A Japanese friend I recently met amid the late-summer amalgam of humid heat, mucky air and urban frenzy suddenly assumed a rather wistful faraway look and expressed the desire to get away from the whole maddening throng and disappear into nature.
Good idea!
Most of us sometimes feel that way, but finding those serene, unsullied havens gets harder and harder. Inevitably they're invaded by the very throngs we're trying to avoid. They become popular, crowded and noxious, and no longer the great little getaways we once enjoyed snuggling into like a pair of well-worn foot-friendly slippers.