A Tale of Two Kitties

Well, to be honest, it's a tale of more

than two kitties, but I couldn't

resist the title!

Once again, the universe has been amazing me with its expertise and attention to detail when it comes to timing things to perfection, bringing the right people together, slotting all the pieces into place, and generally just churning out coincidence after coincidence, synchronicity after synchronicity, like some cosmic, magical production line.

My first kitty tale is about Tez, who after the death of his older brother, Rez, a couple of years ago, became hubby's and my 'son number one'. He rose to the challenge perfectly, keeping his two younger sisters in order, yet never seeming to mind when they shoved him out of his dish so that they could eat his food. He'd just sit patiently while they quaffed the lot, knowing fine well that me or hubby would fill it up for him once they'd finished...and that he'd be the one to get the tuna treat on top, just for being such a good big brother!

On 19^th February, Tez went out for a stroll in the forest, and he never came back. He was sixteen years old, which is the equivalent of an eighty year old person, and he'd been uncharacteristically poorly just a few weeks before, which had necessitated a full week of trips to the vet. Whilst we tried to stay positive and hopeful, and were out searching for him day after day, both hubby and I knew – within hours of him not returning – that he'd sensed it was his “time” and had taken himself off somewhere peaceful to drift into his forever sleep...as cats are prone to do. I can't even begin to describe how devastated we were, and to be honest, I don't even want to try, I mean we'd had Tez since he was a kitten so we had literally lost a family member, and an absolutely adored one at that. But still, in the midst of all the upset and tears, there was some light; we'd never had to watch Tez suffer in his old age, or be faced with having to make that heartbreaking decision about whether to put him to sleep...no, Tez had spared us (and himself) all of that and had quit peacefully while he was ahead. If that's not a blessing, or a gift, then I don't know what is.

Still, the fact remained...we missed him more than we could ever say. The whole energy of the house changed and we began to realise what “big” energy Tez had. Even his two sisters seemed to notice he'd gone and both seemed glum and sad, so after a few weeks, we began to wonder about getting another boy cat. We both had some reservations – it wasn't like we were looking for a replacement for Tez (nobody could do that anyway) – but there was still a bit of a sense of guilt and disloyalty. Was it the right thing to do? One minute we thought yes, the next, no, so we decided the only sensible thing to do was to hand it over to the universe, or the Tao, to sort it out for us. If a new kitten was meant to come into our lives, then he would be guided to us, or we'd be guided to him. Simple.

So, another couple of weeks passed and we were round at our friends' apartment one Sunday afternoon. For some reason, at about half-past six, I suddenly had the urge to leave. We were having a lovely time, but I just couldn't shake the sense that it was time to go. As we were walking through the grounds on our way back to the car, we spotted two beautiful black cats so, of course, we immediately went over to fuss and play with them. Suddenly, a voice called out, “do you want one?” We hadn't noticed the lady sitting on the wall and I think we both just gawped in answer to her unexpected question. She went on to explain that these two black cats had just had a litter of kittens together – there were five of them, she was keeping two herself, had found a home for two of the others, there was just one left that still needed a home. A boy.

It was one of those moments when you can actually feel fate play its hand, and even before we went to see him, we both knew that this was the kitten for us. Two weeks later, when he was ready to be separated from his mum, we went to pick him up and herein commences kitty tale number two!

We got our tiny little, jet black kitten home and puzzled and pondered. What on earth were we going to call him? I wanted his name to somehow honour Rez and Tez, and my first idea was Artie...which was actually the letters R & T...clever, eh? I can tell you're impressed! But, as we got to know him, it became clear he just wasn't an Artie or an RT, so it was back to the drawing board. Then it struck us that his name should have some connection to Ibiza, since he is a genuine Ibicenco cat, and as soon as that idea hit home, I heard his name in my head. “Bez” I yelled to Mike, who just grinned and said, “yes, of course.” Bez is the Phoenician God of Dance who, according to legend, led all the poisonous animals off Ibiza, and our little kitty definitely suited the name.

