“Above all, I must not permit myself the tormenting excursions into the bitter past.” (ODAT, 4 March)
I have nothing against excursions.
The sorry mare’s nest of my past does need to be dealt with, but surgically in Steps One, Four, and Eight. It’s not somewhere to relish spending time in. My past is not a good destination for my excursions.
The word ‘excursion’ made me think of the opera by Leoš Janáček called ‘The Excursions of Mr Brouček to the Moon and to the Fifteenth Century’. I can make excursions physically; I can make excursions into music and literature; I can make excursions into nature.
One benefit of the programme is waking up to how much more of interest there is in the world than me.
So I don’t make excursions to my past. The moon and the fifteenth century are far more interesting.