Why I am not a pilot!

avatar
(Edited)

222.JPG

Today I want to show you the true meaning of Grace!

First the reckless test and then 2 eye tests!

In some ways I am one of those reckless souls that sets my mind at times on doing risky things.

I was called up to perform my compulsory army service in 1970, but I doged a year, as I loved my life too much at that hippie stage. Long hair, jeans, t-shirt an my motorbike was more important than the army.
After "visits" by the military police asking about my whereabouts, I relented and enlisted the folling year.

151.JPG

I was super fit due to being a boxer for some years and I passed the army fitness tests with high scores, ideal for a pilot.
When the position was offered, I grabbed it, but first I had to do some eye tests and sadly failed due to colorblindness. I cannot distinguish between the different shades of colors.

121 (2)_LI.jpg

Today I saw the blessing about me not becoming a pilot.
You saw the light plane above and you can see the little yellow cross in the picture above?
If I was a pilot I would aim the plane at that yellow cross to fly through the cloud.
Imagine what fun that would be!

182.JPG

This is why I am not a pilot.
Entering the plane at that yellow cross would have been my last action on earth, as this mountain above was covered by that cloud.

Now I understand Grace!

First eye test!

Now for the sharpness of sight I have above average function.
Let me show you below!

335.JPG

What do you see in this green "Bottle Brush" tree above?

324 (2).JPG

This is what I saw, a little "Cape White eye" pecking around!

181.JPG

And that's not all, as here is a "Red Collared Barbet" singing a love song in the same tree!

Here's the second eye test below!

167.JPG

What do you see in this tall palm like tree?

164.JPG

Gotcha! Look what sits hidden in there at the top!

143 (2).JPG

For those that read this post, here is a Papillon (butterfly) for you!

So, according to my imagination, had I passed that eye test in the army, I would have died today, running that light plane into the cloud.
The Man up there obviously loves me and you know what?
I am thankful that I failed that test, but I also think that the heavens got tired of rescuing me every time.
Somebody up there said; "Him, fly"? "Never, as we have our hands full with him in any case"! hahaha.

And That's All Folks!

Note; all photos are my own, unedited and cropped for uploading.
Camera used: Canon Powershot SX60HS.

We hope everyone had a great day/night and that you enjoyed the pictures and the story here.

Thank you for the visit to a post by @papilloncharity

featheredfriends life risk palnet curator curangel activecoin
0
0
0.000
111 comments
avatar

Hahahaha, I read it til the end! :D

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Thank you and I am so glad to see a good reader.
Glad also that you liked the post dear friend.

Blessings!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Congratulations @papilloncharity! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :

You got more than 28500 replies. Your next target is to reach 29000 replies.

You can view your badges on your board And compare to others on the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word STOP

To support your work, I also upvoted your post!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

I think everything that happens in life has a meaning and is good for something.

Was it coincidence that you have not become a pilot, or was it meant that many years later you can to tell a great story which makes an Austrian mountain goat smile, as @janton would say 😉

I loved your story, my friend, and you are right, I didn't see what you saw in the images 😁

Cheers and !BEER
!tip

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

So true Sir Johann, there are no coincidences, as everything has some or other reason.

That is a very true story my friend and I have files of the stuff in me head. Every time that something matches a file's reason, I close the file finally. Lol.
Jokes aside, things happen to us that we deem to be a nightmare at the time, but years later we understand that it was for our own good.

@janton has gone very quiet and I wonder if he is still on esteem?
I went back on esteem for a while after their change to hive, but my teplies were not calculated for some reason on Hive, so I pulled out until it settles.

Glad that I could get an old and blind Austrian mountain goat to smile. Hahaha

Cheers and thank you!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Sometimes I think of what could have been if I did only one thing different ... maybe I'd be rich and have a house at the beach, but then I might not have the ones I love most of all in this world and my family would be the family of someone else. No, I have done everything right and all that happened has lead me to where I am now :)

Oh, @janton is not really gone, he visits me from time to time and he's also on Steem sometimes. At the moment he is building up an own business and therefore he has no time for the blockchain.

I use eSteem only when I have no computer nearby and have to use my phone, but I didn't have any issues with it yet.

The Austrian goat is still smiling, because he's going to bed now - a busy working week will begin in a few hours 😉

Cheers and !BEER

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

I think most of think aboutv the different things that we could have done my friend.
But those are what I call useless illusions.
Wec are what we are and we am where we are supposed to be. Those that say that you can create your own destiny has not added in the surprises that life holds in store for each of us.

