I was sitting having coffee in the garden yesterday (yes, how amazing is that? To be sitting outside in the warm sun on the last day of October! Life is good in the Charente!) when suddenly I heard a real commotion up above. A light aircraft had flown past quite low and had alarmed a flock of wild geese making their way south (to the Riveria, Spain or Africa, or wherever they go for winter sun). The noise was astonishing and quickly drowned out the noise of the plane. I rushed inside to grab my camera as the flock got itself re-organised and just caught them as they got back on track.
As their clamour faded away over the vines how could I hear anything other than this in my head?
Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever your are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting –
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things.
from Wild Geese, by Mary Oliver
Heroes Not Zombies 
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