The Butterfly Effect

Today I am definitely experiencing the chaos theory in action, I'm just taking a little break from re-painting walls, all because my husband bought a desk!

After officially getting home office status he decided that slob pants on the sofa was not a good, long-term, solution so off we popped to Ikea to buy a desk. But first we have to move a cupboard to make space, then get rid of the floor to ceiling (rather shredded) cat tree and re-arrange some other things to make it all workable. Another cat-scratching solution also had to go on the shopping list and cupboard/furniture moving motivated me to have a bit of a clear out. It also shows up the knocks and marks on the walls, hence the painting. However, once I’ve touched up one section, another part, which looked fine before now looks bad. If it doesn’t end soon I’ll just give up and start handing out dark glasses to my visitors so they don’t notice J

Another thing, having had to dig out the painting equipment means I can no longer deny how dis-organized our cellar has got over the last year, but that’s a job for another day.

One week in Lithuania

Written Thursday 24.5.2012

I'm currently in Alytus, Lithuania, staying with my friend Maria and her 3 girls, Janet, Sharona and Sade. Her husband is away on business for 3 weeks so I took the opportunity to keep her company, help out in the garden, house, with the kids and generally support in anyway necessary. Getting 2 girls ready for primary school and the youngest ready for kindergarden in time for a 7.30am set off is no mean feat and an extra pair of hands to braid hair or wipe a jammy face is much appreciated!

Lithuania is really a land of contrasts. This is my 3rd visit but my first in the springtime, so I am enjoying the lovely warm weather. So far it's been sunny and 27°C, a welcome change to the snow and -20°C of my last visit.

Having been annexed into Soviet Russia and oppressed under communism the land is now starting to develop and bloom in it's freedom. However the contrasts are quite extreme at times. Most people live in small flats or, whenever possible, a house with an allotment sized garden. The quality of the building is alot lower than in Germany, yet their gardens are a wonder to behold. In a tiny house there is not alot that can be done, plus building materials are very expensive, but with a few seeds, hard work and a bit of patience something beautiful can be created. Sunday evening Maria and I walked over to one of her neighbours and, as a new guest, I was proudly shown around the garden, every plant and flower, the tiniest of water features and the all the different vegetables and salad were pointed out to me. So there I am nodding and making appreciative noises when in reality I haven't the faintest idea what the different plants were and can hardly tell a dandelion from a dahlia. My only attempt at "productive gardening" at our cottage in Scotland turned into a water logged disaster of rotting potatoes that was soon reclaimed by weeds and brambles.

Yesterday we treated ourselves at the hairdressers, I had a cut and styling, eyebrow shaping, colouring and eyelash tint which all together cost a whooping great 8€, yet later in the day fueling up the car cost 70€. Diesel is only a tad cheaper than at home, at 1.39€ per litre. When the average wage for a semi-skilled worker (eg car mechanic or hairdresser) is 350 - 400€ pm yet food is only 10% cheaper than Germany, I can not begin to imagine how they manage.

Food shopping is an experience here, Tuesday we went to the local market to buy vegetables and flowers. Now I'd been to a couple of different supermarkets, one in particular is like a Tesco Extra (for my U.S. friends - an up-market Walmart), clean and shiny with shelves full of everything you could possibly want or imagine but the market is something completely different. Simple wooden tables with covers for the rain, some are full to bursting with lovely healthy looking vegetables, just like you would imagine, on others a lonely old Grandma sits there with a few bunches of radishes or 20 eggs in the hope of supplementing her meagre pension. Although everyone was happy to talk to us not everyone allowed me to take photographs. They wanted to know what I would do with them, perhaps I would give them to the police! They are still very suspicious even after all these years.
  

Out of the back of a van little chicks and duckling were being sold. I was allowed to hold one, so cute! Matt will be pleased to know I won't be bringing any home in my suitcase. 

The flower market was just row upon row of colour. We picked out 4 bags full of summer flowering plants for just 12€ which was my belated birthday present for Maria and we have now planted up all her window boxes and pots and they promise to be a riot of colour over the summer months. 

So that's my week of being able to help out a friend, however through certain conversations and one particular new contact I have a feeling I will be the one who will benefit most from this week.

Aschaffenburg Citylauf 7.9km 11.5.2012

The incredible shrinking lake

Hello from sunny Blackpool! Matt and I are currently in England visiting his parents for a long weekend. It was rather a spontaneous visit, had the idea on Wednesday, booked the Chunnel on Thursday, drove Friday night and arrived Saturday breakfast time.

