Red Carpet Club, Heathrow.
Rising at 06.30, final packing. A straightforward ride to Heathrow.
Terminal Three is teeming moderately. Here in the RCC, a post-mature man on an adjoining table is engaged in the ongoing task of clearing his throat. This involves major coughing, gurgling & attendant plumbing operations every 20-30 seconds. It seems likely, on the limited experience of the past 10 minutes, that his attempt to clear the tubes is futile. Close proximity & intimate involvement with another's bodily process has become part of contemporary travel.
Gurgle gurgle hack cough cough gurgle.
20.45 Hotel Quite Acceptable. Los Angeles.
When we boarded, the man sitting next to me had two champagnes before take-off. When the newspaper trolley came round, he took two newspapers & three magazines. When the nuts & beverage trolley arrived he kept the champagne going, and during the meal, moving to vodka & orange with the cheese & biscuits. He stayed with vodka & orange for the remainder of the 11-hour flight, asking for his last V&O twenty minutes before landing - the flight attendant replied that the cart had closed. He was in constant physical motion for 11 hours, never resting in one position for longer than a minute or two. This was dis-ease of a major degree. Sitting within the field of his energy-presence, his discomfort zone extended itself & embraced me. It was not, for me, a pleasant experience to share his experience of living-inside-himself for an extended period.
This is contemporary travel. A significant proportion of my long-haul flights have me sat next to constant twitchers & Mr. Sniffies, and almost every flight has someone close to me picking their nose while believing themselves to be invisible.
A quiescent body is a considerable achievement. A relaxed, engaged physical presence is a necessary beginning to establishing a discipline. If we can't persuade our body to co-operate & be still, what hope for raging emotions & a racing mind?
A loaned Fernandes guitar was waiting in the hotel, and practising is underway.
"If a quality is present, it is clearly recognisable and may be named."
