YESTERDAY'S FLIGHT (DIARY NOTES)

(The diary notes of a lonely guy aboard a flight to a workshop).
Today I fly to a city in which I am planning to have my honeymoon vacation in a few weeks. As I was not sure if I would meet anyone I knew who would be attending the same workshop as me, I took along one of those unread EBONY magazines (yes, I read only Ebony, Charisma, Time, Newsweek and Reader’s Digest) to keep my mind busy during the flight. As I perused, my interest was drawn into an American-authored article recounting a holiday trip to Japan. Hence I have just picked up my diary from my hand luggage to write my own fleeting thoughts down:


First, I write about my envy for those sitting around me. They seem like a group of workplace colleagues going for a workshop of their own. With a lot of teases across the aisle and palm-slapping going on, there is evident excitement and familiarity in their converse. For whatever reason, I have never flown in the company of my colleagues, friends or family. I have always had to chat with the passenger sitting by me and those acquaintances have never gone beyond the Airport. This included a Flight Marshall once (when I sat on the front seat). When he found out I am a Nigerian Doctor, he was so excited in telling me how he has been desirous of exporting some chemical products to Nigeria. I never sit on the front row ever since.

What is the medical term for those popping sounds from one’s ears when a flight is in high altitude? Once again I have just had one of those and it has drifted my thoughts to which part of flying people find scary. I usually say a quiet prayer before take-off and then focus my thoughts on the things I would be doing at the other end of the flight. So far, it has been so good. I pray it remains so.

Since I checked in early, I asked for a window seat (those e-tickets do not come with seat numbers). I have always enjoyed the view of the city below. If it is in the day, it looks like a golf course; at night it feels like one is indeed in an orbit within the Milkway, lost in a sea of stars. It is sunny today and that means I don’t get to swirl in cumulus clouds. I am travelling from one coastal city to another and from my window; I see the coastal line all the way. How does the pilot keep the coastal line in view like it is a perfect straight line and we were travelling parallel to it?

My thoughts are interrupted by an almost elderly male steward thrusting a snack box and drink towards me. I caution myself from whatever slighting thoughts I may have towards him. Of course, flight attendants come more as pretty, slim, accented, cat-walking females. I take a sip of water and let my face contort into a grimace at the thought that I am actually writing this down, no thanks to my immediate elder sister. Yes, because I picked up this writing thing from her during High School. Speaking of which today is the birthday of another of my sisters and as much as I wanted to call her earlier, I could not because I was obsessed with making sure all my electrical sockets were switched off, all taps closed and all doors locked before I left for the Airport.

Postscript: Strange enough, after the flight, I got to the waiting lounge of the Airport and the driver of the shuttle taking me to the hotel had a list of names on his raised card board; the first being the name of one of my sisters. What a world!

AND TIME PASSED BY

One of the fall outs of my recent birthday is a renewed consciousness to make my life count. It is as if I am finally feeling not as young as I used to and that the years of innocence are behind me. Much to my startle, the consequences of my priorities seem to have the coldness akin to a teen saying “whatever”! And instead of frightening me, this whole disposition amuses me.


I remember some time ago there was a fellow who was released from jail after a decade or so for a crime he did not commit. In his interview, he expressed his fascination in the ordinary things of today’s life that was not present in his “pre-jail” years. With reference to laptops, he was amazed computers were now so small in size. Then he was thrilled that he could get into the web and interact with folks from his childhood through a certain Facebook! With this new disposition of mine, I am beginning to think that one does not have to be in jail to lose touch with our ever evolving world.

They say there are seasons in life and with age comes responsibility. It’s not so much what one discovers now but what one does with every discovery. Indeed for me, motivational books have long given way to biographies. I know that I still have a penchant for new things. However the tease of the novel is not all there is. I am more consummated with what I call the “compactness of life” now and I just seem to care less with the outcome of whatever else.

It is the damn for whatever else juicy that I miss out on that I find intriguing. Well, maybe because I feel there are only few things that matter in life. I think I have come some way already and the path that I have led is reassuring (talk of the basic principles of life). I am amused at my own confidence.

IT'S AUGUST 9TH

Today, I woke up in the hospital! (OK, I was on call the previous night). I had breakfast at a friend’s. I watched a nice family movie afterwards. I got some 1001 phone calls and messages, including one that referred to me as “little brother”. I am over 30. I made salad for lunch and graciously shared same with my neighbours. I spared some time before super to listen to some good old songs and then prayed. Oh, I took time to reflect on my life too. I have every reason to thank my Creator. Mum told me that it was in the evening on that Thursday, August 9th... my birth day.

Below are shots in front of my house as my neighbour turned (amateur) paparazi before we had the salad.

EINSTEIN, CHURCHILL AND THE QUEEN

Much of my time outside of work is spent at home studying or “just” watching TV. Of the latter, I am often not distracted since I still live alone. Lately, three movies that I have seen on TV have caught my imagination enough that I have decided to write this post. They are movies about the true life characters of Albert Einstein, Winston Church and Queen Elizabeth II.


First is Into the Storm, a biographical account of Winston Churchill’s life and career as British Prime Minister during World War II. In the film, Churchill is in France after the war and reflects through the finest hour of a country despite the blood, toil, tears and sweat that described his reign as Prime minister. His personal struggles are laced with scenes of an almost magical spell with which he inspired a country at war.

Second is Einstein and Eddington, a British drama about Sir Arthur Eddington and Albert Einstein. It tells of the relationship of the two scientists, the frank personality of Einstein along with his quizzical temperament that led to the introduction of his theory of relativity. Einstein’s aloofness towards religion, societal norms and nationalism (which pervaded Europe at the time) is acted out with an almost reckless abandon that it catches the intrigue of the viewer.

While the plot of the above two movies were set in middle of the last century in Europe, The Queen is a cast from the eve of this millennium. The film depicts an account of the immediate event following the death of Princess Diana of Wales; portraying the differing views on how the death would be handled. While the Royal Family sees her death as a private affair which is not to be treated as an official royal death, the newly-elected Prime Minister Tony Blair is aligned to the public wish for an official expression of grief. Matters are further complicated by the media. The Queen is left to manage the mixed feelings at expressing genuine humanness at the death of the woman who bore her heir while she tries to stay unattached at what she sees as an apparent betrayal of the royal institution by her former daughter-in-law.

For me, these films tell of the personal struggles in high places. I am reminded that the rich and famous are flesh and blood too, that greatness does not infer perfection.

 
EXTRA THOTS
Did you know that in August 2010, there are 5 Sundays, 5 Mondays and 5 Tuesdays! This happens only once every 800 years! (culled)