Bike wanderer dies4/18/2023 ![]() And when I tell him I feel I have got to know Kadian, he says: "That is a beautiful thing for me to hear." He talks about how he continues to feel his presence and the surprise of this: "He is here but not here – that feeling was new to me." Like many teenagers, he was besotted with Apple products and, astonishingly, after his death, Apple was persuaded to upload his reviews as podcasts on the iTunes store – as a memorial. His first word, he ends by saying, was Mumma. From a charming list of 25 "random" things about himself that Kadian compiled on Facebook, we learn he was "addicted" to his dog, a baker of cakes, an Obama supporter, a piano player, a Python enthusiast. His hope is that the book be a portrait of his son. For Kadian? He occasionally talks as if it were: "Have I let him down?" Or is the book for an unknown audience? And, if so, what is it he wants us to find? Does he mind the thought that there will be readers who feel better about their relatively trivial troubles in the light – or darkness – of his own? Was it for himself? No: he insists it was "not cathartic" to write. The question I want answered is: who is the book for? He looks at me: "I don't know," he says. I am aware of a struggle between Thomas's innate warmth and grief's unrelaxing grip. He wears his heart on his sleeve or, more precisely, his cuff – a rubber wristband with his son's name on it (there is a website, dedicated to him and a collaboration with a charity, Sustrans, dedicated to improving cycling safety). Thomas is an articulate 45-year-old – vividly present but not oppressively correct. I have to confess to Thomas that Kadian Journal made me feel, alongside the empathy and heightened sense of life's fragility – and I'm hoping this is not a shabby reflex – overwhelming gratitude at not having been dealt such a cruel hand. There is a secure look in the eyes that smile from the dust-jacket photograph. Kadian emerges as someone who spent his life inspiring the opposite of grief: super-smart, compassionate, with an ace sense of humour. It was in this garden that he and his cousin built a treehouse in the last weeks of his life. It is a stone's throw from Bedales, where he went to school. ![]() The family moved here in April 2012, two-and-a-half months before Kadian's death. We are in Steep, Hampshire, where the countryside lives up – and down – to the village's name. It is a sultry June afternoon and we sit in a garden under a scarlet sunshade. It makes one understand how it was for a father to lose a boy unique in his eyes and loved by everyone who knew him: Kadian. But Harding's remarkable memoir is written with transparent emotional intelligence. And you might assume that any book describing what happened and the unprocessable grief that followed would be unreadable. It is the sort of story that, if you were lucky enough not to have been involved, you hope to acknowledge at agonised speed and move on. His son was killed instantly, dying of brain trauma. He saw the flash of the white van, registering helplessly only that it was "in the wrong place". Thomas, who was cycling behind him, watched his son hurtling downhill, at unaccountable speed, towards the A4. They were on an off-road path, they'd taken a wrong turn. He'd been cycling with his father, his aunt, his cousin and some friends on the Wiltshire Downs on a bicycle that (although it had just been at a bike shop to be mended) had faulty brakes. He died on 25 July 2012 on an idyllic summer day. It seems incomprehensible, says Thomas Harding, halfway through the afternoon we spend together, that the dog is alive and the boy who loved him so much, his 14-year-old owner, has gone. ![]() Please clean the area you are going to place your sticker prior to sticking.I am greeted at the garden gate by a grey–and–black german shepherd, Duke, who barks half-heartedly at me. Removable, waterproof, weatherproof vinyl die-cut stickers 100% satisfaction guaranteed, if you are not happy with your stickers, please reach out and we will make it right! We feature a special vinyl laminate that protects from exposure to outside elements such as wind, rain, ice, sunlight and more! ![]() Our stickers are manufactured and printed in the USA to be 100% waterproof and weatherproof. Our stickers are individually die-cut and made to last against scratches and tears between 2 - 4 years. These stickers are perfect for water-bottles, hydroflasks, laptops, tablets, iPads, tumblers, journals and notebooks. This sticker is printed in beautiful, vibrant colors on vinyl sticker paper. Wanderer Sticker, Wanderlust Decal, Mountain Sticker ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |