Friday 26 June 2015

Weekend

A positively normal Friday. Work finished, driving home in rush hour traffic, and whole weekend off ahead of me. The past weeks have been busy, but pleasant. Winmarleigh Hall has been full of excited, post-sats year 6s, for several weeks, but from next week it's NCS (National Citizenship Service) time. That means day walks, camping and trying to develop leadership skills in 16 year olds. There's always a new challenge.

Sunday 21 June 2015

Rising Higher

Inspired by the poem High Flight by Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee

The earth does not look the same from above, did you know? On the ground you are trapped with a singular view of your surroundings, while the heavens are an open expanse, stretching from horizon to horizon. But when you're up there both air and land are laid out, reaching as far as your eyes can see.
     To be 'free as a bird' is right, for until you have risen from the dark and bitter soil you have not experienced the release as everything is left behind, and then you can truly cut loose; twist and shake, as on a Friday night when the music plays and your feet never seem to touch the floor, and everyone is smiling enough to make the very room sparkle.
     As the ground disappears beneath, so the sky distorts. Clouds shift and envelop and then release you to the clear, bright emptiness above which seems to be full of light and joy and where thrills are common place. Can you imagine? But how could you when it is I that have experienced these things. Spun through the magical heights, chasing the sun though incredible airways and down invisible paths. And while the noise around is deafening, all is quiet.
     Sometimes it seems as though I hardly move at all, while at others I race faster than anything known to man, except the wind as it roars past and around me. So I dive and fall but never seem to descend through these vast arenas. Then up again and all is azure and turquoise. Still I climb and even as I peak there is elegance and simplicity that even the birds have barely discovered. You will have seen them dance the skies, but me you will not have seen as I set myself higher than any other in such a sacred place. And there, stretched to the ultimate point, met with the King of the Universe.

Monday 15 June 2015

Experience

To be experienced is a good thing, it helps you develop and learn, and enables you to help others do the same. All life is experiences. A succession of them. Some good, some not so, but all helpful if you learn from them. Some will teach you how to do things, or how not to. Some will teach you about other people. A lot will teach you about yourself - what you like and what you don't, what you're good at and what you're not, what you understand and what goes straight over your head. A few may give you faith and others may test that faith, but with each passing one you will become more experienced.