2011 Streak Day 291 (Friday Oct 21st): Walk 2 miles, Time 40min Weather - slightly more overcast
Another minimal day because I was mostly occupied with decorating. But I did get out and on my walk I saw this wall where a creeper has been removed yet left a trace that is probably impossible to remove.
This got me to thinking about how everything we do leaves some sort of trace. Where would detective fiction be without that idea? It is the entire conceit behind the character of Sherlock Holmes.
You can see this with sport - someone who was once proficient in a game, even tough they are older and out of condition can sometimes be surprisingly good. i have seen games of squash where a wily old player has seemed to move very little whilst his fitter, younger opponent has run himself into the ground. It is to do with skill - which seems to have a long half life.
Unfortunately the strength and weakness of running is that there is a low skill level. The benefit of this is that anybody can do it without a long frustrating period of incompetence. The downside is that training effect does not linger like an acquired skill. You start to lose muscle tone after only a few days.
This is why if I have a gap and allow myself to lose condition it feels like starting again. However I still have a knowledge of what worked before and a memory of how things might be. As I said - everything leaves a trace, even if it is very faint.
I remember a conversation from long ago when a work colleague was talking about how people’s faces looked more interesting when their character had been imprinted. He used as an example a young girl in the office, who had a very pretty face. “But”, he said “it is not yet old enough to show her character, that will only come after experience and only then will we know if she is beautiful or not.”
I don't think she was too flattered.
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