Category: NFN

Dear Jens,

I can’t believe that you are serious about this: moving to some far – though beautiful – end of the world, right now when you things are going so nicely for you in Manhattan. If you want my advice: stay the course, in your European forests and Central Park, and keep at it.

On a more personal note, I’m not sure what to say. Just as I felt that you might become more serious about our conversations, you are bringing up the idea of moving to Scotland. Frankly, I don’t care about the pilot certificate, and I share your relatives’ reaction. Think of the pieces of furniture one has to assemble at home: nothing ever quite fits. Are you planning to fly across the North Sea, or even if it’s just the channel between the UK and France, in an airplane put together in your front yard? All of it sounds like an idée fixe to me, one that will hopefully dissolve rather quickly. That’s not to say that I don’t see the attractions of a lovely, rugged coast-line, and solitary walks. Indeed, there was a time in my life where I would have envied anyone moving to such a place, or when I would have wanted to come along. But that’s another story.

Let’s talk soon in person, and promise not to fly in self-made planes for the time being!

Dr. Hare

Dear Dr. Hare,

I’m so sorry, I’m painfully aware of the missed appointments; somehow I hoped you’d perhaps gloss over that (but you didn’t). It’s true, I’m working hard to get the forest project closer to where I want it to be. These images come in unexpected waves, and right now it seems I’m catching one.

You’re right. Almost 15 years ago I was working for some astonishingly ignorant person, slaving away alongside a few dozen other unfortunate souls. In the middle of a meeting with a self-employed client, I had a quasi-religious experience. From there, it took me one more employment to break free. That’s not to say that my life as an employee was all bad: sometimes I look back to the numbed state of mind I put myself into from Sunday night to Friday evening, to cope with the daily grind. Numbness has its advantages, right? And I recall that things regularly got better by Tuesday already (Sunday nights and Monday mornings were the worst). Anyway, that’s in the past, and it’s not as if being on one’s own came without frustrations and dullnesses. If I suffer from mistakes today, however, I can be sure those mistakes are my own!

Speaking of quasi-religious experiences: I spent Christmas evening at the family dinner table, browsing the web for used aircraft. Believe it or not, I consider moving to Scotland. I guess I’d buy a used single-engine propeller plane. (Though admittedly the more recent models seem to be rather costly. I was amazed to see that you can also order, new, a “345 mph, four seat, pressurized aircraft that could be easily built in one’s home shop.” Reactions I got to this latter proposal here at home, however, have been subdued.) Anyway, I’m dreaming of long strolls along the seashore, and quick flights to Rome, Sicily, Geneva, Salzburg, and Munich. I always thought I couldn’t get a pilot certificate, with my prescription glasses, but it turns out it’s not a problem. What do you think?

Jens

Dear Jens,

it is good to hear from you, though I don’t know from which part of the world you are writing, and though I’m not entirely happy that you canceled several appointments. The fate of the miners is shocking and impressive, I agree. I’m not quite sure however why it would speak to you so much. Are you not already living a life of comparative freedom, while the likes of us have appointments in their offices? It makes me think that, whether one feels stuck or not — forgive the all-too-pedestrian metaphor — is maybe in the end not a matter of whether one quits, as you put it, a “dull job.”

I wonder how you are doing, and whether the forests are treating you well. At least, with your last cancelation, you left a message saying that you are off to pursue your forest photography project. Do send me some of your images, if you cannot come in. The trees make me think that you are feeling, on the whole, somewhat more at ease these days.

Dr. Hare