Stereotypes and Rites of Passage

Just because one has sense it does not mean that one is sensible.


I am looking to replace my car as it is now three years old and will be getting into the testing period when I will, year on year pay out vast sums of money to get the damn thing through.


I therefore went to the Peugeot garage and asked for the cost of a new car giving mine in part exchange. I was asked what model of car I wanted and I said a replacement of what I had got. They have made a few improvements and I think (!) at last that I will be able to play one of my iPods through the music system.


Safe, unimaginative and lacking in imagination – but sensible.


Then, the seeds of discontent (sown some time ago by Jane in Sitges) sprang into full flower with the simple enquiry about why I hadn’t considered a convertible.


As soon as the question was voiced the experience of the drive to the last wine tasting in Sitges with the wind whispering through where my hair would have been in a previous age came back to me with seductive force.


Why hadn’t I considered a convertible?


With United Nations Day looming and access to the vast wealth built up by a grateful government over the last thirty years or so getting ever closer to my grasping finger tips, surely this purchase was more than a possibility!


I am getting to the age where such a purchase will be met with raised eyebrows and pitying exasperation by those people who don’t have one and who will not be allowed to buy one. Issues of practicality will cloud desire and the dream will remain a dream.

As a concession to sense I am considering the Peugeot version rather than a more expensive brand. I wonder if they do real leather seats.


Enough.


This was the enthusiasm of yesterday night, who knows if it will survive the rigours of four days of school with actual kids to make it to the showroom next weekend and find out the cost of reality. This is something to ponder, but not with too much of my brain otherwise the tempting idea will disappear with the waking up of reason!


Waking up was not something that II did convincingly this morning. I woke up at the “right” time because I always do, but I made the mistake of turning over and going back to musing and letting my mind go into free fall association – or that half or quarter sleep which is so comforting and has an insane logic all of its own.


Eventually the Protestant Work Ethic kicks in (usually almost immediately with me) and I wake up properly. As it was a Saturday after three days of school (even without the kids) I felt that I was entitled to a lie-in.


I did however have my swim in the increasingly icy waters of the pool. Anyone watching my progress up and down the pool might have been intrigued by my erratic progress as I crawled (with my best strokes) snake-like down the pool. I was, of course following the pattern of sunlight as it shone above the trees and dappled the water. The water of the pool was of that degree of coldness that is described as “you can get used to it – just” that is only one stage away from being un-swimmable.


I am determined that Monday, being the last of our four short days without the kids, will also be a swimming day for me with a short dip before the school day starts. It will be sign of my seriousness whether I find out details of the indoor pool in Castelldefels to continue the regimen of activity that I have kept up during the summer.


As I have to stay alive to get back all the money (with compound interest and adjusted to reflect today`s prices) that I have paid into the superannuation fund over the years, I suppose it is in my interest to stay healthy!


Swim on!