I have spent the
last 24 hours playing with time. Flying back through time zones from
Rome to Dubai. Flying out from - Fiumicino my plane climbed over the
Tryhenian Sea before turning and flying back over Italy. The
Foundation had purchased a Business Class ticket for me and I was
able to nurse my hangover with mineral water, codeine and white wine.
I had a four hour
stop over in Dubai. Stuck in the largest shopping Mall in the world.
Once again the Foundation came to my rescue with access to a lounge.
Arm chairs, passable coffee and freshly squeezed orange juice. One
more codeine tablet and I was almost human.
My connecting flight
to the mountains above the city left from an outlying terminal and I
was driven there in an electric golf buggy. My driver refused to
speak to me so I simply sat back and enjoyed the fact that I didn’t
have to drag my bag kilometres to my boarding gate.
Once there I was entertained by a large electronic billboard which showed a series of advertisements. Most were for attractions in Dubai, such as an indoor ski slope, but there was one ad for headphones which was repeated over and over again. It featured a young woman wearing high tech headphones dancing to music only she could hear in Piccadilly Circus. She was completely at one with the music which I assumed was being pumped directly into her ears and was dancing while people passed her without noticing.
Once there I was entertained by a large electronic billboard which showed a series of advertisements. Most were for attractions in Dubai, such as an indoor ski slope, but there was one ad for headphones which was repeated over and over again. It featured a young woman wearing high tech headphones dancing to music only she could hear in Piccadilly Circus. She was completely at one with the music which I assumed was being pumped directly into her ears and was dancing while people passed her without noticing.
The image of the
silent dancing woman troubled me and remained with me as I flew on
the second leg of my journey to the mountains above the city.
Suddenly, now I as sit waiting for the helicopter shuttle it comes to me. Another image from decades ago. Mahler. A scene from the Ken Russell film I saw when I was nineteen. Mahler is looking out across a mountain lake and slowly he begins to hear his first symphony in his head. It is a powerful image of the imagination and I suddenly realise my the image of the woman dancing in Piccadilly Circus has irritated me. I want her to hear the music without the headphones. I want her to imagine the emotion, the swirling of the mind. I don’t want the corporation or the logo that rises to the surface in the advertisement.
Suddenly, now I as sit waiting for the helicopter shuttle it comes to me. Another image from decades ago. Mahler. A scene from the Ken Russell film I saw when I was nineteen. Mahler is looking out across a mountain lake and slowly he begins to hear his first symphony in his head. It is a powerful image of the imagination and I suddenly realise my the image of the woman dancing in Piccadilly Circus has irritated me. I want her to hear the music without the headphones. I want her to imagine the emotion, the swirling of the mind. I don’t want the corporation or the logo that rises to the surface in the advertisement.
ah, business class
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