It wasn't until later that we realised we had, in fact, honoured his two big brothers with his name...Rez, Tez & Bez! And there's more...I went to google Bez and discovered that it is actually spelt Bes (Bez being the dancer in the Happy Mondays!) Now, rewinding back a few years, we had another gorgeous boy cat who was the twin of Bethany, one of the girls who still lives with us. Bear with me, I promise this is relevant and it will all make sense. This little guy had kidney problems and we had to have him put to sleep at a young age, which was horrendous. His name was Seb – which is Bes backwards. I've been in hysterics about all this – it's absolutely perfect – our new, little kitten is all of his older, departed brothers rolled into one!!

So, now even when little Bez is clambering up the curtains, trying to chew through leads, eating plants, kicking litter all over the kitchen, launching himself up my dressing gown, I am in absolutely no doubt that he is meant to be in our lives. Just as we requested, the universe guided us together in an astounding display of synchronicities. If we hadn't gone to our friends' apartment that Sunday, and left at the exact time we did, we might never have known he existed.

And, yes this might seem like a bit of a self-indulgent blog; here I am raving on about my kitty-cat family, but there is a reason I'm sharing all of this with you. For me, it's all been a powerful reminder that no matter what happens, no matter how sad, upsetting or “bad” things are, there is always a reason – there is a thread running through all our lives, connecting all the events, good and bad (and in fact, connecting all of us, but let's not go there right now!) - it's just that sometimes it takes a while before you see the purpose, the necessity, behind the so-called negative event or loss. But if you trust in the process, even in the darkest of days, if you are willing to let go and just know that you will be guided and that everything will be all right in the end, then it always will be. It always is anyway, there's no other way for things to work out, but you can make the whole thing smoother and easier on yourself and bring the light and positivity back into your life sooner. Keep the faith, trust the universe and trust your intuition. And be grateful...for everything.

Oh, and just one more little point that, again, made us feel that this was absolutely meant to be – Bez was born on 22^nd February, just three days after Tez left.

Fate? I'd say so....wouldn't you?

Visualisation and Quantum Attraction

I suppose as it's been over four months since my last blog, I'd better have something darnned interesting to share with you. Well, as it happens, I jolly well do!

It has been an fascinating four months to put it mildly, filled with lessons and eye-opening experiences...all of them revolving around our house move. People say that moving house is one of the most stressful experiences you can have, but for us, it was pre-moving house that was causing the stress. Let me explain...

We last moved house almost two years ago, and within a very short space of time, it became clear that the house we had thought was ideal for us, was in fact, to put it politely...an absolute dump. That well-respected company “Bodgit & Scarper” had obviously been employed to half-do every job - light-fittings were loose, kitchen cupboard doors were falling off the hinges, the water was brown much of the time and had a worryingly sulphur-like smell, the windows didn't fit properly, the impressive-looking open-fire place did nothing but fill the house with rancid smoke and the telephone line & broadband that the agent assured us had been enjoyed by the last tenant turned out to be unavailable in our particular area. Worse still, our beloved oldest cat, Reznor, was knocked down right outside the house within a month of us moving in. A sign? Definitely, but even though more and more things started conking out in the house as the months passed, and we were dismayed to see the undeniable signs of construction work about to begin in the field right next to our house, we were undeterred. We had a plan.

After struggling along for a full year so as not to default on the one-year contract we had signed, last February, we helped some friends of ours move into their new place. Immediately, hubby and I fell in love with their house...it was well-maintained, nicely-furnished, had a phone line plus broadband and was situated in a beautiful location. We ranted and raved and told our friends over and over how lucky they were to have found such a spot. After just a few weeks, they confessed to us that, whilst they liked their new house, they were planning to go travelling later in the year, probably in November, then to rent somewhere else on the island when they returned. They appreciated that we were keen to move out of our house as soon as ever possible, but if we were willing to hold fire for a few months, would we be interested in taking over their rental contract when they left, which would mean that we would have our dream home on Ibiza, and they would not be reneging on their one-year contract, thus losing their security deposit? Would we? Yes, of course!! It was the perfect solution for all of us.