This morning I was wide awake whilst everyone else was still busy snoring so decided to take the opportunity to go for a walk. Weather forecast is for rain, which it did in abundance yesterday, so the morning sunshine was a lovely surprise. I headed off in the direction of Stanley Park and walked round the lake. When we lived in Blackpool our house was only 1 mile away from Stanley Park so walking round it again brought back many memories.

We were leaders of our local church youth group and our house was often a place to hang out and stay over. Sometimes, late at night we’d motivate some bored teenagers to go for a walk round the park. We grabbed torches and whatever bread we could find before climbing over the locked gates to play tag near the clock tower and Italian Gardens or go wake up the ducks for a midnight feast (hence the bread). The park was always locked overnight and thankfully we were never caught by a park warden, even though our breaking and entering consisted of nothing more criminal than annoying a few sleeping ducks!

Another memory I have is after the car accident that damaged my spine. For many months it was excruciatingly painful to walk so Matt would drive me down to the park (yes a whole mile!) so I could walk on the lake-side path as far as possible before turning back. At that time, the idea of walking round the whole lake seemed more akin to the idea of walking round Lake Windermere (the largest lake in England at 18.8km long). Today, in comparison, it’s more like a big puddle!

It is now less than 2 weeks till the Aschaffenburg Citylauf and, as I mentioned before, my training schedule has completely gone to pot due to illness. However, even though I must admit to contemplating cancelling, having just read about Claire Lomas, a paraplegic, who is walking the London Marathon at a rate of 2 mile a day my excuses are definitely invalid.

Here’s the link. I hope it inspires you as much as it did me.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/athletics/london-marathon/9233873/Is-this-the-bravest-marathon-athlete-of-all.html

We all have our odd little quirks, right?

I don’t have much to blog from these last couple of weeks, not pertaining to my goals anyway but this morning one of my little quirks got the better of me and gave me a laugh so I thought I’d share.

It’s been tough health-wise since returning home from Spain and my training for the Citylauf on 11^th May has ground to a shuddering halt. (I’m still determined to take part but it will be at a slow jog-walk-jog-walk pace.) 

Anyhow, this week-end has been extremely painful and I spent all of yesterday in bed. We had arranged to have one of our darling “adopted” nieces stay with us so Matt had to take over and run the show. I ate supper with them but that was all L so after a busy day of joining in the work-day at church, shopping and swimming Matt dutifully puts all the wet towels in the washing machine and sits down to watch a film. This morning I realize that he only pegged out half the load of washing - half is better than nothing right? - so I got the rest and began pegging it out.

Now, those who know me well, know I have some little OCD tendencies, one being that each item of washing should always have the same coloured pegs! (I know, I know, I alphabetize my books and DVD/CD’s too.) So I didn’t annoy me that Matt had only done half the job it was his choice of pegs that got to me. Painful as it was to raise my arm above my head, there I was re-pegging towels with matching pegs! Laugh all you want, because I'm laughing too.

However, weird as that may be, it’s not a bizarre as Shannon getting Matt to watch Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2! 

The Joy of Giving

I´m writing this whilst in sunny Gijón, northern Spain. Matt and I are staying with our good friends Joseph and Dani Contreras and their 3 boys, Isaiah, Andrew and Michael. They are American transplants and their work here is 3 part based through their association BeStrong, and they work to better the health of the community physically, educationally and spiritually.

Joseph is the strength trainer and honourary Pastor to the local American Football team – The Mariners, and “head honcho” in the bible teaching and main Pastoral aspect of the job. Dani schools her boys, teaches English as a foreign language from 5yrs through to adult. Runs ladies health and fitness courses both at the centre and one online plus leading a ladies Bible study. Their current building is quite new, they’ve only been there 1 year and are still working on renovating. That’s quite a novel concept to my British mind (plus 10 years of German influence) where a business wouldn’t open their doors to customers until the premises were finished, but here in Spain, life is a little more laid back and customers are quite happy to weight train in a room with un-painted plaster board walls and showers with no doors! (The doors are ordered but delivery will arrive………well, when it arrives)

This is now our 4^th visit, last time we arrived just as they got the keys and so got stuck in with scrubbing and cleaning and painting. This time it’s no different, after 2 days of hard work the main multi-function room is now freshly painted and looking good :o)

Since becoming ex-pats we’ve got to know people all over the world and, like with Joseph and Dani, the actual physical time we get to spend together is limited but our friendship is deep, so we feel almost like family. Therefore, spending some of our holiday working is not only fun but being side by side with close friends it’s so fulfilling too! Plus the locals we met last time greet us with big smiles and loving kisses.

