Trix

Something I say to myself many times a day these days is ‘This too shall pass”. For a few moments it makes me feel better.

I first heard it from my boss’s boss. My boss had died suddenly and I felt bereft. He was a wonderful man and my boss’s boss must have felt far worse than me as they were friends from way back. I thought about what he’d said and his words made me feel better.

Recently I heard it again and so looked it up on Google, it seems to come from a Hebrew saying or a story about King Solomon.

The origin of the saying "this too shall pass" appears to date back to a story told about King Solomon. It is said that the King, feeling blue, asked his advisors to find him a ring he had seen in a dream. "When I feel satisfied I’m afraid that it won’t last. And when I don’t, I am afraid my sorrow will go on forever. Find me the ring that will ease my suffering." Eventually an advisor met an old jeweller who carved into a simple gold band the Hebrew inscription "gam zeh ya’avor" – "this too shall pass." When the king received his ring and read the inscription his sorrows turned to joy and his joy to sorrows, and then both gave way to equanimity.

I suppose the simple view is that neither joy nor sorrow last forever but having said that it seems unfair that the sorrow side of things seems to last inordinately longer than the joy side!

Getting from here to there is a long journey and it is the unknown in between that is scary. Many people enjoy the challenge but I’ve always been unsure of change even though most times it has worked out well.

On Friday I thought everything was going to change. I became very upset; but in the end nothing happened. I’m not sure how I feel about it now. I want things sorted but then again I don’t. I didn’t ask questions.

As I used to say to my boss after a hard day “Tomorrow is another day” but without the southern bell accent!

Tomorrow I’ll potter in my garden.

Now that I’m more sensitive to such things I’ve found I have another habit that some may find annoying; I polish my taps. If I needed an excuse (which I don’t) it is because they are new and bright and shiny and I live in a very hard water area. But even when I didn’t have new shiny taps I still polished them. I don’t mean I get the brasso out I just wipe the water spots off and give them an extra rub. Does this make me a bad person?

I’ve had a few near misses over the last few days; well to be exact one didn’t miss. There was sat sitting (in the passenger seat) waiting for a pupil and I watched this lady start to back her large 4x4 out of her drive. I had a fleeting thought that she must have seen me parked on the opposite side of the road, but before this fleeting thought had even finished she rammed right into me. One hell of a crash and my next fleeting thought was ****ing hell I’ve got a driving test in three hours and I can’t do it in a car with a caved in front and missing headlight.

We both alighted from our vehicles and she was full of apologies and admitting it was entirely her fault; this made me laugh as it was pretty bloody obvious. However, other than my head light scratched and a blob of paint missing from the bumper there wasn’t much else. It appears that it was her spare wheel cover (made of plastic) that had made contact. We both had a good laugh at how frightened we’d been and off she went on her merry way.

THEN when my pupil eventually came out of her house (she is always late) we went off for our lesson. Something we have done every week since God were a lad!!!!!!! About an hour into the lesson I asked her to turn right and then asked why she had decided to go rather than wait for the on coming car. With anyone else I wouldn’t have been concerned but she has an aversion to using her gas pedal when moving away and we normal glide rather than drive. Anyway she said “what car”?

THEN yesterday another pupil was waiting to emerge at a roundabout and we both decided it was clear to go, the next moment a car cut across our bonnet to leave at the next exit. We were both at a loss as to know where it had come from. We decided we needed an action replay or a spy in the sky to figure it out. I have to admit that those two exits, being close together are a death trap. The roundabout was only opened last year and I’ve thought that from day one.

Right I need to get out side and pick up all the plant pots the wind has blown over and cut the sweet peas. I didn’t swim again this morning but tomorrow I will.

and I broke the promise, I didn't get out of my bed this morning and go swimming and I really should have because I'm working till half seven tonight and I needed to work off some stress. Maybe I thought that staying in bed was good for stress, not that I stayed there, I still got up at the normal time.