The saying is that; "you can make your plans, but then life happens"!

I know the janton also had his wife on his back about the time that he spent online.
Wish him only luck with his new business.

Yeah, Austrian goats nedd much sleep to perform at optimum hahaha!
By the time that you see this it will be the next evening lol.

Blessings and thank you!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

That saying is good and very right - you have always to think that life might have other plans than you 😉

Yes, janton's wife has always had a look that he does something else besides commenting and posting on the Steem/Hive blockchain too 🙂

You are right, for me it's already almost bedtime again ;) Tonight will be a good night, because an hour ago it began to rain and cool down a bit.

Cheers and !BEER
!invest_vote

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Now guess what!

At this late hour we now also have some soft rain. I think it is in preparation for the storm that's coming on Thursday.

Life can certainly prove us wrong on many occasions my friend. "I wanted to do this and then that happened" I am sure that you have this before lol.

Agreed on Janton's case. Miss his banter and his cowboy stories!

I will say a hearty good night to you here and hope that your dreams are lulled by the soft sounds of rain!

Ps. I still have some time to go as I want to talk to a friend that's 7 hours ahead of us. It's now 5:30am there!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Good morning @papilloncharity, or whenever you read this ;)

It rained all night long and cooled down, but in the morning the streets were almost dry and I can already see the blue sky 🙂

Cheers and !BEER

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

I greeted you some time ago my friend and glad to hear your weather is good.
Cold and cloudy here today, but thankfully the wind is taking a rest.
We have a line of open topped pipes in a fence here and they all play a tune at night whenever the wind blows from a certain direction.
I lay in bed and listen to the tune hahaha.

Cheers and thank you!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

You should cut them in different lengths to get a nice melody to fall asleep with and have sweet dreams 😉

Cheers and !BEER

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Hahaha, how do you know what I do?
I have even put some lyrics to their tunes lol.

Blessings and thank you!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Now, that's cool - have fun. If it sounds as nice as I think you could make a YouTube Video and be number one in the Charts 😎

Cheers and !BEER

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Hahaha, you are so funny at times.

When I sing in the shower the old lady next door and her dog go to hide under their bed.
If I make a song video, the cops will come and lock me up on a charge of scaring the children lol.

Cheers and thank you!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

OK, forget YouTube, we don't want to scare children 😉

Cheers and !BEER

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Well, I could always blame it on the advice of one of Austria's respected citizens.
The cops will send you an arrest warrant in the mail and our government will declare you an "undesireable" non entry personage!

Plus they will send you a bill for counseling hundreds of traumatised children that watched the video.

So, I think that you should stick to your Kiwi fruit instead of dispensing advice to vulnerable and naive Hive members like me hahaha.

I hope that this puts you in a good mood for the day lol.

Cheers and thank you!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

I didn't tell you what ministry I belong to, did I? I work at the Ministry of the Interior for the police in Carinthia. But as said before I'm a logistician and my tasks include facility management and quite some more additional things. I wear my uniform only a few times a month when I work over night and I do never bother any drivers or riders on the road ;)

Long story short, please forget what I have said and please don't make any music videos, because

  1. although I'm not a cop on the road I wouldn't have a good life in prison,
  2. I know our prisons from the inside, and although they are way better than the prisons in Mexico or Turkey I wouldn't want to be there as a long-term guest 😂

I promise from now on I will take care what I say and foremost, before I make a suggestion I will think if it might cause traumatised children 😆

Cheers and !BEER
!invest_vote

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Well, well, what do you know.
Now I have a bloodbrother that is a close friend of the Minister of Police LOL.

In that case I can reconsider the actual making of the song video.
Thinking here about giving the "Ave Maria" a go in my best opera voice and I can guarantee you that my high notes can raise the hairs of a cat.
My low notes can curl my wife's toe nails.

Only judgements that I will get is one for my voice stripping the paint off the mayor's car and two, disturbance of the peace.
Thankfully the third judgement to remove my vocal chords will be rescinded, due to my human rights, but I will be permanently banned from attempting any future attempts at singing.
I can then request to serve my life sentence in a prison where an Austrian mountain goat can look after me hahaha.

I see much wine and song in my future hahaha.

Cheers and thank you!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Well, in that case I'll ask tomorrow if I can work in the local prison. I know the director, he's a neighbor and lives 2 houses down the street.

