#7: zoom-zoom

Taking a break from football chatter ....

Recently I rode a convertible with its top down – on a highway. It was exhilarating. I had a wide grin, the kind I have seen on others before. And I almost behaved like our four-legged companions who crane their necks out of a car to catch the wind.

Most days I am invariably confined within four concrete walls, behind a monitor. And I hardly pause to look at the moon or the stars. Sitting "shotgun", I looked up into the night sky and soaked it up. It was so relaxing. Thanks, K, for indulging me.

This brings me to another thought. Why do we create environments that insulate us from the world outside? Protection from nasty elements, yes. But have we gone too far – to almost numbing our senses? Air conditioned homes, offices, cars, schools, malls, gyms .... Were humans robotic, climate-controlled bubbles may have been über efficient. But we are not. Sensing the passage of hours and seasons may actually be productive. My fear: we are becoming tomatoes in green-houses - colourful outside but insipid inside. And increasingly engineered!

The irony: we seek 20 varieties in flavoured water, but one standardised climate all year through. I live almost exclusively in a 72 degrees microcosm (and complain when it deviates). All because I can, not because I need to. Sad.