...I'm struggling. I've spent the first two days of my long weekend doing as little as possible, and the malaise seems to have infiltrated my brain as well as my body. I've been in real 'couch potato' mode today, partly through indolence and partly through still not feeling as well as I might - I seem to have picked up a chesty cold now, probably because my immune system was compromised by the previous infection, which means I'm now coughing left, right and centre. The blog seems to have degenerated into some poor impersonation of a daytime medical soap opera, but that's just the way things have been for me of late. The only hope is that I'm getting all of these bugs out of my system before the end of next week, so I can embark on the new job in some sort of reasonable health.
The most interesting hour of the day was taken up with a wide-ranging, in a fairly random sort of way, conversation with my daughter this evening. We didn't solve any major world problems, needless to say, but just to chat in a vaguely 'stream of conciousness' sort of way was stimulating enough. I don't want to sound like some kind of elitist intellectual snob, but I'm really glad that my daughter has turned out to be as bright as she has, and is willing and able to hold an intelligent discussion. She might hold my senility at bay yet!
Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B
Hi there, Sammy
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry to hear about the chest cold - I tend to head for the chemist's to find a good "tickly cough" cough mixture at the first sign of one. The usual run for a cold is a week or so, I think, so you should be OK for starting the new job.
I wouldn't be too worried about the mental "down time" - I think a while off, not thinking about anything in particular, is a good idea now and then. I think it gives the subconscious a chance to keep working on its own, and you might well find something emerging in your writing, or some other aspect of your life, as a result.
I'm really glad to hear that you and your daughter can have this sort of intelligent discussion. Quite apart from anything else, I think it shows a degree of closeness that I think a lot of children don't have with either of their parents, and it augurs well for her being able to talk to you about the inevitable difficulties of teenage life.
Take care
Mark
Hello Mark
ReplyDeleteI hope something happens to spark my writing soon - even the main blog seems to be a struggle at the moment, while 'Cuckoos' is pretty much moribund, and has been for weeks. I hope it isn't going to be a case of starting at the top with Lucid and Lucent and working my way down from there!
I've always tried to talk to my daughter as an equal (taking account of her stage of intellectual development, without patronising, I hope), and her being an only child means that she's spent a higher proportion of her life in adult company than many of her age. I'm hopeful she will be able to talk to us as she progresses through adolescence - we've certainly made it clear to her often enough that she shouldn't hesitate if she does want to talk about any issue that's affecting her, and I also hope that more general, and interesting, conversations like last night's will stay on the agenda as well.
Love & best wishes
Sammy B