People Create Their Own Environments

Some notes from the day that I arrive in Thailand :)

I wake up on the plane, somewhere in the ether between time zones.  I hear two people, The Moaning Minnies, their voices carping to each other in the seats in front.

I can never get to sleep on planes, it’s just so uncomfortable, isn’t it?

I stretch, adjust my blanket, take a swig of water.  I notice the guy on my right, one seat between us, who is cozied up in a Parka, black neck rest in place, blankets up to his chin. Fast asleep, just as he was 4 hours before.

And then there’s the time lag.  That’s going to be a nightmare.

Hmm. Well, if that’s what you think, I imagine that’s how it will be.

I get up, go and make my ablutions, do some yoga stretches, settle back down.  I open my Kindle, don headphones and get back into my audiobook, the excellent What a Carve Up, a Jonathan Coe masterpiece of political satire.

Clearly, all parties alluded to here, although on the same plane, were in highly different environments.

A memory jumped from back to front of my consciousness, a memory from many years ago, when I was admitted to hospital to have a second bout of surgery connected to a cancerous tumour in my breast. 

I decided that I would make my stay as comfortable as possible given the circumstances. `When bad things are happening that you can't control, make sure you do lots of good things in the areas that you can control', my husband had wisely urged. So I'd made myself a music tape (yes, that long ago J), took favourite books, favourite smells in body lotions, and writing materials – everything I could that would make my surroundings as comfortable as I could.  I was horrified when I was put into a four bedded bay polluted by a blaring daytime telly, then relieved when my words of protest to the Charge Nurse were listened to, and TV removed (with its owner, oops!) It had seemed so important to create the best environment I could.

So when we landed in Bangkok, I simply marvelled at how brilliant it was that I was in someone else’s afternoon where 24 hours earlier, I would have been in a morning zone.  I was overawed at the magic of it all, and felt relaxed, whether or not tiredness might catch me out later – I would deal with that then.  Border control was quick and easy, and I was soon on the right end of hugs from my daughter, K and granddaughter, Tuppence.

Apparently, the farmers turned back half way to the airport J

Fleetingly, I wondered how the Minnies were getting on. 

And then prepared to explore.