Photographers, artists, poets: show us STILLNESS.
Today of all days, time stands still so I
can tweak it a bit. Yes please, definitely, if only.
I was planning this morning whilst the remainder of my golden oldie sleep was hanging around, how to organise this wonderful day.
First of all I had a bathroom to clean. Not just the bath, but the whole inchilada. You know tiles, mirrors, doors, sinks and eventually the floor. No problem, just a matter of organisation and being fit. I am not so fit, but with my modern cleaning methods, I somehow conquer the work overload. I am not a cleaning freak, but have noticed that if you do something regularly, then you do not have to do it so intensively. After an hour it was done, in time for a fifteen minute recuperation in a horizontal position on the bed.
I then prepared lunch and after lunch had a golden oldie break, setting the alarm for a one hour sleep. I had to go to Tai Chi this afternoon. I took it all in the course of my day to day work routine.
Today is my father’s birthday, not just a birthday, today he is 98 years olds so part of my planned day was to call him with congratulations. He is at home in London and I am in Switzerland, so unfortunately I could not just call and give him a present and a happy birthday hug. We do it all by Skype telephone. I called him and after waiting a minute until he picked up the telephone, we did our congratulations. He can no longer move as fast as he used to. Sometimes I wish he would use his hearing aid when talking on the phone, but he says it does not work so well on the phone. The result is that I have a shouting match at my end and repeat everything at least three times until he hears me. He is as sharp as a pin, so there is no problem with the understanding. Up to now time could continue without a tweak.
The catastrophe occurred when I arrived home before I called my dad. No, not today, please not, but it was. Now I was ready for the time standing still to let me fit it all in. Today is our bi-annual rubbish collection day. Not the normal rubbish, but everything you have wanted to throw out for some time. The big stuff, bulky stuff, like furniture, carpets and garden rubbish and I had plans to make room and do it. How was I to clear it all out in the space of an hour, planning to call dad and of course fitting in a daily prompt somewhere? This would have been the opportunity, the saving tweak for my day. Stop the time and let me fit in an hour to shift it all outside. The photo shows our clearing out day about two years ago. It is not all my rubbish, some of it belongs to the neighbours, but a good partis was mine.
If I could have tweaked an extra hour, I would have done it. However, with my gift of multi-tasking, logistic planning and knowing what to grab, I grabbed, piled it on the trolley and wiping the sweat from my brow in between, managed to shift it all outside. There were two used cat litter trays, no longer needed, three plastic water cans from the garden, and innumerable earthenware flower pots that I have not used for at least five years and will never need again. I now have an empty shelf in my garden cupboard and in my washing room – oh joy.
After three or four journeys with the trolley to and fro it was done: If only today had twenty-five hours. We still have a carpet, a nice Afghan one, that we no longer need, but we decided to keep it; you never know. We can always throw it out in spring when we have the next collection. Generally on this day most of the rubbish disappears before the rubbish men arrive. You see some foreign immigrants driving around in trucks and taking what they can use – who cares? Gone is gone. Sometimes one of the wives will sit on a discarded sofa, chair, or cupboard until her husband arrives with the van to take it away: to make sure that no-one else takes it. There have even been fights over various articles.
As I could not tweak in real life, only in WordPress life, I had to fit this extra hour of work in somewhere between a Tai Chi Lesson and a call to my dad, but I did it. It is now approaching tea time. I am sitting on the patio typing this epic work of hit suspicious blog. I will now quickly do a spelling check, a save under and a cross posting to my Facebook and Blogger site and I have proven that it is possible to fit an extra hour into a day. And now I will have a relaxing golden oldie thirty minutes – hope I do not fall asleep and miss anything.
Click here for more
I was planning this morning whilst the remainder of my golden oldie sleep was hanging around, how to organise this wonderful day.