For the next few months, we tolerated new, noisy neighbours with kids whose toys started to litter the street, and whose dogs chased our cats. We tolerated the fact that our washing machine filled with water when not in use, yet not a drop was to be seen when on a cycle. Even the water tank exploding and turning downstairs into a murky-looking swimming pool didn't bother us that much. We would be handing in our month's notice at the end of October at the latest and we were counting the days.

Then things took a bit of a turn.

October arrived and we kept asking our friends when they wanted to meet up with their landlord to make sure it was all right with him for us to move in. Intuition started to whisper that something was wrong, along with common sense when they clearly avoided the subject over and over. Eventually, two weeks before we were due to hand in our notice, they dropped the bombshell that their plans had changed...they hoped we would understand, but they were no longer going travelling. Really sorry and all that.

I would like to say, at this point, that we took this in our stride; we hugged them, told them it was fine, not to worry, these things happen. I'd like to say that, but it would be a lie. We fumed, we cursed...hey, we're only human, and the fact remained that we could have found somewhere else and been out of the hell-hole we were living in months before. And now we had only two weeks to find a new home and hand in our month's notice so that we didn't have to spend another Christmas in our old place. However, I can say that these negative emotions were short-lived and we soon came to terms with our situation, realising that – as with all things in life – this had to have happened for a reason, and we began to take positive action. I focused on handing this over to the Tao to manifest the next perfect home for us, and hubby trawled the internet, looking for somewhere and just over a week later, we made an appointment to view a property which, to cut a long story short, is where we are now living...and it truly is our perfect home.

So, all's well that ends well...a nice story, but there's more to it than that, and this is the reason I decided to blog about it. Believe it or not, our new home is less than a five minute drive from our friends' house. It's a similar kind of property which has all of the attributes that made their house so appealing to us in the first place, and at the risk of sounding like I'm gloating (Who? Me? Perish the thought!), quite a few more besides.

Funny how things turn out, isn't it? All those months that, in our initial anger and disappointment, we thought we had wasted waiting for our friends to move, had actually been put to the best possible use, as we had been doing nothing less than visualising ourselves living in this beautiful part of northern Ibiza, in a lovely, comfortable home. And because we didn't waste too much time and energy feeling angry, resentful or self-pitying, those visualisations manifested into something way better than we had been expecting.

And just as another nice, little sign to show us we're on track and in the right place...our old house was in a place called Can Guasch in Santa Eulalia. Our new landlady's name is Eulalia Guasch. Oh, Tao, you do crack me up sometimes!!!

Wishing you all the miracles and magic from the Tao that you truly deserve.

Namaste.

:)

Wheelie-Bin Cruelty

It´s an absolutely horrific news story – the one about the woman in the UK who deliberately chucked a cat into a wheelie-bin - and I´m guessing most of you will have read or heard about it by now, but for those of you who haven´t, here´s what happened.

A middle-aged woman is caught on CCTV petting a tabby cat, then glancing around to make sure no-one is watching before grabbing her by the scruff of the neck, dumping her into a wheelie-bin, then walking away. The cat, Lola, was trapped in the bin for almost 16 hours before her owners finally heard her calls for help and it was their own security camera that caught the woman in the act. They posted the clip on Facebook and the woman was subsequently identified and is now under investigation by the RSPCA. Not surprisingly, the story has caused uproar to the degree that the woman has been receiving death threats and had to be put under police protection.

Like most rational, caring human beings, I was shocked and appalled at such a callous act when I read the on-line news report & watched the clip, but it was the deluge of readers´comments that really affected me and got me to thinking. These comments ranged from absolute hatred towards the woman, Mary Bale, to incredulity that there could be such a hoo-haa over “just a cat” when there is so much suffering going on elsewhere in the world. So many different points of view, but the thing they all had in common was a tone of anger, aggression, and an insistence that they were right and anyone else thinking differently was clearly deranged. So, let me ask you...what good has any of this done? Absolutely none...a negative situation has just been made worse by negative energy being directed at it.

