Soul Magic
THE BETTER
by David McLaughlan
There’s a train journey I like to take along a certain part of the Scottish coast. It’s a single track line, meaning the train goes all the way to one end before coming back down the same line. There are some quaint little stations along the way.
But I just love the view! You see the line runs along the side of a range of hills and the hills drop down into the sea. From half way up the hill where the railway is you can spend a very pleasant half hour looking out over the sea and across the Western Isles.
It is so impressive that even a deep-water port and a nuclear power station can hardly manage to dent its grandeur!
On the way north I always try and sit on the left hand side to enjoy the panorama. Coming back again I sit on the right side so I can enjoy it all over again!
Except, this one day everyone else seemed to have had the same idea! All the seats on the “good” side had been taken, so I grumpily sat down on the “bad” side.
It was childish, I know, but the prospect of spending the next half hour looking at a scrubby grass slope just spoiled my mood. Being so close to the hill you couldn’t even see the summits. Bo-ring!
Ten minutes passed as I sat wallowing in the misery of the bad side. Then the train went past a little dip in the hill. When I say little, I mean just big enough to conceal the doe, the majestic stag and the two baby deer until we were almost eye-to eye through the glass.
My spirit just soared as this none-to-common view went past and disappeared again. Wow! The grin stayed on my face for the rest of the journey.
It’s easy to convince ourselves that life, like that train journey, has only a good side and a bad side, but in reality it often has a good side – and an even better side!
— © by David McLaughlan
“Finding the extra in the ordinary.”
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