My position as I write Holidays are childish things - you spend all of your time and money making them the best you can, then they run away from you like a dream lottery ticket. It seems only yesterday that I arrived here with Claire to visit Rel in Kenya, but tomorrow is my last day... see what I mean?
A catalogue of, to me, exciting things to report - I've swum with dolphins in the wild, swum over several coral reefs (and my legs have been eaten by the sun for doing so), been stung by a tropical jelly fish and so far lived to tell the tale (and no, I didn't wee on it - I'm English), had giraffes feeding from my hand, held a python, seen a baby hippo that has formed a relationship with a 130-year-old giant tortoise (I kid you not), realised by text message how most of my friends and surprising other people watch CBBC on a sunday morning (with me on it), and been on countless 'chav safaris' from the comfort of my own hotel.
It has also been fabulous catching up with Rel and learning all about her month or so in Nairobi, as well us enjoying her entirely uncompromising humour, generosity, friendship, and fabulousness once more! One of very few people I've ever met like this.
Holidays may be childish, but they are amazing; they can and have made me feel like a child. I have been on two amazing holidays lately, and both have freed my mind in a brilliant way. They have reminded me that I need to find time to relax within my relatively hectic day-to-day life. These recent ones have also taught me the value of doing different things with different people. I was inspired in Scotland by the scenery and by Hengar and Ben, by their different skills, by their diversity from me, their creative gifts, their beauty as people, and the way some tension I felt at the time allowed my mind to see clearly in its relaxed state. In Nairobi I have been inspired by Rel in her work and in her courage, by Claire in her success at becoming a solicitor and remaining a thoroughly super person. Obviously the two diverse places are inspiring in their own right.
Perhaps the life I lead and the places I lead it are inspiring to others - I'm never happy with things I do and places I go as a matter of course - but just maybe, like the emotional vampire I have talked of before, I am feeding off other peoples' lives in awe, for my own inspiration? It teaches me that I need to find a creative diversity through my life to relax, feel happy, and feel inspired.
Of couse hills are always greener on the other side - an overused contemporary proverb. But in my life, when I'm thinking clearly, half the fun is getting to the top of the hill to see that, just so you can go back the way you came, and have an ice-cream and a pint at the bar, and talk with what you love and what you know.
JL
A catalogue of, to me, exciting things to report - I've swum with dolphins in the wild, swum over several coral reefs (and my legs have been eaten by the sun for doing so), been stung by a tropical jelly fish and so far lived to tell the tale (and no, I didn't wee on it - I'm English), had giraffes feeding from my hand, held a python, seen a baby hippo that has formed a relationship with a 130-year-old giant tortoise (I kid you not), realised by text message how most of my friends and surprising other people watch CBBC on a sunday morning (with me on it), and been on countless 'chav safaris' from the comfort of my own hotel.
It has also been fabulous catching up with Rel and learning all about her month or so in Nairobi, as well us enjoying her entirely uncompromising humour, generosity, friendship, and fabulousness once more! One of very few people I've ever met like this.
Holidays may be childish, but they are amazing; they can and have made me feel like a child. I have been on two amazing holidays lately, and both have freed my mind in a brilliant way. They have reminded me that I need to find time to relax within my relatively hectic day-to-day life. These recent ones have also taught me the value of doing different things with different people. I was inspired in Scotland by the scenery and by Hengar and Ben, by their different skills, by their diversity from me, their creative gifts, their beauty as people, and the way some tension I felt at the time allowed my mind to see clearly in its relaxed state. In Nairobi I have been inspired by Rel in her work and in her courage, by Claire in her success at becoming a solicitor and remaining a thoroughly super person. Obviously the two diverse places are inspiring in their own right.
Perhaps the life I lead and the places I lead it are inspiring to others - I'm never happy with things I do and places I go as a matter of course - but just maybe, like the emotional vampire I have talked of before, I am feeding off other peoples' lives in awe, for my own inspiration? It teaches me that I need to find a creative diversity through my life to relax, feel happy, and feel inspired.
Of couse hills are always greener on the other side - an overused contemporary proverb. But in my life, when I'm thinking clearly, half the fun is getting to the top of the hill to see that, just so you can go back the way you came, and have an ice-cream and a pint at the bar, and talk with what you love and what you know.
JL
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