(Friday, 15 May 2020)
I had two conversations today, which struck me as a) amusing and b) probably the only time in our lives when this is consistently an issue.
The first was with Mark, during one of our morning coffee break chats, when he said something along the lines of ‘Well, that’s OK, it’s Monday…. isn’t it?’ and the second was a phone call I had a bit later in the day, which was started with the words ‘Sorry to call you on a Sunday evening…’ For once, I was the one who was actually on the ball, it’s not often that happens. It’s Friday. At least, I’m pretty sure it is. 🤔
We’ve all done it at some point, sometimes even several times in a week if there’s some reason we’re having one of ‘those’ weeks, but to consistently have no reference point has made for some interesting times.
In a normal week, you might get that sinking feeling on a Sunday night knowing the weekend is over, that ‘Monday morning feeling’, the hopeful feeling of ‘hump day’ on a Wednesday knowing that you’d survived to the half way point of the week and were on the downward slide to Friday again. The joy of Friday afternoon and knowing the weekend was very nearly upon us again… and repeat ad infinitum. Of course, some of you don’t work a standard week, maybe shift work or strange hours but to some degree or another, there is a pattern to it. A reference point. You mostly know roughly where you are in the pattern.
For us, our lives revolve around dates and days of the week with bookings coming in, arrivals, departures and even as far as knowing what attractions, shops or restaurants are open on certain days. We never really get confused about days of the week, dates or months. But since that all went out of the window, we mostly haven’t got a scoobies what day of the week it is, let alone the date (I give you my VAT return as a case in point 🙄).
Even the weather is doing its best to confuse us! Last week we were basking in 28 degrees, wearing shorts and this week, we’ve had snow and minus temperatures. Even the walnut tree is playing its part, the new leaves are coming out more fully now and they are a blend of light green, almost yellow and red. All completely normal, but it looks like Autumn. I tried to photograph this yesterday but it didn’t show up in the dull light so I’ve cheated and taken a picture this morning with the sun shining on it, so it’s clearer.
There is a big part of me that is really enjoying the freedom of not knowing the days of the week or really even caring. It’s very liberating and I can’t remember ever feeling that lack of relevance to my life before. I wonder if this is what retirement feels like? If so, bring it on!! 😂
Mark has started work on the bathroom now and mostly spending a lot of time reaching up above his head painting the ceiling. He’s done two coats already and it’ll need one more. He says his shoulders are really feeling it and I’m slightly concerned that once all this time is over, he will actually not know how to keep his arms below his head anymore! 😜
I would wish you all a lovely weekend, but I’m not sure that actually means anything any more… 😆
Stay safe everyone xx
