It is dark now. Not totally dark, though. The porch lights of both my neighbours’ houses from across the street, are on.

The skies are rumbling in the near distance like it is having gastric. Hearing the tarp, tap, tip of raindrops hitting the ground at a constant even pace, like they are keeping time with music. But I don’t hear music. The rumbling sounds of the sky are like sounds from coming from a large circular drum – the drummer using big padded mallets (1) and striking on it in a way to create that rumbling, muffled sound. The sky and raindrops must be the ones “performing a musical number”, It must be a deep jazz number. The drums don’t seem to be in time with the sound of the rain drops falling.

It rained in the late morning to mid – afternoon, too This hampered me from going out for my usual 15,000 steps, over 10km walk until the later part of the afternoon. There was still an overcast sky which kept the high warm temperature at bay. However, I managed a decent 10,000 step count with a fairly average speed of 5.2km/h brisk walk. Was done in an hour 25 min, showered and went for my next appointment on my schedule.

Now, while writing this essay; every few minutes, I get up, walk to the fridge to look for something to munch on. Or even to take a sip of coffee. No snacks. Just sliced watermelon or pears. Though this day has generally been a wet / cool day (or is it a cool / wet day?), I still felt like I needed something cooling. My coffee was kept warm in my Hydraflask tumbler, even though I kept in in the fridge. Taking a break from the screen every few minutes gives me a chance to refresh for the moment, and possibly gather my thoughts. Who knows? It may create different perspectives of the same subject.

If knees could talk, what would they say?

The other day, (yes, that day if you are wondering which day this was); the Batik Influencer, my wife; Jeannie, and I; sauntered into a cafe for a bit of a chill out time. We thought it was going to be just the two of us.

The cafe was quite crowded, did not seem like there was a table for us. Then, I spotted one, one of those cafe, small-size tables, but great for the two of us. The table was a low table, which now reminds me of a couple of holidays I had in Hanoi, Vietnam; a few years ago. Most of the tables and chairs there, were low (closer to the ground). Here at this cafe, the chairs were of normal height.

The table could accommodate an order of a couple of drinks and maybe some pastries to go with them. What it could not accommodate were our knees. Our knees were higher than the table top. This meant that he would have to do a bit of a stretch and bend forward slightly, to reach our food and beverages from the table. It was fine…

Jeannie ordered a latte and I, a lemon/orange drink with ice-cream soda (I think).

Just then, my cousin, Chris, and his friend; showed up. The four of us managed to huddle around this small table. Then, our friend, Jino, walked in the door. Now, there were 5 seated at the table for two.😁

From the table’s point of view, it saw 5 pairs of knees, surrounding and staring at it. The table was not shocked or surprised. It was used to knees staring at it.

As the 5 pairs of  knees looked at the table, they looked at each other, too. If they could talk, what would they say? “Fancy meeting you here”, my knees would have said to Jino’s. Chris’ knees would have said, “We’re quite tired from this morning’s walk exercise Chris put us through”. My knees would have said, “That’s nothing. We have to put up with 10km brisk walks everyday”. Jeannie’s knees would have lamented, “It’s been a long time since we last went dancing. However, we get exercise from Jeannie’s walks in the neighbourhood, where she meets and exchange plants, flowers and food with neighbours”.

Other topics would have included the weather, new places they have visited and the aches & pains they are going through.

Do knees have minds of their own? Do they have dreams and ambitions? If they had minds of their own, would both the knees of each person be in constant agreement as to what they want to do, or where they want to go?

Are there times when our body wants to go in one direction, our knees in the other.

As of now, we have to be happy that our brain is in charge and controls our whole body, including the knees…for most of us at least. There are people who would tell you otherwise, where their knees do as they please. 😂

NOTES:
1. Mallets are sticks that have thick material pieces at the end. This material completely changes how the sticks sound when they strike drums and cymbals. The thicker the material at the end of a mallet, the warmer the sound will be.