Now, I´m not trying to be all holier-than-thou here, and I confess that the first word out of my mouth when I read the story was “bitch” (well, OK then...that was the second, the first began with an f and ended in ing!) and I was upset, angered even by comments such as “so what? The only good animal is one that´s on my plate.” I love all animals and am a vegetarian, so of course, I´m not going to understand that way of thinking. But then I realised what I was doing...beaming out negative energy and thoughts and that, believe me, is the most dangerous thing we can do.

Let´s face it, it´s ignorance that caused Bale to behave the way she did and to then justify it by saying it just seemed like a fun thing to do and she expected the cat would have been able to get herself out, and it´s ignorance that causes certain people to see nothing wrong in such an act. But ignorance, by its very nature, is never going to listen to reason – it´s an ignorant son-of-a-bitch at the end of the day – so us getting all het-up and shouting at these people will only cause them to shout back louder.

I´m not saying that they shouldn´t be held accountable for their actions, or that they shouldn´t be encouraged to live their lives in a less destructive and harmful manner – and if we can play a part in that then all well and good - but me shouting my mouth off in Ibiza, calling them all the names under the sun, is simply not going to serve any positive purpose. And that is what I believe is the most important thing to focus on. Serving a positive purpose.

What I´m suggesting is that living on a planet with almost 7 billion other people, there is always going to be someone doing something that we personally find offensive, evil even. Some of these stories will make the papers and be brought to our attention, but most of them won´t. As spiritual beings of light who genuinely care for our planet, who are concerned only with working for the higher good, it is our responsibility to ensure that our thoughts and actions are always love-based, and that we are contributing and serving as much as we possibly can – that way, maybe the positive can start to outweigh the negative.

We do not need to be dragged down to the level of rottenness displayed by the likes of Mary Bane and her supporters. We do not need to let their clearly joyless and destructive lives affect our own. If, instead of retaliating in anger to such stories, we make it our business to ensure that we do at least one hugely positive act of service, then their negative act is cancelled out.

For my part, I have decided to use this event to catapult me into action. For a while now, I have had the sense that I was guided to do my Reiki attunements in order to heal animals, but never actually acted on it. Well, now I am setting the wheels in motion to offer hands-on healing to animals and pets on the island, and distance healing to those further afield. You see, Mary Bale, you treat one cat with cruelty, and I´ll heal hundreds more! Game, set and match Love & Light!

And I´m convinced that the more of us doing this - focusing on positivity - the more powerful it will become. Love is the highest energy there is and the more we concentrate our energies on that, the bigger the difference we can make.

Anyone with me??

:)

A Day with a Shaman

And I don´t know what the future is holding in store
I don´t know where I´m going, I´m not sure where I´ve been
There´s a spirit that guides me, a light that shines for me
My life is worth the living, I don´t need to see the end

Sweet, sweet surrender, live live without a care
Like a fish in the water, like a bird in the air
Sweet, sweet surrender, live, live without a care
Like a fish in the water, like a bird in the air.

“Sweet Surrender” by John Denver


OK, let me be honest here...the last thing I expected to encounter during a workshop with a Shaman was a tribute to the late John Denver. That said, there was very little about the magical day and the amazing Lilo Ccoyllor (Morningstar) that I could possibly ever have envisioned. This was truly a life-changing day for me, and I dare say, for all the other fifteen participants of the workshop which was organised by Toby and Belinda of Ibiza Reiki, and held in the breathtakingly beautiful Buddha Land, high on a hill near San Miguel in the north of Ibiza.

Originally from Switzerland, Lilo´s Shamanic path started in California, where she lived for twenty years while she was married. She had had visions of Peru since the seventies and in 1998, after her divorce, she took the plunge, sold up everything and moved there, giving birth to the Casa de la Serenidad (House of Serenity), a Spiritual and Shamanic Retreat in Cusco, Peru. She is an Eclectic healer, Shaman, Lightworker and Visionary, whose main intention is to open her heart to the higher levels of consciousness of love and light, and to encourage others to do the same.

