Last week Mrs kdan and I were on holiday in Somerset. One morning we climbed Glastonbury Tor, which is a steep hill just outside the town, with a ruined church tower at the top. It is steep and by no means an easy walk.
On the way back down we met Ralph, who told us that he is 93 and has been climbing the Tor three times per week since he turned 90. He looked like it was doing him a lot of good, and he said he believes he's a good example of the way exercise helps to keep you young.
I think Ralph probably gets a lot more than exercise from his climbs. The Tor attracts a lot of visitors, both standard international tourists and New Age 'seekers' for whom Glastonbury is a spiritual or mystical place. Maybe it would be quieter on a Monday morning in January, but when we were there it was very busy. So much of the time Ralph must have lots of people to talk to, including on one occasion he told us about, when he came across a group of women at the foot of the Tor. They were all dressed in identical robes and were performing some kind of ceremony. Ralph said good morning and asked what they were doing.
The women told him that they were the Guardians of the Tor, and that they had come all the way from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Seeing as they were there, would he like to be annointed in sacred oil?
Ralph replied that he would be delighted to be annointed, as long as he was able to keep his clothes on. The ladies assured him that he could, some rose oil was applied to his head, and Ralph continued with his day.
Ralph struck me as one of those older gentlemen you meet who have a definite twinkle in their eye, especially when talking to ladies of a certain age. I also suspect that he is not averse to embellishing a story for comic effect, so perhaps he did make the comment about keeping his clothes on and perhaps he didn't. But either way, he clearly likes people and conversation, even if it's fleeting as he climbs or descends the Tor, and as well as proof of the benefits of physical exercise I think he's also an example of the benefit of maintaining human connection, real, in person connection. I'll remember him for a long time.
Email: kdan01 [at] posteo [dot] net