First of all I had a bathroom to clean. Not just the bath, but the whole inchilada. You know tiles, mirrors, doors, sinks and eventually the floor. No problem, just a matter of organisation and being fit. I am not so fit, but with my modern cleaning methods, I somehow conquer the work overload. I am not a cleaning freak, but have noticed that if you do something regularly, then you do not have to do it so intensively. After an hour it was done, in time for a fifteen minute recuperation in a horizontal position on the bed.
I then prepared lunch and after lunch had a golden oldie break, setting the alarm for a one hour sleep. I had to go to Tai Chi this afternoon. I took it all in the course of my day to day work routine.
Today is my father’s birthday, not just a birthday, today he is 98 years olds so part of my planned day was to call him with congratulations. He is at home in London and I am in Switzerland, so unfortunately I could not just call and give him a present and a happy birthday hug. We do it all by Skype telephone. I called him and after waiting a minute until he picked up the telephone, we did our congratulations. He can no longer move as fast as he used to. Sometimes I wish he would use his hearing aid when talking on the phone, but he says it does not work so well on the phone. The result is that I have a shouting match at my end and repeat everything at least three times until he hears me. He is as sharp as a pin, so there is no problem with the understanding. Up to now time could continue without a tweak.
The catastrophe occurred when I arrived home before I called my dad. No, not today, please not, but it was. Now I was ready for the time standing still to let me fit it all in. Today is our bi-annual rubbish collection day. Not the normal rubbish, but everything you have wanted to throw out for some time. The big stuff, bulky stuff, like furniture, carpets and garden rubbish and I had plans to make room and do it. How was I to clear it all out in the space of an hour, planning to call dad and of course fitting in a daily prompt somewhere? This would have been the opportunity, the saving tweak for my day. Stop the time and let me fit in an hour to shift it all outside. The photo shows our clearing out day about two years ago. It is not all my rubbish, some of it belongs to the neighbours, but a good part
If I could have tweaked an extra hour, I would have done it. However, with my gift of multi-tasking, logistic planning and knowing what to grab, I grabbed, piled it on the trolley and wiping the sweat from my brow in between, managed to shift it all outside. There were two used cat litter trays, no longer needed, three plastic water cans from the garden, and innumerable earthenware flower pots that I have not used for at least five years and will never need again. I now have an empty shelf in my garden cupboard and in my washing room – oh joy.
After three or four journeys with the trolley to and fro it was done: If only today had twenty-five hours. We still have a carpet, a nice Afghan one, that we no longer need, but we decided to keep it; you never know. We can always throw it out in spring when we have the next collection. Generally on this day most of the rubbish disappears before the rubbish men arrive. You see some foreign immigrants driving around in trucks and taking what they can use – who cares? Gone is gone. Sometimes one of the wives will sit on a discarded sofa, chair, or cupboard until her husband arrives with the van to take it away: to make sure that no-one else takes it. There have even been fights over various articles.
As I could not tweak in real life, only in WordPress life, I had to fit this extra hour of work in somewhere between a Tai Chi Lesson and a call to my dad, but I did it. It is now approaching tea time. I am sitting on the patio typing this epic work of hit suspicious blog. I will now quickly do a spelling check, a save under and a cross posting to my Facebook and Blogger site and I have proven that it is possible to fit an extra hour into a day. And now I will have a relaxing golden oldie thirty minutes – hope I do not fall asleep and miss anything.
Click here for more
Back here in the UK, there is no collection (at least not in my part of the UK) for large stuff like this. You have to transport it yourself to the local 'Public Amenity Site'.....that's the fancy phrase for 'rubbish tip', but at least they have large containers for just about every type of thing that people might throw out.
ReplyDeleteWe also have places where we can take stuff any time. We can bring computers and electric stuff to the local supermarket. Chemicals to the chemists. My friend in England worked for the borough (librarian) and has a pass for the local rubbish tip. she takes my dad's rubbish for him.
DeleteThis is so good :)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this little piece of your personal life :)