* Title credit: CW
Cycling long distances in the company of other humans has many benefits, but I think my favourite is how the movement, landscapes and conversation moulds the way our brains perceive the world.
Today’s little story comes from a realisation found in conversation, somewhere among the gentle hills of Magnesia and Pthiotis.
Why is it that the phrases ‘C’est la vie’, ‘That’s life’, and ‘It is what it is’ are only ever deployed, most often with a shrug, with reference to unlucky, unpleasant or undesirable events?
- You miss your turning on the motorway: ‘C’est la vie.’
- Your computer shows you the blue screen of death: ‘That’s life.’
- The Tories are somehow re-elected: ‘It is what it is.’
I’m not arguing: that is life. It is what it is.
But I would argue that there is a lot more positive than negative in what it is. And we could all do with pointing that out to each other more regularly.
- Growth in clean energy is in line with net-zero emissions by 2050: ‘C’est la vie!’
- Your best friend gives birth to a beautiful human: ‘That’s life!’
- Cyclists raise over £92,000 for grassroots refugee projects: ‘It is what it is!’ (😉)
More often than not, life does wear rose-tinted glasses.
The slow autumn sun rises over the trees, the wind rearranges the turning leaves, and a robin out calls to me: ‘C’est la vie, my friends, c’est la vie.’