I have had some concerns about a few issues at the moment, which have been much on my mind for the last few days. I have been working hard to tackle them, but it has taken some time. The situation has been frustrating and a bit disorientating for the people involved. It has been occupying a lot of my time and thoughts, and has weighed me down, to a certain extent. My sense of disorientation has been exacerbated, due to the fact that I have been living in a building site for months, as work is carried out on my house. I have lost my oasis of peace, and I needed to find that place again.
At those kind of times, it would be all too easy to look down, gaze at my navel…. Not literally, but just spending time, pondering what is going on… I do not generally get down, but I have been feeling frustrated and just a bit scared about what the consequences of the situation….
And then, along came Saturday…. It was a beautiful bright clear sunny day here in Essex. An unusual day for February, really. A day, when you want to be out and about, enjoying the sunshine. And instead, I was stuck indoors, trying to finish off some information gathering, which would hopefully help to resolve this issue. I was working at the desk in my bedroom, which looks out through the bay window into the street below, but also gives me a very big view of the sky. It was a big sky today. Do you know what I mean? There were the merest hints of clouds in a beautiful clear blue sky, which was criss-crossed with the vapour trails of jet planes, heading for here, there and everywhere. It was the kind of sky that just made you want to look up, to look out, to be hopeful, expectant…
I carried on working, and hoped that what I had done would help to resolve the situation. It did not, instantly, but we stuck at it, discussed it all, and came down to one final thing to do, which provided the final focus for the last few days of uncertainty. Then, as I sat on the bed, drawing my thoughts together, I heard a noise from the sky, and looking up, I saw several skeins of geese, flying in classic V formation…. It is something I have rarely witnessed in this area…. And again, it made me look up, up to the sky, as I watched them pass overhead.
I looked up on the net to see what kind of birds would be flying overhead with such purpose in the middle of February. And I found that this part of the world has its own population (albeit temporary) of Brent geese, which head for the marshlands to conserve energy during the winter, before heading back to the Arctic tundra of Russia as spring approaches, to breed. They are amazing creatures… They take on a journey of 3000 miles to get here for the winter, then when the weather looks like perking up (as it did today), they start thinking about doing the return journey of 3000 miles, to go back home to breed. They fly in the V formation to conserve energy, taking turns to take the lead, as that is the most exhausting job. Half of the journey is through the skies above the tundra, which is a hostile environment, barren, flat, waterlogged, and even in early June, largely covered by snow and ice. Not all of the birds survive, by any means. Mortality is high on the journey, but it is survival of the fittest and most adaptable, and they pass on that strength and adaptability to their offspring. The Arctic summer lasts two months, but conditions are generally right for breeding…. In a short, frantic nesting season, young birds are aided by an explosion of insect life in the tundra pools and the 24 hours of daylight to make rapid growth. There is a scarcity of human and natural predators, and there is an amazing amount of empty space in which to roam. The kids arrive…Grow a bit…. And then it is chocks away, and off back down south to holiday for the winter again….
I was grateful for that glimpse of nature today. And the information I read, about the geese. It helped me focus, particularly after the last few days….
Life is a journey, and it has its tough sections. Issues to be resolved, episodes which are not enjoyable at the time, but are periods of passage, transition, times of getting from this place to that place. At such times, it is a case of focusing, nose to the grindstone, getting through the tasks we face, sometimes with not a great deal of joy or enjoyment…. And then there are times of recovery, not hibernation as such, but times of refreshment, of gathering energy for further journeys ahead. Those journeys can be hard, and that process can toughen us up. Because the journeys can take us into difficult territory, but that can be where we are most effective. Like those geese, heading for the hostile tundra, in order to breed, because the conditions there are generally right for birth and growth.In the end, I was glad I was doing what I was doing today. Not only because it is now done, and the situation is now resolved, but also because I was in the right place, to look up, see, and understand a little bit more of life’s journeys….
So thanks, Brent Goose…
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