The day started with a Shamanic Cleansing. Lilo poured Agua de Florida into each of our hands which has wonderful cleansing and grounding properties and smells lemony-fresh and divine! This was used to cleanse ourselves and our auras, then we offered it to the Earth by putting our hands on the ground for a few minutes. Smoke sticks were burning in a bowl as Lilo then came around each of us, as we stood in a circle, with a feather and rattle, whispering uplifting and loving words to us. This, believe me, is a great way to start any day, and perhaps it would be a good idea for us to write to our local M.P.s and suggest it as part of the national school curriculum!

One of the highlights of the day, for me, was the group meditation we did just before breaking for lunch. In it, Lilo took us on a journey to the centre of the Earth, spreading healing and love and light as we went. Mother Earth then offered us a gift, and we gave her one back – I intuitively felt I was given a feather which, yes, of course may well have “just” been my imagination. But later in the day, when we had a Power Animal card reading, I selected The Raven, and Lilo immediately told me to be on the look-out for a raven feather which would serve me well, especially when doing my distance healing. Coincidence? Hmmm...some may say, but the warm, tingly glow I felt suggested otherwise to me.

There is much talk these days, as I´m sure everybody is aware, about 2012 and what will happen when we arrive at what the Mayans called the End of the Fifth Age of the Sun in December of that year. Theories abound from convictions that it means the end of the world, to convictions that it means nothing at all. Lilo spoke, in the most gentle and down-to-earth manner about this, and about where mankind currently stands in the evolutionary/ascension process.

The collective consciousness is shifting and we are at the threshold of an evolutionary quantum leap in human consciousness. As Planet Earth is ascending and vibrating at a higher level, it is now important that we work on our own electromagnetic fields. All issues (personal and of all humanity) are now showing up more than ever, causing confusion and chaos, especially in the big cities and this is happening because we are getting higher in the ascension process and the old stuff (in other words, anything not of the light) has to go. The Ascended Masters, also known as the Brotherhood of Light – which includes Jesus Christ and Mother Mary – are very much involved in this process – as are the Intergalactic Federation of Light who, like the Ascended Masters are...well, you know...ascended beings, but unlike the Ascended Masters, they have never actually incarnated on Earth before. They are channelling messages through people, and providing us with new tools to assist and speed up the process. For instance, a new chakra has been activated between the heart and the thymus to bring together heart and mind energy – heart energy being the most important energy of all – and to connect us to the fifth dimensional new earth. Another example is the Pyramid of Light, written about by Nestor Caceres in his new book “Encounter with the Science of Light”. This pyramid, when you stand astride it for a few minutes, provides an intense cleansing and clearing, very much needed for the transmission.

All right, let´s just take a breath here, shall we? Intergalactic Federation of what? Fifth dimensional thingumibob? Ascended Masters? Does this sound like a load of tree-hugging hippy nonsense? Well, that would certainly be the easy answer. But I think that any reasonable, intelligent, open-minded person readily accepts that there are things we don´t understand, things we have no grasp of due to our conditioning, and that just because we can´t see something, or “prove” something, doesn´t mean that it´s not there or that it´s not real. Sitting as I was that day, surrounded by a group of people, all totally different and unique, but all with one thing in common – the desire to make a positive difference to the world – and talking and listening to a fascinating Shaman, it was easy to understand and feel the truth and “realness” of everything she said. But, whether Intergalactic Federations and activations of new chakras resonates with you or not, the core of Lilo´s message, her gift to humanity, stands strong and is comfortingly straightforward and simple.

In a nutshell, it´s all about love, baby!

Love for yourself – warts and all. We should all love ourselves exactly as we are RIGHT NOW, no conditions. There´s no point in saying we will love ourselves when we lose weight, find the perfect job, meet Mr/Ms Right. It is only through embracing our “shadow” side that positive change can be brought into being. As John Bradshaw, motivational speaker and author, says “love is not a train station you are going to arrive at some day.”

Love for Pacha Mama (Mother Earth). It is important for us to now consciously show the planet love, respect and gratitude, to honour her, to realise our connection to her and to experience the undeniable interconnection between all living things.

