Same Storm, Different Boat
It’s been over a week since my last blog in which time I am thankful to say that my daughter has made a full recovery from Covid and is enjoying the bits of University life she is allowed to participate in!
At the beginning of the pandemic back in March, when we were all wishing that Brexit would just go away (remember Brexit – oh how we all miss that now! – it’s still there by the way!!) it was often said by people that we were all in the same boat and that this would help us to understand each other in the coming weeks.
Well, it turns out we are not all in the same boat after all and I have loved reading about this over the last few months. It is something I have repeatedly said to our wonderful Project Wingman volunteers – we are all in the same storm but definitely not in the same boat.
I have a very clear picture in my head that this time last year we were all riding the crest of a wave – or at least I certainly was. Inside the Cockpit had been aired in May and I was still flying around passengers who thankfully loved it – one of the most memorable occasions being a flight where a girl boarded and asked if it was “Captain Emma” flying her that day – when she was told it actually was she burst into tears and said she couldn’t believe it because she wanted me to fly her so much!!! She came into the flight deck and had some photos and it was a really lovely moment although I never really had making passengers cry as one of my life goals…..
Life was looking good. I had dropped my hours to 75%, the company had made a profit which meant dividend payments, and I had Christmas off for the first time in 10 years. When I look back, I almost wonder if it was too good.
The wave we were riding started to crash around us all with the collapse of FlyBe and for many of my close friends that meant redundancy…..and just as they were looking to be employed by other airlines, the wave continued to break bringing Covid with it and the havoc that has wreaked on our industry. The rest, we all know.
We are not all in the same boat though. We will largely all pull through this one way or another but I believe the way to do this is to understand that our boats are different. For some people, dropping their income even a tiny bit might mean they can no longer afford to stay in their house, or may need to change their children’s schools. Others may have assets they can sell off which they don’t need but which made up part of their lifestyle. For some this lifestyle was very privileged and the changes we have to make might seem superficial to some – but they are changes nevertheless which affect our families in ways we can’t quantify.
For others, the storm we are going through might have meant a double income loss and the future may well be looking pretty bleak.
For those of us who can see hope on the horizon, and especially those of us who’s boats are intact and even buoyant, it’s important to remember that we can all get through this together – if we tie our boats together, we can come out the other side of this a bit battered, maybe a broken mast or two, and definitely taking on water in places, but we can survive it.
A number of things have happened this week to remind me of this fact – the difference you can make to someone by reaching out to them and asking if they are ok can mean more than we can know. It’s a message we hear often but one that is worth repeating.
We are all in the same storm, but different boats. And if we tie our boats together we will survive – and the sun will come out again eventually.
This weeks blog is dedicated to the memory of someone I never knew, but who’s “boat” sank this week. Somewhere there is a family who are mourning the loss of a father, husband and son who couldn’t see a way through the storm. This loss is one too many and my thoughts are very much with this family, wherever they are – let’s tie our boats together and make sure this doesn’t keep happening.