Of course you will get a special room with wireless internet and some other bonuses, as long as you don't sing, because the walls of the prisons are made from debris of WW2 and might get destroyed from your voice 😎

Cheers and !BEER
!invest_vote

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar
(Edited)

This sounds so cool, especially the mention of the extra bonuses. I can certainly dream up many 5 star luxuries and this sounds so tempting that I will practise some of my lovely melodies in the shower tonight.
In the hope of course that the state will export me to the country that is near the country where the Yodeling was started. Yodeli, yodelah.

Stay well funny man.

Cheers and thanks!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

If you sing too good they might keep you in the country, and if you sing too bad they might send you to Antarctica and push you from the edge of the earth 🤣

So, take care my friend and at least don't sing too bad 😉

Cheers and !BEER

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

The first is definitely not an option and the second one sounds a bit out of date.
I know that you guys still have the old belief that the world is flat, by we have made much progress in modern times and we was so amazed to discover that the world is in fact round.

So, if I were to be pushed off the edge in Antarctica a lot of foreign people in the country below Antartica is going to be very unhappy with my screeches, sorry, singing and they will want to sue somebody for sending me there methinks!

I think that I should can my dreams of singing stardom and just give it all up as a bad job lol.
Will be sad as the world would lose a future "Udo Jurgens"

But such is life hahaha

Cheers and thank you!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

If the earth was round, why don't you fall off then, because you are on the lower part of the globe? LOL When I have time I love to watch these YouTube videos where they try to explain that the earth cannot be round, but to be honest I love the image that we live on a plate which is on the backs of 4 elephants which stand on the back of a giant turtle ... please don't get me wrong, I love SciFy and fantasy stories like Discworld by Terry Pratchett 🙂

I hated Udo when I was young, because my parents always listened to his music. Now that Im older I still like other music, but I don't mind if I hear one of his songs 😉
Actually he lived at the lake Wörthersee too, but in the village of Velden on the western shore.

Cheers and !BEER

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar
(Edited)

I think that Einstein would have have fits if he were to read or watch some of these weirs channels like Discworld.

Marian told me that she was hooked on the books at some stage. Imagination can certainly dream up many fantasy themes.

Personally, I have never heard this Udo guy as I just looked on Mrs. Google for a famous Austrian singer hahaha.
Had to search for a few hours as you guys are not very famous lol.
Although Austrian mountain goats was easy to find hahaha.
Not one mention of a mountain goat on a rocket though, but maybe Mrs Google had an off day!

Cheers and thanks!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

I think Einstein would smile 😉

Udo died some years ago, but he is still one of our most famous singers.

Mrs Google does not know everything 😁

Cheers and !BEER

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

I think that he would feel sorry for Austrians that do not understand the concepts of gravity hahaha.

The other day some guy said to me that he wonders why we have not fallen off frome the southern tip of the planet hahaha.

I used to be more of a Classic Rock lover, but yeah, this world regularly lose star performers.

So true and quite often there is also many falsehoods on there, so a person has to stick to verified sources.
Much falsehoods floating around nowadays and people take it as the truth.

Cheers and thanks!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Oh, we understand Gravity: the earth is moving upwards at a constant rate of 9.8m/s^2 what causes gravity.

I have watched so many so called "Globe debunking Videos" that I think I could pretend to be a flat earther and every flat earther would believe me, but intelligent people such as you would notice the smiling in my words 😀

I love Elvis and Doris Day as well as ACDC, Rammstein and David Garrett - it just depends on my mood.

Falsehood, in German "Falschheit" - people smile at you and when you turn around they throw the knife - sadly, I know such very well.

Cheers and !BEER
!invest_vote

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Now you see,Einstein would have loved your take on gravity. Neat and precise.

Imagine that, you can become a flat earth guru and I will partner so that we can start a "Flat Earth" community on Hive as an undercover experiment. Each member that joins the community will quilify for a pink straightjacket 🤣

You have just as weird taste for music as I do.🙃

I think so many of us have stories to tell about "Falschheit"-"Two Faces" as we do my friend. Sadly their own lives are never in order!

Cheers and thank!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

There are many people here who believe in the weirdest conspiracy theories. So I think that there must be some flat earthers too, but I don't think I could be serious about it for longer than a few minutes 🤪

Yes, I think my music taste is weird, because I couldn't say what I like most. When I am in the right mood I even like Techno music, but only for a few minutes 🙃

Cheers and !BEER
!invest_vote

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Same here and some times I also have to hide my humor when they try to convince me with their beliefs.
Nowadays they can read only the headline of an article and then they know all about it.

