People often ask me, “What have you learned from being on this quest?” Sometimes I can answer that in stirring detail but also sometimes it all eludes me. This is one of those times. All I know is my knees hurt! I’m gonna ice ’em in a minute — that always does the trick.
I mention this because what I learned today is that it’s really time to quit talking about getting an e-bike and actually get one. But even then, I don’t know about riding a bike to the courts. For one thing, I’ve now played on every single one of them that’s within a five-mile radius of my house.
I have also, having played Ashwood Park, played every single public tennis facility in Inglewood. Ashwood Park is a little strip of two tennis courts, a basketball court, and some greenery abutting a wall on the other side of which is the 405. LAX is about two miles away so the jets come in low and lower. It’s an oddly peaceful place to hang out, sort of hiding in plain sight. If you don’t mind freeway rumble and jet roar, it’s pretty tranquil.
Getting back to that peaceful place in my mind helps me realize that two weeks ago I finished off Monterrey Park. I was done with West LA months ago. It’s happening — it’s really happening!
So yeah I’m proud. Some of the learning is starting to come back to me as I cheer up just by writing this. Today’s outing confirmed that at this stage, I can either go for a bike ride or play tennis, but not both. The ride down to Inglewood really sapped my will to bend my knees, which you gotta do if you want your shots to go in. Which I do, I really do, but they didn’t, not today.
Oh well. The guy I played with was quite affable. He said he’d be glad to go play more courts with me down in the South Bay, where I really need to play more, so that’s a win. We also had some good side-of-court conversations about Chicago sports teams. He was wearing a big Bears t-shirt, which cheered me up because I thought I was the only person who wore other-sport gear while playing tennis. A lot of the harder core tennis players really frown on that. But then, they frown on a lot of stuff. Being hard core can also make you uptight.
The learning is really coming back to me now. One of the best things I learned recently came from this German guy I was playing doubles with at the Riverside Courts near Griffith Park. This was last week. He was big and jovial — and a session mandolinist! That’s right. He plays tennis in the mornings and in the afternoons goes and plays mando and violin at recording sessions. What a life! Anyway, this guy told me two things, in German, and I love them both.
First, when we just started playing, he said, “We’re gonna show them where we hang the hammer!” This sounded not just German but Viking to me. It so happens I played tennis with another very affable German guy over the weekend. I was telling him about hanging the hammer and he kindly translated it for me thusly:
Wir zeigen ihnen, wo wir den Hammer aufhängen
There it is! I just feel so enhanced to know this phrase exists. It makes me feel connected to legend. The other one does not have mythic glow so much as practical wisdom: “First it tightens, then it breaks.” I’m just gonna auto-translate that for you right now
Zuerst zieht es sich zusammen, dann bricht es
Yup, that sounds about right. Can you imagine a life where you’re just out playing tennis with folks and you make a new friend who right away drops these gems of German folk wisdom? What a life. I’m grateful to be leading it.
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