Page 57 - The Mirror of My Soul. Vol. 1

Nicolai Levashov. The Mirror of My Soul. Vol. 1. Born in the USSR

* * *
I purchased a ticket and went to Odessa airport. There was a bus from Ilichevsk to
Odessa. I knew the time-table and was at the bus stop in advance. But for some reason
the bus I failed to appear. At first I was not worried about it, but when less than an hour
was left before my flight my holiday relaxation began to “evaporate”. It continued to
disappear with every minute and I decided to take a cab. It was not easy and when I
finally got one I had between thirty and thirty-five minutes left before the departure of

my plane. To get a ticket before the New Year was always a problem and I had no wish
to be late for the flight. Although the distance from Ilichevsk to Odessa airport was
relatively short, I, nevertheless, was worried and was eager to be in time. I even had a
glimmer of a thought that it would be fine if my flight were postponed.

When I finally got to the registration desk, it turned out that my flight was delayed.
First, I was very happy at such a turn of events, but when I knew that my plane had not
yet arrived in Odessa because of the bad weather conditions in Odessa and Kharkov my
rejoicing about the delay was replaced by vexation. Oddly enough, the human reaction
to one and the same event differs greatly depending on whether this event suits a person
or not. In this case I got a wide range of emotional reactions to one and the same event.
First it pleased me and then distressed. When I was late for my flight, the only thing I
wished was that my flight be delayed. And when I knew that it really was and the reason
for it, I was very disappointed. Such is human nature...

The airplane neither flew without me, nor could fly me away. It was the second
“part” of the situation that I did not like. One way or another, I had to wait for my flight,
who knew for how long; that did not suit me, along with any other person in a similar
situation. I liked this situation less and less with every minute of waiting and began to
think that it would be great, if the thick fog that covered Odessa airport disappeared and
my airplane landed, etc. To my great surprise in fifteen to twenty minutes the milky fog
began to disappear and the sun peeped out from the clouds. Later I knew that the same
thing had happened in Kharkov. Finally, the flight from Kharkov arrived in Odessa and
I could board my airplane. I was very content because I did not need to spend a day or
more in the airport waiting for flying weather. I thought then how lucky I was.

I spent my leave of absence in Kharkov and upon arriving at the airport, found the
same in-clement, flight-cancelling weather there. Besides that, the weather in
Sverdlovsk, the city from which the airplanes to Odessa with boarding in Kharkov
departed, was similar. The situation was repeated. I again sat in the airport due to weather
conditions. Who likes that—nobody, me included. Naturally, I began to think about
clouds and fog that caused so many problems for people, who had to sit and wait until
everything got back to normal. I hated the idea of sitting in the airport for very long. To
my great joy, in a couple of hours, the weather turned fine and I safely reached Odessa.

At first I did not connect this luck with myself. I went back to the unit in time,
without a delay and boasted a little of my luck. However, very soon I had doubts as to
whether “luck” had anything to do with these events. I began to have my doubts when
one of the officers of my unit returned from his vacation almost two weeks later than the
fixed date. He was late because of the non-flying weather in Odessa due to dense, milky
fog that remained for almost the whole month; good flying weather appeared only twice,
lasting several hours—first time, when I departed from Odessa, whereupon the fog again

Back to contents
57