Old soul, new challenge

It struck me while weeding my drive - I have long felt that I am living a successive incarnation on this planet, but for the first time, the planet faces existential threat. Well - not quite, it has faced it since 1945. But the Bomb is in the hands of a tiny number of powerful men. The control of the climate crisis are in the hands of about two billion consumers in the rich world.

Weeding my drive... Why am I doing this? Having spent good money building a gravel drive from the road to the house, I can see that weeds - rank grass, thistles, nettles and indeed actual trees - are taking over. As long as they're not too long, I reason. My neighbour suggested some carcinogenic brand of weedkiller - no way. I'll remove the longer ones by hand, along with their roots, and toss them over the fence into the forest next door, where they might have a chance to re-establish themselves.

Insects - this year, there has been no plague of Culex pipiens (Polish - komar, English - midge, gnat or mosquito - because of the ambiguity, I stick to the Latin binomial), nor of ticks. I discovered a colony of large red-bodied fire ants in the front garden, but persuaded them to move on using nothing more deadly than old coffee grounds from the cafetiere. Couple of flies in the kitchen, one spider in the bathroom - I can cope with these housemates - they don't bother me. Live and let live.

Scything the lawn around the house is a regular activity, an hour or so twice a week at this time of year, good exercise too. No ride-on petrol mower (de rigeur around here) for me. I could afford one but could only justify it were I to deny or ignore climate change. Which I can't.

But I must confess to burning fossil fuel...

The past few days, I've been out riding my motorbikes. The weather is ideal for it - hot and cloudless. Southern Mazovia just snaps me back to an American past life in the 1940s and '50s. The exomnesia moments hit me with a frequency I've never experienced before. PAFF! PAFF! PAFF! several times during a 20km ride. I know which stretches of road have that effect, the time of day that works best - and this is absolutely the right time of year.

Today, I filled up one bike, buying 7.12 litres of petrol, having covered 244.5 kilometres, which is 2.91 litres per 100km, or 97.1 miles per gallon, or 34.4km per litre. Which is not bad - but still I silently ask the planet for forgiveness as I make my purchase of fossil fuel. Note the low mileage. The motorbike is not an alternative to walking; rather it is a means of connecting my consciousness with its past incarnation, which in turn gives me clarity of vision and purpose.

This time last year:
What happened at Monks Wood

This time three years ago:
Loss, faith and consolation

This time five years ago:
Summer's wasting away

This time six years ago:
Warsaw remembers the PASTa building capture

This time seven years ago:
Drought. It was a dry summer.

This time nine years ago:
Warsaw's ski slope at Szczęśliwice

This time ten years ago:
On the road from Dobra, again

This time 11 years ago:
August storm, ul. Targowa

This time 12 years ago:
Warsaw Central's secret underground kebab factory

This time 13 years ago:
Cheap holidays in other people's misery

This time 14 years ago:
Steam welcomes us to Dobra

This time 15 years ago:
New houses appear in the fields by Zgorzała