Writing, whatever the quality, has a rhythm to it. It reflects one’s place in the world, one’s relationship with that world and attitude towards it. It may point to ‘what matters’ — bound by the particular age and stage of the time. It pulls the curtain back on obsessions, opinion, assumed absolutes. If the writing is honest, it can be a mirror of the personality.

It’s coming up on Christmas 2024. A time for reflection on the year lived. And, as it turns out, a bit more of a retrospective look. At the time the pieces that follow were penned, some now nearly four decades ago, the edge, (along with the vitality!) very much defined. The certainty, the readiness to pronounce, held sway. Many were written as monthly editorial contributions to a running club’s newsletter. Many more from a similar attachment to a cycling circle, connection to which would span three decades. . . and the unimagined changes that would hold sway over mid-life and beyond.

And so. . . the 1990’s.