Strange Notations From a Laborious Life

Isn’t time fascinating? Bit by bit, second by second, minute by minute and so on it keeps going, ever so slowly but you look back now and again and wonder how you got to this particular moment so quickly!
I can remember being a boy and not being able to wait patiently until I got older, time seemed to drag on forever. Now I am older and I wish I could go back to being a boy!
I’m 41 now and I used to think how old that was. Now of course I keep trying to convince myself I am still young but I guess the truth is that I am close to being halfway through my life which is a little sobering.
It only seems like yesterday that I had a 30th birthday party at my parent’s house. May 28, 2000. It snowed. The Canberra Raiders were playing at Bruce Stadium. Of all my workmates that I invited to that party I still only have regular contact with two and that is because I still work with them. The others have just faded away for various reasons, some just through a natural process, others due to more human factors.
Such is the nature of time and relationships.
As I said, it seems like yesterday that I was 30 but I seemed to race through the decade in a very fast cadence.
My thoughts have turned to the journey of time due to the fact that Linda and I were changing our room around last night and I came across an old record book recording the results of bike races run by the now defunct NSW League of Wheelman from about 1986, many of which I had ridden in.
One in particular had caught my attention, a race in Young in May 1988 in which I had finished fourth. It was a handicap race and I had ridden off scratch, and although I had obviously been in the mix at the finish I can’t remember any particular details of the race or the finish. I do remember there was some sort of disagreement over the “chop”, the amount of prizemoney that our bunch had collected and were to split up in accordance with the peculiar traditions and “gentleman’s agreements” so common to handicap racing. Some may call it collusion!
May, 1988. 23 years ago. It’s hard to believe.
I can remember those days quite well and I can remember the old timers talking about the great champions of previous eras, most particularly the 1960’s and it seemed to be ancient history to a young fellow like me. Now I look back on a race that was run in 1988 and 23 years doesn’t seem that long ago!
Now it’s been a long time since I raced bikes competitively but remembering the old days makes me want to have one more big season before I get too old. But I also get the feeling that my fanatasies about racing again and the reality of it may be on a different plane!
I still have a lot of good years left in me for sure but I sometimes wish time would slow down a little bit or that I didn’t have to spend so much of it at work.
I see my parents getting older, my Dad is 74 today and my mother is 70 toward the end of the month and realise that the day is getting closer when they won’t be around although I do think they have quite a bit of life left in them yet. Time is precious though and time with your loved ones is especially. I hope we can all treat the time we have with family and friends, doing the things we want to do, in a precious manner. We sure do notice it when it is gone.