Context..

Today we had A Day Off.

We slept more, ate poached eggs for lunch, watched a dvd all arvo, held hands and ignored all business matters.  The list of missed calls/texts on my phone was ridiculous. Who is BLOCKED and why won't he/she leave a message?

It can wait.  If whatever 'it' is doesn't require more calls or at least a message, I don't care (today).

I had a LAVISH shower very late (lavish = more than 3 mins and more than a basic soap sluice.  Unguents were carefully chosen and applied with abandon. Slathering and lathering is excellent physio btw.  Choosing which pretty tube to try next was adolescently exciting!!).  Felt great.  Smelt great.  I roold for a bit after that!

Went to pick up Persian casserole from me ma (chicken with prunes, pomegranate seeds and much pilaf-y goodness).  Collected Custard Cremes on special and some weird fig/chocolate/lemon icecream to try.

We had a nice time watching the Svensk police show, set in Ystad (southern Sweden) where we've been. Some of the town scenes show streets and the central city square we remember very clearly.  Nice.  One part of the episode had some mild swearing in it but we can't quite catch the word for 'shit'.  I like using such words from other languages but don't know nearly enough of them...

[M refused to teach me any bad words in Mandarin, when we lived in China.  I think he felt my command of anglo-saxon creative cursing would keep me going.. one day we were wobbling along on Beijing bikes (old, rickety and we didn't know the road rules) and M hit a bump.  He let fly with an 'Oh f@%k!!". A group of young men watching us pass laughed and called after us 'Oh ffaaaar!! oh ffaaarr!' until we got out of range.  I giggled a lot.  M was not impressed.  He still wouldn't tell me how to respond in kind.  Later that day *I* was given a sheet of printed info but not him, as we drove around the district.  He translated THAT for me, it was a natural cure for impotence.  I'm still laughing at that one!]

Later a check of FBook shows that some people have had a very different kind of day.  One dear friend has a kitty very short of life chances.  The great purple kitty cushion next to the great kitty bowl of sardines and cream is looming.. poor baby.  I want to visit him soon so he can play in my car and give me a good old fat-faced purry rub before he floats off to his ultimate kitty-cloud.

Another friend saw her child hit (no, not serious in physical damage) by a car and is naturally dreadfully shaken.  The child has a bruised nose and seems fine.  Poor mama (and no doubt papa and many close family and friends) have all had a mortality check today.  These things just happen in a split second in time, and the 'nearly but not quite' situations we've all been in will be very stirred up for a while.  This friend hesitated to fulfill her desire to go back to skul to hug her elflet: the need for reassurance and connection is so strong.  Just as with the msgs of sadness for dear sick kitty, the shock and sympathy for a possibly very nasty outcome for the elflet is our own need to integrate compassion and a sense of 'you are not alone' into our words of comfort.

A newly-found skul-mate is struggling with periods of loss of sense of humour, as (I assume) various irks and anxieties loom at her.  She's living alone and that can be a challenge at times when you have to try to comfort/encourage/support yourself.  I just hope she's got a 6 pack of her favourite tipple and a reeeaallly big glass and will read the silly message I sent earlier.

It's very very interesting to be meeting old skul mates after 35 years of no contact.  I remember many things with crystal clarity; the downside is the rest I seem to have totally forgotten. But since I've grown up in the meantime (in age if nothing else) I can follow where people are at, a bit better.  This pal seems to be living a similar life to mine (in the ten years 'between husbands' period).  During this time I achieved a huge amount of personal insight, experience, confidence and achievement, and also learnt a bit about being alone and trying to find motivation from within, when having a partner or parent or someone loving to hand wasn't possible.  I think this pal is such a honey and I wish we could find more time to fill in all those years of life that passed by..

I hope tonight all familys concerned (and all of you out there who may need a psychic bandaid of some kind, or may be fragile for any number of reasons) will accept a big cyber-squish from me. One of those hugs where you nuzzle hair, squish boobs/feel all the stuff in a bloke's shirt pocket, and stand on tip-toe to make the most of the close contact to send your message of love and caring.  I'm imagining a circle of dear ones surrounding the kitty/kiddy families, and sort of dancing gently around them all until the affection overcomes the sadness and the shock.

And there should be a bunch of old skul farts mooching around at my pal's place, feeling awkward about PDAs but meaning well.  Someone just put on a Peter Framptom record for us and soon we'll all be holding onto someone and dancing around.  Laughing at our funny out-of-date music. We'll (c)rock-on to Living In The 70s and feel our ancient oats one more time.

Tomorrow is Facing Up To Business Day.  I am fortifying myself with red socks, the daggy hairband hairdo, and the promise of Saturday to come within 24 hours.  Big Brekky day!

I'm rambling a bit.  Never mind.  Better than doing housework, wrangling lists or gargling pain tabs as I often do at this time of day.  In fact.. what was that about icecream?  Maybe I should try it with a sleepy-time nip of bourbon on top.  Purely medicinal I assure you.