So, in trying to be a positive difference we in turn have receive (and I don’t mean the cough and cold we’ve picked up). A deepening of friendships plus new friends and making memories.

So that´s what is meant when it is said, there is more joy in giving than receiving.

Optimist: someone who figures that taking a step backward after taking a step forward is not a disaster, it's a cha-cha. ~ Robert Brault

It feels like I’ve been doing a lot of cha-cha this last couple of weeks where my training is concerned. As I wrote on March 10^th I was doing really well, so well in fact that I decided to go against my training plan and train 2 days in a row. Big no no and boy did I pay for it with a major cramp in my right calf. Added on to that 2 days later I got cold when out walking with a friend and I ended up in bed with Fibro pain L

I took a little time out to rest up and started easing back in again last Friday with a 3k power walk. All seemed well and this Wednesday I was back up to 4.5k at 2min jog / 1 min walk rotations only to be struck with cramp again this morning!

I may be doing the Cha Cha however I’m not trading in my training shoes for high heels and a sparkly dress just yet!

Huffing and puffing towards the goal.

So here I am at the end of week 3 on my Citylauf training plan. Although I’m a little behind, I’m still amazed at my own progress. Just 2 weeks ago on the first Run Day I absolutely hated it! I only had to do a 10 min rotation of 1min jog, 1min walk and, if Matt hadn’t been with me, I definitely would have given up. My legs felt like lead during and afterwards. It was horrible with a capital H.

Today I have just completed 3 rotations of 1½ min jog, 1 min walk followed by 12 rotations of 2min jog, 1 min walk. Including the walk to and from home to the river path, that’s 4.5km with a total of 28½mins actual jogging!!!

As yet, I’m still not enjoying the actual jogging, but I am enjoying the feeling of accomplishment afterwards, the increase in energy and the better sleep.  I must also say a big thank you to Mr H for being my motivator. He comes training whenever he can and even though I’m so slow all he actually need do (atm) is a striding walk to keep pace, he jogs alongside, helping me keep focused on rhythmic breathing and pushing me on when I want to give up before the timer beeps.

There’s still a way to go before I reach that 7.9km finish line on 11^th May but with 9 weeks to go I’m feeling more confident that I will reach it J

Just a little inspiration for me.

Fibromyalgia and walking. 

http://www.realage.com/walking/fibromyalgia-exercise?src=edit&chan=chronic-pain-management&con=rr-tout&click=et2

Your excuse is invalid!

My trainings plan and motivational photo.

I love Chocolate!

Today is Ash Wednesday, the start of Lent, a time in the Christian calendar for fasting. As I was thinking about this on Monday and deciding whether to take part in this symbolic fast this year I got in a bit of a panic. Only 40 days til Easter and after Easter, May is only a couple of weeks away so I really, really, SERIOUSLY have to start training for the Aschaffenburg Citylauf on 11^th May.

I registered Matt and myself back in January for our city’s yearly fun run thinking it was a 5k run (goal N° 3), yeah yeah I know, I should have read it properly as it is actually a 7.9K run!!!!!!  Call me crazy but I didn’t cancel, however I did put off starting to train. Minus temperatures and 16 weeks stretching out in front of me gave me a couple of good excuses, but the time for excuses is no more. It’s do or die, sink or swim time.

As for a training plan, I’ve found a few online but have put together my own starting with a 5k and adding on some of a 10k plan to reach the 8k mark. Couch to 5k is a good one to start with, especially if, like us, you’re a couch potato. This week it’s brisk walking every day and next week I start on 1 min walk 1 min jog rotation. With just 11.5 weeks to Race Day I’m sure there’ll be a tantrum or two before the finish line is reached.  

So if you’re anywhere near Aschaffenburg on 11^th May come and watch, better yet join me! I’m trying to get a team together to run as an advertisement for our Church’s youth “Extreme Day” on 16^th June. Get in touch if you’re interested.

