Time is a-fleeting!

 

 

 

This was morning was a lazy one.  The mobile alarm went off to indicate that it was time for me to get ready for my early morning swim and I rejected its peremptory tone, as I rejected the beeping from my watch.  There are some mornings where to stay in bed is simply more convincing that going to the local pool.

     However, that does mean that I feel the accusation of a version of the Protestant Work Ethic about something I have not done that I ought to have done, and there is no health in me - once learned, the language of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer (old style) does not leave you – even if your faith does.

     It does mean however, that if I fail to do my lengths, I have to do something to justify my indolence.  This does not entail my going out into the world and doing good works, but rather thinking about getting one (or fewer) outstanding tasks done.

     When you are retired, how you fill your days (apart from the necessary elements of ordinary life like shopping, eating and cleaning) are pretty much up to you.  Which means that success and completion are very much yours for the interpretation.  If you decide that one of the major elements in a satisfyingly filled day is the writing of this blog, then who is to gainsay your achievement!

     In talking to a colleague who has returned from holiday and is about to start a new term in the school that is next to the pool, she vouchsafed to me that my commiserations were falling on deaf ears because she was “looking forward to the routine” that a timetable offers.

     While intellectually I can understand such sentiments, I cannot sympathise with them.  I fall into the category of teachers who say of retirement, “I cannot understand how I ever found time to teach” given the way that elements in their retired lives fill up their days.

     It is very often a case of “in place of” superseding “as well as” in the dynamics of a retired life.  I often give the example of trying to deal with things external to school when I was in teaching.  You have a timetable and a number of free periods with breaks and lunch.  If you need to phone an outside agency, then you have to wait for an opportunity in your timetabled day and do it then.  If you need a response, then you have to tell the people you are dealing with that you will only be able to respond withing a fairly tight clock-defined period of time.  If they phone later than say 11.35 am, you will not be available because you will be teaching.  Few outside agencies seemed to understand the constraints on your free access to communication and were mystified when a call at 11.45 am went unanswered.  Admittedly this was in the era pre-mobile phone use, but the principle is still the same.

     Similarly, medical appointments had to be fitted into a school day that caused the least difficulties for colleagues and teaching periods, whereas now in my retired state I turn up when they ask and other things take second place.

     The set elements in my timetable are concerts, opera, family events, and medical appointments.  As if to demonstrate this, I have just checked my phone and there is a message from my dentist saying that I need to make an appointment.  To be fair, there is an element of choice in this appointment, I can suggest a range of times and days and the dentist is usually accommodating.

    My appointments with doctors are less flexible.  I am now firmly fixed in the automatic schedule of appointments and follow-up consultations, and I am far too grateful to the Catalan medical system to suggest alternatives.  Luckily by concerts and operas are all at the weekend, so they never interfere with the doctor appointments.  The medical establishment in this country has been more than generous with their time and expertise and so the very least I can do is fit in with their arrangements and express gratitude.  This is one occasion when I appreciate the force and necessity of an automatically generated timetable for diagnosis and follow-up supervision.

     I weave my interests around the distractions that play fast and loose with my determination.  But I am aware of what I should be doing and I understand that there is more than enough of what I could call ‘work’ if I cared to, but which is in reality me exploiting my freedom to do pretty much as I like with the time that is not now taken up by paid employment.

     I like to think that I do not waste my time, though the use to which I put it, might be considered individualistic, to put it mildly. 

      But it keeps me off the streets and harms few!  Surely that is a life being well spent!

 

Better tomorrow?

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There is something infinitely galling about having you flu jab and within a week being gifted a stinking cold from your nearest and dearest.

At least mine is not as bad as his and with my judicious doctoring (i.e. going to bed to sleep it off) I think that I am well on the road to recovery.  I must admit that today has been a lazy day (for purely medicinal purposes) and I did not shower until later in the day; have only worn a tracksuit and have taken to my bed twice!  I have not been outside the house at all today and I have rejected the idea of going for my daily swim!

I have not been completely slug like and have completed a poem called ‘Misophonia’, the inspiration for which was found (or rather heard) on a metro station in Barcelona when I was returning from a demonstration demanding the release of the Catalan political prisoners held by the right wing minority Spanish national government.  And yes, I do know that the government makes out a case for their being nothing of the sort, but rather like northern Cyprus that is only recognized by the Turks, so the government is the only one persuaded by their fatuous arguments.  Anyway, all that political agitation and I write a poem which has nothing to do with the reason why I went up to Barcelona in the first place!  Ah well, par for the course!  If you want to read the poem it is at http://smrnewpoems.blogspot.com.es/

I have also been reading Mark Twain, the 1872 book “Roughing it”.  It is always a delight to read something that is generally regarded as a classic and discover that it really does deserve that accolade because it is so good to read.  Twain’s language has a freshness and he writes with such an ironic eye that you are captivated by his descriptions.  The pace of the book is also helped by the fact that this early semi-autobiographical episodic approach to travel writing is set in the high and dangerous days of the Wild West and includes epic journeys on stagecoaches, silver exploitation, violent death, Mormons and easy racism.  Twain’s approach to Native Americans and African Americans may well be ‘of his time’, but it still makes for uncomfortable reading - but that is also part of the literary history of America and must be dealt with.  I have not yet finished the book, but it is well worth reading.

The Spanish lesson yesterday was sparsely attended.  I suggested to the teacher that was because we were going to tackle the subjunctive and it had struck fear into the hearts of her pupils!  I think that was only partly a joke.

She took us through the basics of the subjunctive with the aid of a printed handout and seemed to find some inspiration in our faces as she explained.  I think that I maintained an air of frightened acceptance throughout the lesson and I am not sure that I was substantially more informed about when to use the subjunctive with confidence than when I had contemplated it as a esoteric unknown concept last week.

The teacher sought to encourage us by suggesting that we would not find many more references to the subjunctive in the rest of our course and that it would not play a substantial part in our examinations.  This is fine and dandy, but it does not tie in with the undoubted fact that the Spanish use the subjunctive much more than the English speakers do in their language and it is much more common than with us.

Tomorrow I have to essay the homework that we have been given which is to insert the correct form of the subjunctive in sentences.  At least I can do this armed with my trust “501 Spanish Verbs” book, the textbook, the Internet and the handout.  And if all else fails the answers are at the back of the book!

There is always a way!