As the River Flows

Around this time of the year when I was a young lad growing up in Scotland, the days were long and usually warm. It was a great time to be free and allowed to wander. Those were the real lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer.

We never got up to mischief in those days - we were either better behaved or too timid or maybe just scared of what our Mum would say when we got home.

I lived in a small town with plenty areas of fields, forests, rivers and country roads all around. And of course, back in those days most folks didn’t have cars so roads, especially in the countryside were empty. If a car passed by while I was out walking, the driver would stop and say hello. He was as pleased to see other wanderers as I was.

There were many directions I could follow from my house as we lived on the edge of the town with nothing but fields from our back door. Yet I seemed to follow one road which took me past a handful of farms and the occasional cottage.

One spot I went to regularly was a wooded area with a “Burn” running through it. In Scotland a “Burn” is the word for a small river or a stream, usually three to maybe fifteen feet wide and a gentle pace.

I would sit on the side (the “bank”) literally for hours. It was shaded and peaceful and no-one around. At that section of the burn, I could nip in for a dip (clothes optional ??

The burn was slow, carefree, meandering aimlessly it seemed yet determined to move forwards. It had endless energy. It never stopped, never gave up, just kept going.

As I became Older (OK, Old if you prefer) I have often reflected on those days and my time beside the burn. I’ve often wondered how much of the burn’s characteristics seeped into me over the years.

I do think that a determination to constantly move ahead landed in me.

I also think a modicum of endless energy crept in as well. I can’t sit still - sometimes physically, but certainly mentally - I can’t stop writing, e-mailing, reading, thinking up new ideas (daft or otherwise), whatever. I “fidget” a lot. I call it the “butterfly syndrome” - I flit from one thing to another to another to another. I can’t sit still.

When I get frenzied, I usually replay the “video” of the burn.

It calms me down a wee bit. It got on with the job it had to do but never got uptight or panicky. It reminds me of that well-used phrase - “Always take time to smell the flowers”

These days we all live in a frenetic-paced world. We live as fast as it takes to “thumb-click” the next website or email or text on our mobile phone. We rarely take time to digest, far less understand, the meaning of what we just read or viewed - we’re so obsessed with “what’s next?”

I think I’ll start a Facebook Page called “The Burn”

Normal people who appreciate life and time and patience and above all else common sense can casually and comfortably post nice things to ponder. You could view it when you get stressed out. Maybe a nice wee video, or a piece of calming music or a nice photo of the grandkids. Your own wee secret spot in this mad world of (Un-) Social Media.

You with me?

So, there you are…….another wee tale of my earlier days.

I hope you had your own wee burn when you were growing up and maybe this will jog your memory about how those days really were “the good old days”

Stay well.