Yay! Kinky Boots

Tuesday was a joyful, largely because Ethel seems so healthy.

It was another dull day. It began with a very wet walk and then late in the day we had a really lovely walk in stunning sunshine on a surprisingly warm afternoon.

For a mid-day break, I watched the movie Kinky Boots again. It was an eye-opening experience. For one thing, I was emotionally overreacting to every plot point. This condition of mine has really changed me; I feel my emotions so readily and so strongly.

The other thing that really struck me about the movie was the central performance of Chiwetel Ejiofor. I’ve seen him in other movies and been very impressed with his acting but I did not know it was he who plays the transvestite, Lola, in the film. He is nothing short of extraordinary in his role.

Today will begin with a community dog walk. I think I might take myself into the village for lunch later, for a treat. My life seems to have been hijacked by my animals of late. I haven’t had a spa or done much for myself.

Yesterday afternoon, walking in the sunshine, I felt euphoric. I do not yet take this life I have chosen for granted. Watching Sheba ahead of me, I wondered if she has ever walked on pavement. I don’t think she has.

It’s a privilege to walk alone on the forest paths every day, never ever worrying about my safety. Each time I hear the glorious tonal bongs of the Ravens, the tree frog chorus or the bellowing sea lions, I am glad I no longer life in the city. But it is the smells that truly intoxicate me.

I hit pockets of them as I walk. Initially I would waste them intellectualizing on their source. Now I savor them. I stop or walk back and forth or in circles to recapture the rapture. But you now how it is with smells—the more you try to get, the quicker your capacity to sense it fades.

There are sweet smells; there are smells that, in an instant, transport you to a memory. Some are fragrant, some are spicy; some seem like the smell of wet and the earth. Never have I smelt something bad.

And while I walk, I talk. Sheba (and Fred and Ethel) are the only souls with whom I can speak in my own voice without any ticks or stammers.