I still have many of the old original vinyl records here that represents most types of music, except Rap, as I have never liked it. To me, singing is an art and rap is just a lot of gobblygook set to a music background.
Only my view of course as many others love rap, but each to his own.

Cheers and thank you!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

I would call such the Dunning-Kruger-Effect ... incompetent people talk as if they were competent, but what they talk is only rubbish.

I have to admit that I don't like Rap neither, although I would love to be able to talk that fast sometimes ;)
We have only CD's which haven't seen a player for years, because all of our music is on USB sticks or hard disks as MP3 😉

Cheers and !BEER
!invest_vote

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Hahaha, a very good description and what they write is either boogladish, or it exposes them Sir Johann.

Rap? I only talk that fast when I am in trouble lol.

We use CDs for the long trips and I have one of those "plug-in" MP3/4 players lying around somewhere.
I also have an old radiogram to play the LP vinyls on.
An old "Telefunken" that was made in "West-Germany"

Cheers and thanks!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

We all know them, don't we?

Normaly we only listen to the radio, because all 4 of us like different music. When we are in the car the driver choses the music, at least most times 😉

Cheers and !BEER

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Oh! And what happens when the driver is not you?
Do you put some earplugs in hahaha.

Cheers and thank you!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Well, that's a problem of course, and in that case we make an agreement to switch music every 10 minutes or so that the ears can recover 😂

Cheers and !BEER

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Oh! I thought that the driver was always in charge of the music???
Remind me never in my life to drive with you Lol and lol again.

Cheers and thanks!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Well, things are different if the driver is not me, what happens sometimes since my kids have their drivers licenses 😉
But I don't think we would have problems because if we drive in South Africa you would be the driver, because I'm not used of driving on the wrong side of the road 😂

Cheers and !BEER

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Ah! I forget that you guys drive on the wrong side of the road hahaha.
That will definitely not be good idea here as the hospitals are already full with patients.

So, here's the deal. When we are in your country, you drive and you play your music. Don't worry as I have got ear plugs lol.
When we are in my country, I drive and I play my music. We can get you ear plugs hahaha.

Cheers and thanks!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Yes, that's how we can handle it 👍😁

Cheers and !BEER

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Great and I see that we are closing some of the chats, which is a good thing, as we have to be fair to the EL hopefuls. I am sure that you will agree.
No offense meant of course.

Cheers and thanks!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Of course I agree and I'm sure the ones behind us will smile 😁

Cheers and !BEER

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar
(Edited)

Great, as it is the right thing to do!

We will just insert some emojis when we consider a discussion as closed!

Blessings and thanks!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar
(Edited)

When I saw the airplane for the first time, I asked my mom what was that she told me it was a big bird but fly by a human. I was a kid then and suddenly I told her I want to fly a plane... I always admire the Pilot profession and I respect them too...

My second professional choice was to become Pilot and 3rd was Airhostress... So if I haven't got the opportunity to study in architecture then maybe I would have tried for airforce.. :D

Beautiful pictures with a meaningful writing my dear...

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Well, like I always say, there are no coincidences and everything happens for a reason. Imagine if you were a pilot, or an air hostess in a plane that fell out of the sky???
You wouldn't be here today my dear friend!

Blessings and thank you!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Yes, anything can happen... Life is so unpredictable according to me, I have no idea about tomorrow...
Have a nice day my friend...

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

None of us have any idea about tomorrow my dear friend.
That's why we have to do our best every day to make our tomorrows better.

Blessings to you!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Ahahahah. Nice that you avoided that career, then! 😄

Great photos, as always!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Amazing how life can show us the truth my friend.

Thank you for the visit!

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Rather not see going into cloud like that, more like feel your way around. One trip back from Cape Town to Johannesburg many years ago pilot hit a pocket inside cloud, plane dropped about 3 stories high in 3 seconds flat, free drinks were issued immediately after ha ha....

Seeing in the distance is mainly what counts then zooming in to identify, great fun, yup we may yearn for wings but how good is the eyesight!

Have an awesome week Stephen.

0
0
0.000
Reply
avatar

Ah! How well do I remember those old army Dakotas. One moment you are flying and the next moment your stomach sits around your ears. But we got used to it and Dakota has one of the best flying records.
They called it the plane that couldn't fly due to it's design faults, but it surprised all.

Oh yeah, I am lucky to spot the slightest movement and you know the capabilities of our Canon's zooms.

May you guys also have a great week Lady Joan!

0
0
0.000
Reply