Day 41 - Running late

I appreciate it might be almost Day 42 for you guys back home. But in my defence I had a long week, followed by a late flight. I got home at 10pm and had to set my alarm for 4:45am so I could get half an hour talking to Katie! She and Nat are so busy (especially at weekends) that if I want to catch Katie then I have limited windows. 

And of course I was greeted by a smiling face right? Was I hell! Little Miss Moody-Ass-11-going-on-13 was in full effect!! A gentle reminder that timing is crucial, young girls don't like to be distracted from Tik-Tok and parenting is a game you can at best draw at for a good 5-6 years in the middle. Hats off to all those that do it, either their own or with back-up.

As I fully intend to do another blog later this evening  think I'll cheat again and delve into my box of previous blogs. I found this one, from almost exactly 6 years ago. It talks a bit about time, but also place. And I think it has some relevance still, particularly with the very nature of this blog being related to relocation/dislocation. Hope you enjoy.

Have you ever noticed how people never seem to be in the "right time" or "right place"? How often do you hear someone say they wish they had lived 200 years ago or 1000 years in the future, or the other side of the world? It is a very odd phenomenon that afflicts a significant number of us. But why do we do this, why do we frequently overlook our current existence and covet a different one in which to live out our lives? 

Personally I know I am just as guilty as others of this. The books and films I enjoy are generally not contemporary and those that are set in the present are often far from here.

Which is odd really because there is no obvious logical reason why this desire/drive exists? Is it perhaps an extension of the "grass is always greener" situation or is it something more basic than that? Are we humans simply that way inclined, always looking to be somewhere (or "somewhen") else?

Or is it that we like to imagine how are lives could be different IF we were somewhere or somewhen else? It could be that we prefer to counter our mundane (as they often seem to us) lives by pretending to be back in a "golden" time period, or off somewhere idyllic, or in the future which we can sub-consciously shape to our own preferences and make it the ideal place to live.

Whatever the reason I sometimes wonder if we are missing out on something by looking so desperately to be anywhere else. All around us there are fantastic experiences to be had, places to see, people to meet. And they are all within touching distance.

We don't need to imagine or dream about being elsewhere, we just need to look more closely around us and see that, actually, you are quite possibly exactly when and where you should be.

Till later, Tom