Home on wheels is our fully packed bicycles. Pedalling forward, into an unknown future, we are ready for all that lies ahead.

On the bicycles, the world expands and contracts in mysterious ways. Everyday trivialities melt away to the rhythm of the road, while possibilities seem endless. Each day is lived on the periphery of certainty, aware only of a vague direction, following our front wheels forward.

Life is full of small pleasures: multicoloured wildflowers, wild sage and blue cornflowers, with pink clover, cow-parsley, white marguerite and yellow daisies, creating a moving colour palate as we cruise unhurriedly along the canals and rivers intro the ancient Roman City of Nevers on the Loire river in central France.

Along with nature’s garden, I marvel at the home gardens seen in villages and towns. Craning my neck over stone fences to sneak a peak. Gardeners are optimists. It’s said that to plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow.

As an avid gardener, I know that scratching the earth, getting your hands in the soil and in contact with a specific soil bacteria called Mycobacterium Vaccae, triggers the release of serotonin in our brain. Serotonin is a natural anti-depressant and also strengthens the immune system. It is the lack of serotonin in the brain that causes depression. I wonder how my patch of kipfler potatoes are doing in my community garden plot back home

People are proud of their gardens, an older man caught me spying on his. I say “Bonjour monsieur, tres bon jardin”. In defence, he shows me around and while lost in language we are united in the garden, gesturing in appreciation. His eyes moistened as he explained that the tomatoes he was growing were grown from seeds originally given to him by his Grandfather.

This reminded me that the sweetest figs I ever had were grown in Footscray from a cutting brought out by Italian migrants to Australia in the 1950s.

It rains often and is flooding in parts. Some say it’s the worst summer in years. diversions are in place everywhere but it’s all good in the Garden.