Our strange, dislocated summer goes on: kind of homeless and
yet not, everything up in the air and unsettled, and although sailing through
the French countryside is one of the most profoundly relaxing, inspiring and
spiritual things I know, it does have its moments. You can be catapulted from a
state of contemplative bliss into one of impending catastrophe in a single
heartbeat: you’ve hit a rock (or a submerged
car), there's a fire in the galley or your rope has got caught in a down
lock and you are hanging off the side of the wall.
All in all, it can have the effect of taking you right out
of your comfort zone, a perplexing and challenging place to be. France feels more foreign than usual, and our
passage through it in the white heat of this dry summer surreal and more
intriguing.
So although it doesn't always feel exactly comfortable, as a
writer, I am convinced that it’s A Very Good Thing. Playing safe is not a creative state to be
in, but if you put yourself at the edge of what feels secure, bizarre and
interesting things may start to happen, or perhaps it is that you start looking
at your ordinary life in a more bizarre and interesting way…
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