Pilot having fun or maybe a pilot realising that a packed lunch was left back at The Terminal.

Lovely blue skies from a few weeks back, it’s been definitely not blue skies since then. The fields keep on getting muddier.

Perfect weather to reread Wuthering Heights, no wonder the classic grim tale was set in deepest Yorkshire.

I was chatting with a postman this morning and he talked about a man who lives near a surrounding village. At the start of January, he had moved into an old farmhouse a few miles away from the nearest housing. He told the postman that it had been weeks since he had spoken to anyone. He has no family, he didn’t know anyone in the area and was really suffering from the isolation. He had signed up to a local walking group but the walks have been cancelled due to the state of the paths. He had signed up to the local golf course, but that had been shut for weeks due to flooding. The postman was his only social contact currently. What made it so much worse was that when he went shopping to the local city supermarket, no one would ever make eye contact with him. He described it as being ‘invisible’, like he didn’t ’exist’. The supermarket only has self service checkouts so he couldn’t even chat to someone scanning his shopping.

That got me thinking. How often do I go shopping with my head down, with my walls up.

I strongly suspect that’s happening way more these days, a pandemic certainly hasn’t helped. What is clear, more people are feeling isolated and cut off. More and more people are struggling, feeling unseen.

Tomorrow I’m going to make an effort to keep my head up when I go shopping.

Eye contact, maybe a smile, maybe even saying HI.

13 thoughts on “Sky drawing”

  2. We may never know how much even a smile, or a cheery “Good morning” might mean to someone. Sometimes it even leads to a conversation that might just lift someone’s spirits–even our own! I often find myself chatting with someone in the line at the grocery store, smiling at someone in one of the aisles (and getting a return smile), talking to people as they come into the garage where I am waiting for my car to be fixed. One day I was struggling to get a bag into the grocery cart and the lady behind me asked if I needed help and just picked it up for me. Another day I was struggling with the cart I take my groceries home in. It was unusually overloaded as I have been getting groceries for a neighbour since she broke her neck. Another tenant came and started to wheel the cart into the building up to the elevator, and she had been on her way out. These types of kindness are often a saving grace for those who are alone. I’m glad you have decided to keep your head up next time you shop. You never know what a blessing it may bring to someone else and, in turn, to you.

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  6. Wonderful post. ❤ It’s sad when anyone is too isolated. Sometimes it’s circumstances, sometimes is self isolation. Whatever it may be it’s never a wonderful feeling to be so cut off. You’re so kind to let your walls down to offer some of your warmth.

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  7. This is an important reminder that our presence has a purpose, that our smiles are available for a reason. I have looked up at times to see a smile disappear because I didn’t smile back. That always bothers me when that happens. Thank you for the reminder and the always wonderful photos.

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