Monday 19 August

Moon void in Capricorn

Moon into Aquarius

Queuing through quarantine yesterday morning, I got talking to the Qantas First Officer who’d help bring me home safely.

The flight was 4 hours late due to a late departure from Hong Kong (always a possibility during typhoon season with heavy rains) and an unscheduled 3 hour diversion on the tarmac in Manila at midnight as a result of a medical emergency and resultant re-fuelling etc.

I started our chat by thanking him, and the staff, for their work the previous night under difficult circumstances. I appreciated the constant updates- at least every 15 minutes or so- advising us of what was happening and why.

Given that we were in a fully loaded A380 (ie a big bugger) it all could have turned to custard pretty quickly.

It reminded me how when it comes to change, it’s the communication- the frequency and accuracy of it- that gets you through. It’s why I used to do change management as a partition job- it allows you to influence the outcome. When you have information, you also have choice- although it mightn’t appear so at the time. Even when you don’t think you have a choice you do- you can choose how you react, respond, deal with it.

We were told why we’d stopped, what would be happening on the ground (although the A380 has a skycam so you can see it all anyway), why we needed to be towed off the tarmac (the A380 is so big others can’t get past), why they couldn’t get extra catering on board, when we could move around, use phones etc, what would be happening with connecting flights etc. Although far from ideal (I’m sure it was even farther from ideal for the poor bugger who got sirened off to a Philippines hospital) the knowing made the situation somehow controllable.

My French neighbour, who’d been completing a business trip back from Shanghai had spoken of the opposite circumstances a few days previously when he, and a different plane-load of people had been delayed in Beijing for five hours with no communication, before finally being told that they’d need to spend another night there.

We all had some place else to be, some schedule or other that would be impacted by the delay. But essentially in the situation we also had just two choices- either bitch and complain and woe is me to someone else- who is in the same situation- or get on with it. We could be miserable or not. And, let’s face it, the idea of spending a sleepless night in economy (I don’t even contemplate the possibility of sleep on an overnighter these days- that way I’m not disappointed when, and it usually does, come to pass) is never something to cheer about. It is, however, something we do and look forward to as the means to an end- in this case a coming home.

As it was, I saw a movie I probably wouldn’t have otherwise contemplated- one that had me laughing in my seat.

We have the same choice this morning with the Moon void in Capricorn. We can either indulge in the vague melancholia that comes with it, the grey of negativity, of glass half empty, of a tunnel we can’t see a light in…or we can just get on with it. Head down, bum up, one foot after the other, with both eyes firmly on the business of the day.

Later, when the Moon moves into Aquarius, we can start to look up, look out, and maybe even see things from a different angle.