Nine Feet Underground

A life can be considered as a multitude of parallel streams, each of which feeds into the main flow of your river of life.  The streams represent paths not taken whenever choices arose. When you choose a path, you exclude another path.  Whichever route you choose, you don't know what would have happened if you'd chosen differently. You do have to believe, assuming you are happy with where you find yourself, that the other path wouldn't have been better. Sometimes a wrong decision can take you down a path you're not enjoying and still lead you back to happiness.  Either way, there will be joy on the path you chose, even amongst the weeds that choke the stream. The song I've chosen, '1000 Years' by The Coral, touches on these themes.

'Aetheris Avidi', which translates as 'Eager for the Air', is the motto of the West London Aero Club based at White Waltham, and today I should be eagerly taking to the air around lunchtime for my first proper flying lesson. Today is thus a day out of the ordinary run of Mondays - no yoga, no early morning walk (planning to do that later) since I think it might be a little anti-social being stuck in an aircraft cockpit with a sweaty bastard. I'm feeling a mixture of excitement and nervousness as I head off for White Waltham, though excitement is the dominant emotion. On arrival, a little early (eager for the air 😉), I park and take a look around the visiting and based aircraft, which are pretty varied, including historic aircraft like Chipmunks and a Nanchang CJ-6 (Chinese-built, in Sri Lankan Air Force markings, photo below) and take a few photos before heading to Operations to check in. I check in at Operations and they tell me to sit in the bar and fill out the ...

My Monday, again.  Not working on Mondays is something I should treasure and make the most of.  Once I restart yoga, some of Mondays will be devoted to that, however I have come to a decision: yoga will not stand in the way of me doing other things with Mondays.  It's very easy for things that you do regularly to become an impediment to doing something else instead. If I am to completely build myself a new life over the coming 12 months or so, I have to cast aside fixed habits, where they can be replaced with something better.  There are other times for yoga during the week. Against the brightness and optimism of a future, there lurks in the background the stygian shadow cast by the ever present black dog. It won't be banished. Not even by the apparent positivity of a planned future. Today, especially on Mondays, it makes its presence felt more strongly, for reasons that are to remain occulted. Some of the possible, though unlikely, futures would resolve this. The da...

Not a great deal to say.  My recovery continues and I'm switching between sitting and lying down and standing to try and ease my discomfort and not spend too much time in one position. I finished reading 'Hot Milk' in the morning and then started making my way through the remainder of the Hawkwind book I've been reading for some time, I expect I'll finish it tomorrow. Only a subset of sons are present for dinner, so we can't progress 'Narcos' and instead watch a couple of old 'WILTY's, before I am off to bed again. The Coral / '1000 Years' / 'Butterfly House' [Seemingly so] [[]]