Anyhow, back to Lent. What am I going to give up? Well, chocolate, yes really! For those who know me well, you’ll know this will be a tough one. I don’t just like chocolate, I love chocolate, LOVE LOVE LOVE chocolate. In fact, given the choice between chocolate and oxygen, I’d have to think about it.

I have actually done this before, gone 40 days without chocolate, so it’s not totally unprecedented, but it’s still going to be a test of my willpower and that’s the point. Fasting for Lent isn’t a biblical mandate, it’s a Catholic and High Anglican tradition linked with the 40 days and nights that Jesus spent in the wilderness fasting. Also (unfortunately) quite a lot of mythical and manipulative traditions have got mixed in over the centuries. In the western world it’s too easy to lose sight of what is luxury and what is necessity so it’s time for me to face the ugly true, chocolate ISN’T essential for sustaining life.

PS: If you see me looking like this, I'd recommend giving me a wide berth. LOL

If only it was that easy!

"I just decided that I wasn't going to get any older! Aging wasn't for me" - you've got to love Miss Piggy.

Families work together.

I’m sitting here with my feet up after a long, busy day. Today was Linda’s moving day and, although I couldn’t do any heavy lifting I spend my day organizing, directing the carrying (what/where/which room etc), “taxi” driving and making coffee, lots and lots of coffee! All in all there were 18 people involved today getting Linda and all her worldly processions out of a 3^rd floor apartment and into a lovely ground floor apartment. And that’s not counting the people who help pack boxes and paint beforehand.

As one man commented when he arrived “Wow, it feels like the whole family’s here!”. He was meaning the BGAB Church family, and it was wonderful. It reminded me of something I’d watched recently in the TV series “Living with the Amish”. 

Six teenagers from London spent 5 weeks living with 5 different Amish families and joining in their day-to-day lives, including a barn-raising. On this particular day what seemed to astound the teens most was the teamwork within the Amish community and the fact that people came from miles around, worked the whole day and gave their time for free! A type of family-community they had never experienced before and the feeling of accomplishment and being part of something bigger than themselves, they couldn’t really articulate.

As for myself, I’m blessed to have been part of many such days. Sure, it would have been easier to stay in bed this morning, I would have saved myself some stress and been able to spend the whole day with my husband BUT I would have missed out on soo much. We’re not related my blood but today I spent time working with some of my family and I love that!

A New Year - A New Start.

I don’t know about you, but New Year’s Eve is often a time of reflections and goal setting. What have I / we achieved in the last year, what was good, what was bad, what can I change and where would I like to be this time next year?

My “Thought for the Day” email of the 29^th take it one step further and encourages us to examine the motives behind our goals.

VERSE

For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.     -- James 3:16

THOUGHT:

 So, what are your goals and plans for the New Year? Do you have great dreams and laudable goals? I hope so. But, please join me as I seriously look at why I set the goals I do and make the plans I make. In the afterglow of Christmas, that great season of giving, let's make sure our plans for the future are not selfish or based on envy, lust, or greed. Instead, let's set our hearts to reach great heights for God's glory and to do great things to be a blessing to others. Otherwise, all our attempts to reach great things ultimately will end in chaos, heartbreak, and destruction.

As we’re currently visiting friends in Bristol, I’ll write more in a few days’ time. I’m still working on my 10 goals, rather too slowly, but better slow than not at all.

“What’s wrong with your wife? She’s always smiling!”

I've just got back from a trip to Bristol, where Matt and I stayed with our good friends Andrew & Rebecca and their 4 kids. Mungo, their oldest is my Godson and just turned 9. It was great to see how he, his brothers and sister are growing and developing.

Returning home to Old Blighty is always fun and this time was no different. We had some beautiful weather, stayed just a few short steps away from Clifton Downs in one of the many beautiful houses there, got to rest up as well as spending time with each of the kids and even managed to pop over to Wales to visit other friends there.

Apart from family and friends, one of the things I love about Britain is the friendliness of strangers. Just walking around people will smile and greet you, it’s all too easy to have a short conversation with a shop assistant and I always stop to chat with the Big Issues sellers when I buy one. Don’t get me wrong, I love living in Germany but I do wonder it the Germans don't know what they’re missing in their shyness to engage in little interpersonal exchanges throughout the day. Not long after we moved to Germany, one of Matt’s colleagues asked him “What’s wrong with your wife? She’s always smiling!”  !!!!  Also, both times that Kate has been over to visit she’s commented on the lack of smiles when out and about. You’ll be lucky to get a passerby to catch your eye, let alone smile.

