Safety, Stability and ... a Burnt Dinner

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   Do you know when most accidents or wrong doings and mistakes happen? When routine enters the door. Think about it. A young driver is more likely to have his/hers first scratch after feeling more confident behind the wheel. Up to that time, he/she is too cautious to cause anything, apart from annoyance, if perhaps the driving is painfully slow. Or if every time when about to park, he/she first takes out the notes from the driving-lessons days while cars are queuing behind. The same happens when one goes to a new job. Up to the point that the job becomes a routine, one is too cautious and alert to make a mistake.

   Nonetheless, we are creatures of habit. Without routine there’s no stability and furthermore, no safety. Safety and stability, two words in everyone’s lips. Ask a sociologist, a psychologist, or even a politician (the last you may find out that even he/she doesn’t know the definitions of the words, or any other for that matter, was trained to use them in every other sentence). However, one (me) may argue that in routine’s barn there’s no adventure. Maybe accidents happen specifically so to brake a routine's chain.

   Oh dear, let me explain why I’ve being mumbling for the past two paragraphs. I have plenty of time now, since I don’t work, so I practise my cooking skills. I love cooking and my husband loves eating my food. Perfectly balanced little family. One can assume we have achieved stability, therefore safety. After safety, comes routine and after routine comes a… burnt dinner. There, I said it. I’ve burned our dinner because I was so sure of myself that I didn’t bother to check the hob at least once every 20 minutes, let alone to stand over it during the whole cooking, as I did in my early days.

Ps. If you read the whole post down to the end, you are a patient human being. I told the same to my husband and before the middle of my speech, he left me for his afternoon nap. Yet, before going to the bedroom, he stated that, although everything happens for a reason, sometimes accidents do happen for no reason. “I’ll take you on a date tonight, just so to break the chain…”           

Families... Not Again!

The Addams Family, 1964

   How do you turn a perfectly good day into a blue one? There are several ways. Here’s one, you decide to do the maths of your bank account. Here’s another, you pay a call-visit to your family. I did both today. I haven’t yet made up my mind whether I should name me brave or self-destructive. Then again, bravery includes many self-destructive acts along the way. Enough philosophy, let’s go back to the wreckages of a day.

   The sun is still shining here and the weather is still warm. I should have been walking around all day free and easy. Instead, by teatime I was already so tensed that I’ll need a hummer to straighten up my back muscles. It’s nobody’s fault, actually. Sometimes I tend to take things more seriously than I should. I mean, most families are difficult to handle anyway (the rest are just impossible) and many people faces small droughts in their pockets now and then. Everyday’s matters, same all, same all, just routine, right? Wrong.

  There are these days bright as possibly can be, but all you see are clouds, even if there aren’t any. This is the effect of families and particularly families miles away.

   You see, one of the advantages of moving away from the family nest, the neighborhood, the country is that you don’t have to set dinners for the in-laws, arrange meetings and attend to all these obligations that everyone is expecting you to, especially after getting married. That’s the good aspect. The bad one (beside that you miss them, after all is your family for heaven’s sake) is that everything gets over-magnified or oversimplified, specifically because you are not there.  You either going to get a full version, with all the drama and colors of every little detail, the exhausting analysis of an incident with all the ifs and buts that can possibly exist in a human brain. Or you are going to get the ‘nothing important really’ version. When you hear that expression make no mistake, is damn serious, they just don’t want to frighten you up. Then the struggle starts, slowly and painfully you’ll have to guess what’s behind the lines, what’s the right question, what the frickin is going on. Then the sun is gone and the day is lost.

   Alas, families will always find their way in.                    

Here Comes the Sun



August Renoir, Luncheon of the Boat Party

   Two years of nagging are finally showing their fruits! The sun and summer decided to pay a visit. Now, I can get outside wearing nothing but a t-shirt and still be warm… bliss! Should I clarify that when I say nothing but a t-shirt, I don’t literally mean it? I also wear my jeans of course and shoes, but the root of my happiness is that I don’t need a jacket. You know what they say; little things are the ones that matter in life. Well, thumbs up to that one.

    It never crossed my mind how much the sun is essential to me. I was born and raised in the land of sun. It’s always there, on summers, springs, autumns, winters, always. The few days throughout a year, when the sun is hiding, constitute the exception that proves the rule. So, there was no reason to bother about the necessity of that orange source of warmth. The little things, you can appreciate them only when you miss them.           

   There’s another saying coming up (don’t worry, it would be the last, for this post at least), you can’t teach an old dog new tricks. Well, my loved ones, that’s true. Although I’m not that old (yet) and most definitely am not a dog, I have already established habits and ways which define me. For instance, when I’m about to greet someone I know and fancy it will come natural to me to hug him or her. That is a habit I had to quit when I came to UK. Another example, I never realised the way I speak and laugh it sounds loud. I’m Greek, we speak loudly, we use our hands, we get passionate about almost everything and we show our feelings about almost anything. Nonetheless, after a while I saw people staring at my husband and me whilst we were talking, most of them concerned we were having a fight. Whereas, in fact, we were having a pleasant discussion.

   However, as I said, it’s too late and too hard to quit my habits. So please, keep in mind that when you meet me you’re going to have your hug even if it puts you on the spot. I can’t help it.