I've put dinner in the slow cooker so at least I won't have to wait for my meal when I get it but by the time I've eaten it it will be nearly time for bed then up again to do more of the same tomorrow. Not that it is any different from anyone else’s life.
I think I need new batteries; not just in my life but in my keyboard and mouse, they both seem very unresponsive especially the mouse and I have resorted to some impact adjustment (banging it on the desk) several times. The keyboard is determined not to spell things right and keeps missing out letters. I'm a trained touch typist so it can't be me!!!!

One of favourite holiday destinations was mentioned by someone last week and ever since I've been day dreaming about it. One of my chain of thoughts has been 'would I be brave enough to go back there on my own'? Actually I think I would if I could ever afford it but to be honest the thing that would stop from going is the thought of how the hell would I get to Heathrow? I don't live a million miles away from it but enough for it to be a bloody nuisance.

Also, I'm a bit like a rabbit in headlights in crowded places and the thought of Heathrow itself would scare me to death.

But it is all academic as it is only a day dream anyway.

I've discovered YouTube. Once you log on you get hooked in watching all sorts of things. I've discovered some music videos from years back including The Monkees, a very under rated group I have to say. There are also some very strange things as well and it seems to be full of things for fetish lovers of all sorts!!

Anyway I've taken the plunge and uploaded some of my own. My account is still a work in progress and doesn't contain anything for fetish lovers unless you count wet suits.

I've had a headache for two days now. First noticed it in the pool yesterday morning and I suppose I should have gone swimming again today but my bed was too comfy to leave so I didn't. Will try harder tomorrow - promise.

I'm pondering on taking a road trip to my friend in Wales. It's a long way from here but I think I could do with the break. Finding it might be a bit fraught as I'm usually the passenger and just sit back and relax, well sleep actually. But this time I'll have to drive as I intend to go on my own. I know someone who has a spare Sat Nav but asking to borrow it wouldn't be a sensible thing to do right now. Never mind, there is always Google Maps. No doubt you've seen the one about going from New York to London; very funny.

I was asked the other day how my blog was going and I realised I hadn't actually written it for a while. Having just logged on, I see that it has been more than a while. Logging on was interesting as I had forgotten how!!

I’ve just come back from swimming; I’ve taken to swimming in the mornings to alleviate stress. I try and do about half a mile but as I can’t keep count of my length I now do it by time. I know from experience that I can do half a mile in half and hour so if I do at least that time I can do at least that distance. I stay in the slow lane so as not to be put under too much pressure but I had to smile today as I was following a lady who was putting in so much effort to her length and getting no where fast. She did front crawl for a few length and even with me do breast stroke I had to slow down so as not to catch her up and get kicked in the face. I prefer to do crawl but haven’t the stamina to keep it up for more than a length.

The only problem with doing swimming to keep fit is that it will make my shoulders even broader than they already are. ~ Something that has been pointed out to me in no un-certain terms!

On the subject of my faults I found out the other night that they are considered weird. I was asking someone about the good and bad points of living with some one they had just finished with. He said she was very good and giving him his freedom. He could stay out with his mates and drink till late and she never complained. However her faults included the fact that she nagged a lot. My personal view of that is that a woman only nags because she has to. My marriage may be very ropey but I never have to nag; everything is shared and I suppose that after so many years together we run like a well oiled machine.

Another of her ‘faults’ was that she had some REALLY REALLY REALLY annoying ways. He then looked at me and said “but not half as annoying as you I have to say”. That hurt.

She vacuumed a lot it seemed but mine include the way I stack the dish washer, the fact that I like people to dry their feet BEFORE getting out of the shower or bath (even though I have a bath mat) and because I dry the shower door so it doesn’t get spotty and lime scaly.

Well I’m sorry but my faults stay. Personally I don’t see a problem with them, especially as I’ve seen the way he leaves a bedroom, a bathroom and a kitchen. I’d rather live alone forever than compromise on those things. It’s not like they take an inordinate amount of time to do or take up a large part of my life. I’m a Capricorn so they are in-built anyway, I couldn’t change them even if I wanted to and I don’t so there!

We spent two hours talking and I have to say that I learned more about him in those two hours than I had in all the years I’ve known him. MMmmm