Another thing I love is the numerous bookshops, new but most especially secondhand. As I mentioned before, reading is as essential as breathing to me and I wanted to seriously stock up on this trip. If I’m going to read 40 books, then I need 40 books to read, simple! So between raiding my friends’ bookshelves, charity shops and Wesley Owen, I returned with 22 books! 

The visit to Wesley Owen was a joy, not least because I got to take Mungo, he is a young man after my own heart when it comes to reading. After telling me he had either read or been read all the children’s books in the house, I promised to buy him a new book and gave him a budget of £10. He chose 2 books totaling £9.98 (he endeavoured to assure me) and then found another in the reduced section for just £3. “Please Aunty Kathy!” Well how could I refuse? After all, I had 7 books in my hand.

Here he is, pleased as punch with one of his new books.

Anyhow, my challenge for you today; smile at a stranger and get your nose in a book.

"Resolve to edge in a little reading every day, if it is but a single sentence." - Horace Mann

Surely it’s not Christmas-time already?

September heralds the end of summer, apple harvest, shorter evenings, golden leaves and Christmas. Yes, Christmas! The first leaves have only just started to fall and already the shops are putting out displays of Christmas biscuits. It just seems so wrong when it’s still 24°C (75°F) outside.

Although I’m not ready to pack away my sandals and sunglasses quite yet, there are 2 presents I need to prepare long before December, the first for my friends in Mexico (snail-mail takes FOREVER to get there) and the second for an unknown child via Samaritan’s Purse “Christmas Child” action. With only 2 months before the deadline on 15^th November when these shoebox presents have to be at your local collection point, it’s definitely time to get started.

The last couple of years I’ve started buying things throughout the year, partially to spread the cost but mainly to snap up bargains and make my money go further. Spending around about 10€ a month I can keep a look out in the sales etc, for example, last month I picked up 7 cute T-shirts for just 12€! I’ve now got a whole Curver© box full of cloths, toys and school supplies ready to be sorted and packed. I’m going to make up 2 shoe boxes this year and all the “left-overs” from my collecting goes to the main collection point where the volunteers make up Christmas Boxes from all the different donations that come in, from companies and private people as well as checking all the boxes that come in already packed.

So I’d like to encourage you to make your own shoe-box present, or if you can’t afford to pack a whole box for a child, then think about adding just 1 extra thing to your basket each time you shop, some soap, toothpaste or a colouring book, over the next 8 weeks and help bring a smile to a child’s face this Christmas.

New Glasses

Yesterday was glasses buying day in the Harrison household, 3 pairs in all. Poor Matt’s been suffering headaches for the last few weeks and eventually got his eyes checked. Yep, he needs a new prescription for his glasses AND has reached that dreaded middle age marker of needing reading glasses (he’s been doing the “stretched-arm” reading pose for a while now). So off we tootled to check out the heart-stopping costs of German opticians, 2 hours later, a large gulp when signing the credit card payment and Matt gets his new glasses in 24 hours.

I also ordered my new glasses yesterday. I chose an online company in the States – Warby Parker. Now, in many ways I’m very particular about my eyecare. Unfortunately I have a bad genetic heritage where eyes are concerned, glaucoma, macular degeneration and early onset cataracts in my immediate family but my contact lens specialist and ophthalmologist look after me really well in that department and I only want glasses for the early morning/late night anyhow so decided to try a little online bargain hunting to balance out the costs.

That’s rather a long winded way of telling you about the company Warby Parker and a part of their business philosophy that I like. Not only do they want to be able to supply glasses at a reasonable cost, they also promise to donate a pair of glasses to a person in need through their Buy a Pair Give a Pair program.

Over 2 billion people in the world don’t have access to glasses, that’s 15% of the world’s population who are unable to effectively learn or work because they can’t see clearly! A simple pair of glasses can increase their earning potential by 20% so it a very effective tool in helping lift people out of poverty. I think all of us would like a 20% increase in our income but can you imagine what a difference that would make to the 3 billion + people who live on less than US $2 per day?

I can’t imagine how I would manage without contacts or glasses, can you? I certainly couldn’t do the work I do, could not drive, even cooking would be a problem, quite a scary thought! However, just by changing where you shop you can make a significant difference to another person’s life. So if you live in the States (or like me can get a friend to bring them over), next time you need new specs check out Warby Parker : http://www.warbyparker.com/Buy-A-Pair-Give-A-Pair

How do you measure significant?

