All In Good Time

To blippers short of time, this clock at Waterloo station represents time ticking by in all of our lives. Nowhere is it more poignant I think than in a station full of people rushing about.
The rest of this blip is ramblings to myself you can ignore :-)

I had an MRI scan of my lower back this afternoon, in Waterloo, to assertain the cause of the pain and pins & needles felt in my right leg. As I disappeared into the tunnel machine I closed my eyes and resolved to daydream. Perhaps to combat the heat, I felt a fairly strong fan blow a breeze over me and the first thing I thought of was jumping out of a plane and free falling. I was soaring in the sky like an Eagle, flight smooth and effortless. Laughing. In my mind's eye I gazed down on some of the many mountain views I've appreciated over the last 10 months and settled on a rock to study a few of them a while longer. What a terrific 10 months it's been.

When I set out on this journey I could barely use a compass but I've always loved mountains and I resolved to undertake some mountain training, firstly I must confess, so that I could enjoy walking more myself and secondly so I could pass on my enthusiasm and passion to Scouts & Guides. Today, I have a pretty good looking log book of experience, I've absolutely loved gaining it, and I'm not that far off my first assessment: Level 2 Girguiding Walking Scheme. There's also Terrain 1&2 Scouting Assessments to get through and then, Mountain Leader (and...and) And therein lies my problem in life. I want it all done yesterday. I am so impatient. Worse, I'm impatient with everyone else too, not just myself! Sometimes I feel like time is strangling me, or, as in a Kuhn painting I love, that I am carrying a huge long case clock on my back! I feel I have to get everything done quickly because there's too much too do and I can't possibly get it all done 'in time'. I am the Mad Hatter at Alice's tea party. 'No time to say hello, goodbye, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!'

On this journey I've realised it's important to stop and reassess the situation, (dynamic risk assessment lol), to rest & to refuel before continuing. So, where am I now? Lol I'm stopped at a station I believe; one with a huge clock ticking and lots of people rushing through it, whilst I wait for my train back to the mountains. I know where I want to go and as soon as it comes I'm going to jump on it. But I know it's not going to be an express train, it's going to be a slow service and I just have to accept that. Honestly, yes, I'd still rather be there yesterday, but I've realised I'm stuck on a stopping train so I might as well make the most of the journey and enjoy every stop, every day.

Today I had a back scan and yes, I enjoyed it. Soaring over the mountains I've visited this last ten months made me smile from ear to ear :-)