This started out as a blog post about my last day in Paris, when I found a cycle trial  of 39 k called “Marne river meander,” that started at Pont deTolbiac and went all the way to the Marne river,  I stopped at a little town called Saint-Maur -des-Fosses. had lunch and came back to Paris because the gears on the bike were a bit clunky and I didn’t want to get stranded.

As often happens the blog post has morphed into an entirely different subject,  that of obsession. For  while I was in Paris and since I have come home, I realise have changed from a person who just used my bike for transport to somebody who is totally obsessed with biking!

I am a very obsessive person.  Some obsessions have been destructive, when they cost you money you haven’t got, health, relationships and pain.  Like alcohol,  smoking, running marathons, (messed up my knees!)  bad boyfriends and slimming.  Whenever I joined a slimming club or went on a “diet” I became so obsessed with food. I always gained weight afterwards!.

Some times being obsessive can be positive , like loving my job,  studying a subject at school, studying music or a language  to the point where one becomes an “expert” on the given obsession .  I often wonder how many TA regulars are obsessives like me.  Maybe we all are, that is why I have made so many friends vis this social network..

I realise that my obsessions are often an escape from the realities of life, but this also can be a positive coping mechanism.  When my mum died in 2003, I became obsessed with my garden and created a wonderful oasis.  It helped to channel my grief in a creative way and is a tribute to her.

 My dear husband and daughter ( my son is an obsessive like me)  have patiently put up with my various “interests” over the years which tend to last two or three years then fizzle out. Amongst other things, I have travelled all over, tracing my family tree back to 1565.  Redecorated the entire house, kept us supplied with vegetables from my plot and investigated various philosophies of life!

Paris and cycling have been two lasting obsessions, and by that I mean they are the first thing I think about when I wake up and are usually in my thoughts all day. But after biking all day  Monday in Paris and also leaving the washing and housework and biking all day yesterday around Bolton, I felt a twinge in my knee this morning and thought I had better take it easy, I might injure myself.

But there was a voice in my head saying “nah! go on go biking today again, you won’t do any harm!”


and isn’t this blog just a bit obsessive? I am thinking in blog terms all the time!


Denise
love from Bolton