Surrender. Surrender to love – to giving and to receiving love. Surrender to the mystery. And John Denver obviously knew a thing or two about this! This is a time when truthfulness is all important; we must stand in our own truth and realise that we cannot please everybody all of the time and that sometimes it is necessary to close the door. But as long as our hearts are open, we can do this more comfortably and with...yes, you guessed it... love.

Which, if you ask me, is a sound, common-sense approach to life – and I´m sure even the most hard-nosed sceptic would be hard-pressed to argue.

And that just leaves me with one more thing to share before I sign off – a lovely light affirmation from Lilo which you might like.

I think light
I breathe light
I feel light
I am light
Let light shine through me.


With love & light.
Namaste :)

(p.s. You might want to check out these sites)

http://www.shamanspirit.net/

http://www.ibizareiki.com/

The Time to Be Happy...

During my recent trip back to the UK, I called in to visit my “Auntie” Sylvia. Auntie Sylvia is one of those wonderfully special aunties who, along with her two sisters – Auntie Margery and Auntie Rita (both sadly...for us left behind at least...now in spirit) – are not actually relatives; I´ve just always called them, and looked on them, as my aunties.

Like many elderly people´s houses, I found Auntie Sylvia´s home hadn´t changed a bit in the four years since I had last seen it. All the little nick-nacks and ornaments that had fascinated me as a child were still displayed in exactly the same spots; the two-foot-tall, home-knitted stuffed cats that had been used as doorstops for as long as I could remember, still stood sentry next to the threshold, and the powdered milk was still kept in the same floral container on the dining table next to the portable television. It all looked and smelled so comfortingly familiar!

But the thing that really drew my attention was the delicate china plate displayed, as it has always been, on the wall next to the window. It´s a Holly Hobbie plate – remember Holly Hobbie in her prairie-style, patchwork dress and massive, floppy bonnet? Well, there she is on this plate, holding a bunch of flowers, and around the edge of the plate are the words - “the time to be happy is now.”

I´ve bleated on in this blog about the universe being in constant communication with us, sending us messages and signs all day long, more often than I care to admit, and for me, this really was the perfect example. This lovely little plate that has been a regular fixture and fitting in my life for so many years had always held this message for me...and for everybody else who saw it. And yet, although on some level, I must have known what the words said, they had never lodged consciously. Had somebody asked me “what´s the saying on that Holly Hobbie plate?” I would have been hard-pressed to remember, I´m sure.

So, it´s taken the best part of 40 years, but finally I got the message, and am very grateful for it too. It´s such a simple, positive and uplifting message...and so true. The time to be happy is now. Of course it is...but we have to choose to let it be.

The message has somehow stuck with me and seemed to be prompting me give some thought to it, and to the whole concept of happiness. What is it exactly? I mean, I could rattle off a list of things that make me happy – living on a beautiful Mediterranean island, going out for a lovely meal with my husband, picking my parents up at the airport when I haven´t seen them for a few months, my cats, Reiki, writing, Tai Chi, Yoga, giving some-one a gift they absolutely love, walking on the beach – the list is endless and whilst some of the things that make me personally happy wouldn´t particularly make another person happy, they would doubtless still nod in approval and understanding were they to read my “things that make me happy” list. We all have “nice” things that we do, or “nice” things that happen to us to make us happy. And that´s good, I´m not saying that it´s not, but happiness itself is something quite different to the things that happen to us, or the people that make us happy.

It´s all too easy to become attached to these things and people – we tell ourselves the story that in order to be happy, these are the things that we need. But when we really break it down, it´s not the things, activities or people themselves that are the happiness. Happiness is the sense of gratitude, excitement, fulfilment, inspiration, wonder, trust and relaxation that these things and people generate within us. If we can learn to connect these very sentiments to every single aspect of our lives – the seemingly “bad” things as well as the “good” - then we are in a better position to find true happiness.

Going with the flow, allowing change to happen in our lives, and accepting that everything is working out for our greater good, no matter how it appears at the time, is the key to allowing ourselves to feel happiness at any given moment...including now.

