the thought of islands

There’s a good reason why it’s ‘desert island discs’, and not ‘held under house arrest discs’. apart from the nice cadence, that is. It’s that the notion of islands (and when i say this, i don’t mean the small-to-americans, large-to-brits, squashed-to-everybody island i call home) forces you back upon yourself. Islands can affirm you, or have the capacity to disavow you of yourself; they force you to describe your existance tightly, around a footspace of firm self-possession.

Napoleon came from an island, was exiled on another, died on another still. There’s a cod-pathology there, if you’re permitted to fish for it.

So it only seems right that I get to see in the new year, and more importantly, attend the wedding of two dear friends, within such a confined space. And that I make similar plans for myself. It seems only obvious now.