N° 7 on my goal list: Make a significant (positive) difference in 40 people’s lives.

This sounds great and a very noble goal but I’m struggling with a unit of measurement. I mean how DO you measure significance? Centimetres and metres? Pounds and ounces? Speed or strength? None fit the bill, and then you add culture in to the mix, it plays huge part, something I would never have thought. For example, I just recently did “meals on wheels” and stocked up the freezers for 2 different friends with home cooked meals, one who’s poorly and the other who was having a tough old time of it. That makes a difference, but it hardly seems significant (a couple of hours and a few Euros) however 3 people have told me that it is a big thing here!

My direct neighbour, Kathrin, and I have a great relationship, she borrows my baking equipment or comes round to watch football occasionally with Matt, pizza and movies with me, we do the “post/plants/pets” thing for each other when we’re on holiday, I took ice-cream to the hospital when the doctors stole her tonsils and am currently helping her write her CV in English. Coming from NW England/SW Scotland this is so normal it’s not even noteworthy, but here it’s so exceptional her parents even sent me a small present for being so neighbourly.

A couple of months ago I came home Saturday afternoon and whilst parking the car noticed and heard an older man (German) talking loudly to an elderly Turkish lady. After turning the engine off it became apparent that he was actually mocking her for being poor and using a rollator!!!! I got out of the car and (with a friends’ warning ringing in my ears) chickened out of shouting him down so just gave him The Stare. As he walked away I turned to the lady and apologized that she had to experience that, asked if she was ok and wished her a nice day as she shuffled away. Since then, whenever I see her pass by I greet her and now she smiles back, I hope over time she will eventually talk to me, which I would consider significant even if she doesn’t. Unfortunately this is not an isolated incident, many of my female African and Asian language school colleagues experienced verbal abuse when out alone :(

I recently watched the film Pay it Forward (thanks for the tip Kathrin). Basic synopsis; a class of 12 year olds are given the assignment “Think of something to change the world and put it into action” and Trevor comes up with the idea of paying it forward. Do 3 good deeds to 3 different people, it doesn't have to be a big thing. It can just seem that way, depending who you do it for. Then, instead of paying it back they are then to pay it forward to 3 other people. The film is based on a book by Catherine Ryan Hyde and along with a few others, she started the Pay it Forward Foundation which has spread across the US and into other countries as well. http://www.payitforwardfoundation.org/

So, I’m back to the question, how do you measure significant? To some people, hours of hard work giving your best hardly makes an impression, yet for others a couple of minutes of your time and a friendly smile can make a huge impact. I would love to hear your comments and experiences. AND if I do you a good turn, don’t pay me back, please pay it forward.

Last but not least, think you’re too old or too young to make a difference? Have a look at these 2 links:


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/20/huffpost-greatest-person-kristal-burns-superheroes_n_864784.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmZtoEMiMpk&feature=player_embedded

Still proud to be British!

This last week of riots, triggered by the police shooting of an innocent man (wrong place, wrong time) has created lots of media outrage, condemnation from politicians and celebs and many a dramatic photo opportunity. However there is one aspect that isn’t reaching the front pages and relegated to the “Magazine” page of bbc.co.uk etc etc. The Broom Army!

The morning after the riots, crowds gather wearing washing-up gloves and carrying brooms. Once the crime-scene investigators have finished they wade in to clean up the mess. All volunteers, mostly locals, all ages including children and when the Mayor of London turned up they started chanting “Where’s your broom”

This is British tenacity and community spirit that always rises up in the face of adversity  and makes me proud to be able to say I am British J

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14475741

When I am old I shall wear purple!

As you know, we love having visitors and meeting new people. Today Vivien and Rebecca came to stay with us, 2 students giving their weekend to help out at Extreme Day, our church’s youth event.  Rebecca comes from Florida and was obviously brought up to be very polite “Yes, sir.” “Yes Ma’am” etc etc so she started off calling me Miss Kathy.

Aaargh! I feel so old.

As the saying goes, growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional. My mother only stopped saying she was APPROACHING middle age shortly before her 60^th birthday, yet my mother-in-law tells me that each new decade is better than the last.  If I can’t fight it, I might as well enjoy it. Jenny Joseph said it so well:

When I am old I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickle for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.