Give it a go, next time something happens that you view as “bad” - be grateful for it, for the opportunity to learn and grow, feel excited and inspired, trust that it is perfect for you right now. And then you´ll see, the time to be happy really is now. No matter what.

After all, would Holly Hobbie lie to us?

I think not ;)

Passengers

Here on Ibiza, there is no such thing as a bus queue. People just kind of mill around, somewhere close to the bus-stop, wherever they fancy, and when the bus arrives, they get on. And if the person who turned up last gets on first...well, nobody bats an eyelid. So, having my first ever experience of flying Ryan Air last week, was something of a shock to the system.

Now, I´m not having a dig at Ryan Air here – far from it. The plane was comfortable, as far as planes go, the cabin staff were friendly and efficient and the pilots obviously knew what they were doing...well, I lived to tell this tale, didn´t I? But the thing with Ryan Air is that (unless you pay for the privilege), you are not allocated a specific seat number. And the consequences of this, my friends, I was simply not prepared for.

I started off quite well. At Ibiza airport, you are transported from the building to your plane on a bus with just the odd seat, so unless you are very lucky, you are standing, squashed against the other passengers and hanging on to handles on the ceiling or railings round the sides for dear life. I was one of the last ones onto the bus, because I´d been sitting in the airport bar drinking red wine while everyone else had been queuing at the gate, but this worked to my advantage. Last one on the bus, first one off which I was very relieved about – these airport buses are nightmares and I´m sure the pre-requisites of being a driver are the ability to make the short distance from airport to plane as jerky as possible, to brake as hard as possible on stopping, and then to wait as long as possible before opening the doors. And it was at this point...when the doors finally whooshed open...that the fun began.

I hopped off and started making my way towards the plane then suddenly, it was like a stampede. As soon as their feet hit the tarmac, everybody started running. Some to the front door of the plane, some to the back, all shouting at each other to hurry up and barging past everyone else to make it to the steps of the aircraft. The stewardess was standing at the top, looking calm and unflustered, clearly used to two hundred or so people launching themselves at break-neck speed towards her. I would have been terrified if I´d been her. As it was, I was merely bewildered. Did they all know something I didn´t know? What? The first twenty passengers on board get their flight for free? Rows nineteen through to twenty-two are given Indian Head Massages and a foot spa as they travel? Did seat 4c have a briefcase with a million euros stashed underneath it?

No, once I finally boarded, I realised that this was just a regular plane with rows of identical seats. I suppose I was fortunate in that I was travelling alone, so I didn´t have to try and get a party of passengers seats together, and at 5 foot tall, the few seats with extra leg room really held little interest to me, but still, the ferocity and determination of my fellow travellers to be the first on the plane was something to behold.

And do you know what the really strange thing was? Everybody got a seat. Everybody arrived at their destination. Amazing, isn´t it?

But the whole episode got me to thinking how we are all control freaks to some degree. We push and shove and have to have things the way we think they should be when, really, none of it matters. We can journey through life stressing over the little things, or we can flow easily with it, accepting that everything is as it is, and that everything works out perfectly in the end. We are exactly where we are supposed to be and we all get to where we´re going one way or the other.

I´m not sure it would ever use it as its advertising slogan, but for me, it´s true. Ryan Air, the great metaphor for life. Take your seat wherever it happens to be, and enjoy the journey.

That said, next time, I´m definitely flying Jet 2. ;)

What the heck??...

I´m experiencing some strange activity on my blog...or rather, on the comments.

Many of them are coming through as oriental-style characters - check it out on the last entry, Distracted - three of the six comments appear like this!! Weird, eh?

I doubt very much that these responses were sent through in anything other than English, it´s more likely to be some kind of programming error, but I just wanted to write this short blog, firstly, to thank everyone for the comments and to explain that I´m not being ill-mannered or ungrateful in not replying...I´m just at a bit of a loss as to what it all means!!

If you do want to contact me, maybe an email to jinnyibiza@gmail.com might be the easiest - I´m always interested to know what you all think.

Oh...and if anyone has any idea why this is happening, I´d love a heads-up.

Thanks :)

Namaste