Sometimes there is so much going on inside one’s head that it becomes necessary to unclutter it. My favourite method is a trip up a mountain. Scaling a peak is like having a bright idea or inventing a new concept.
I sally forth into the biting cold of early morning. The ice glints in the moonlight; the snow creaks under the crampons. Soon I settle into a steady pace. My thoughts wander. I analyse, catalogue and archive. Then I find my brain abuzz with new projects.
I have conquered the glacier: the boring bit is over. Now I can turn my attention to the more demanding peak. Day dawns. The mountainscape unfolds from the darkness. A few more exertions, and I am standing triumphant with my fellow-mountaineers at the summit. The glorious panorama is compensation for the past painstaking hours.
Back in the valley, my head is now free for new business and raring to go, developing some new idea that sprang to mind during the morning and setting it down on paper.