minutes in the afternoon to go for a bike ride and let my mind get some fresh air.

I'm on the ropes getting punched all the time and the referee seems to turn a blind eye. I haven't wanted to shout, nor have I wanted to throw in the towel, I'm just hanging in there bravely and riposte from time to time, albeit without much success.

However, even though I lack oxygen, my mind sometimes frees itself and tells me that this moment will probably take me to a better place or to do what I love to do, but in a different way. I am human, remember. I have fears and insecurities that I try to fight day after day.

I hadn't been out cycling for 4 days now, by the way, and I really couldn't take it anymore... the last time I went to inquire in nearby health centres if they were offering a service I needed. I had no luck: the equipment was broken in the two places I went to.

On the way I was passed by some policemen asking for a lane, I guess someone very important was in that caravan, and I was so deep in my thoughts that I didn't hear when the one in the motorised vehicle shouted at me to get out of that lane. It took me a while to react and the policeman reprimanded me, even swearing at me for that. He was really upset. I wonder what would have happened if I had blocked myself mentally and not been able to cross to the other side?

I better not think about that and concentrate on today's ride, a mostly cloudy day, and with a nice temperature because apparently a cold front is visiting us. Actually, you don't have to call it that because it's not cold, it's just a bit of wind and the odd shower to cool it off and the plants are very grateful for it. My mango trees are very motivated. Their thoughts of worrying about the falling flowers have ceased and now songs are sung to the beat of the wind.

xD (they are very cool)

I used Strava to record the ride and I noticed that there's not much difference between what the bike computer showed and the data from the app.

A bike ride always helps a lot to organise my thoughts. At least, on the ride, there was a constant pace, like an inner voice saying:

"Keep it simple, don't run too fast and don't stop for too long, keep your balance and solve the first thing in sight. You have to concentrate on solving one thing first, one thing later and never lose faith".

This is what I basically heard all the way from the back of my mind until I found the almond trees outside the Pre-University Jesús Suárez Gayol in Altahabana.

The Cuban almond tree is called Almendro malabar or Almendro de la India, that is, it lives here but is not from here. It can be seen in many places because it is very leafy and offers a lot of shade and is also beautiful, with very colourful leaves. It has medicinal properties too.

I stopped to photograph them and also picked some fruits that are edible and put them in my pockets.

The students eat them a lot. Look at the scene I documented. It's very eloquent, isn't it?

That's how I used to do it in my youth. We would see an almond tree and sit under it in the shade talking and crushing the nuts with a rock to get the edible part.

When I got home, I got a hammer and sat on the pavement ready to crack open the fruits I collected and record it all for my blog. I couldn't do both at the same time, but when my neighbour Zuki saw me, I think he got excited, because he too ate a lot of almonds in his youth, and gave me a hand in the process.

Some people say it's dumb food, like sunflower seeds. Hahaha... it's a lot of work, I know, but it's always nice after the picking and crushing to find some good, nutritious almonds.

In this short video he reminisces about his childhood and also mentions that he met people who made sweets with these fruits. I have never tasted any of these sweets, though.

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