Dark light and dark heavy clouds this campervan morning. A grey tinge to the morning light. Two sentinel magpies sit on a chimney pot overlooking the suburban gardens. A crow is calling loud and clear from nearby and is answered in the distance. It’s warmer than it has been for a good few mornings, which was a pleasant surprise as l stepped outside to join the oak once more. The trees hang still, no breeze to speak of. A formation of geese pass overhead, honking their progress across the sky, heading south east by my reckoning. The cloud smothers the sound of faraway commuter busyness, which is no bad thing. My morning crow continues to call and is joined by a few other replies, they appear deep in exchanges from around where I am sitting. I can just make out morning gulls in the distance, over the sound of passing planes above the cloud base. A day of doing little yesterday, was good for the body and good for the soul. A week of drumming ahead so the mind turns to planning and prep as I sit here and try and silence it for a moment. The light slowly changing in front of me. Carrying a few conflicts that need to be resolved and plans for travel to come. I came across a conversation yesterdays around travel with purpose or purposeful travel. Emerson writes :
“ The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going.”
What is the purpose behind your travel, why are you travelling ? Is it to experience, is it to holiday, is it to immerse, is it to isolate, is it to record, is it your work, is it curiosity, is it for health, is it to escape ?. As Alain de Botton says do you leave yourself behind or do you bring yourself with you ?. I have been pondering this drive to travel as it starts to take over me again. Having been back from the summer trek for 5 weeks now and the urge is back. I love Jamie Lyn Beaty’s comment about adventures filling your soul and Thoreau :
“ It’s not what you look at that matters. It’s what you see.”
When I travel I take my camera, my journal, a pile of books and essentially do what I do from home. Only it’s different, it’s vibrant, it’s deeper, it’s more alive, it’s new and it’s me. It’s the same only different. As Crowded House once wrote “ Everywhere you go, you always take the weather with you “. Lovely days people.
“ Once a year, go someplace you’ve never been before.” Dalai Lama.
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