THAT LITTLE PICK-ME-UP - BLOGCHATTER HALF MARATHON 2023

- August 26, 2023

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Days should have more than twenty-four hours to be able to do all the things one wants to. I say this with conviction at around 5pm on a rollercoaster of a day, when so many things came together in a beautiful chaotic way, leaving one with a sense of exhausted contentment. An oxymoron, wouldn’t you say?

A typical working day starts early, with home chores that need to be sorted before one gets out of the house. Of course, since my better half and I live alone, our daughter having shifted base to South Africa, everything needs to be done with precision. Just enough food to last for two meals, all food from outside to be consumed within two days and ice creams only on weekends and cheat days!

Of course, these rules have been arm-twisted out of all shape, because I do not believe in doing things by half-measures. So, when I cook, I make enough food to last me awhile, when we order in lunch on Sundays (another rule!), I do try and add that little extra so that it lasts over, at least, four meals, and cheat days come a little more often than otherwise.

School days are hectic, but enjoyably so, as there is nothing more exhilarating than being with children of all age groups, from the ‘small wonders’ who are bursting with energy, enthusiasm and affection, to the high school and the plus two seniors who believe that showing affection is akin to wearing their hearts on their sleeves. They claim to be almost adults or ‘tweenagers’, with one foot on the threshold of a ‘brave new world’ out there.

There is never a dull moment through the day… for instance, in those eight hours, one can witness meltdowns by teachers and children, sports injuries, ‘lack of breakfast’ swooning, fisticuffs and colourful language thrown around before teachers swoop down on them, sudden bouts of fever, colds, coughs, and sometimes, conjunctivitis and asthma as well. On an average nowadays, there is a deluge of children going home with their parents due to ill health.

Teachers have never had it so tough… they are handling new methods of teaching as ideas whirl around like arrows in olden battles. Covid-19 made them tech-savvy, and it is a struggle to wean children off those devices which were oh-so-essential during the lockdown. Apart from that, the virus came and went, (or is perhaps, on its way out having outstayed its ‘welcome’; wrong word, but it fits in here, doesn’t it?), leaving a generation of lonely, melancholy, introverted young souls behind, many of whom are struggling with physical, emotional and mental issues. Hence, I rephrase, teachers have never had more of a chance to make a difference to the young ones they teach. It is a challenge, but in the end, holding the hand of one child and leading him or her across the sea of hurdles makes it all so worth it.

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Back home, the adrenaline flows out as I sit with a hot cup of green tea mint, and ponder over whether I should go for a walk. Most days, I just sink back on my enormously relaxing armchair, which is aptly dubbed the ‘lazy boy’, and read a book or watch my favourite crime serials. Once the tea is downed, it is time to do a bit of writing, potter about in the kitchen and chuckle over photos and videos of our little heartthrobs – our grandchildren. A quick visit to my sister-in-love’s place down the corridor, a video chat with our daughter, messaging my sisters, a call from my mother, a shared joke with my better half – these are the little joys that energise me after a hectic day.

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Dinner time spent in sitting in companionable silence, watching something on television that we both enjoy. I think my thriller-killer instincts get further honed when I watch both cosy and gory murders on television, and the more horrific it gets, the more relaxed I feel! As my better half is fond of telling anyone who will listen, “I sleep with one eye open at night!”

Between tea and dinner is a tiny oasis where I sit down, complete the newspapers that I had left, half-read in the morning, and do my Sudoku for the day. My heart may lie in Shakespeare and Dickens, but my mind meanders with enjoyment through the various difficulty levels of Sudoku, the tougher the better.

When I finally get to bed, I send up a prayer of gratitude to the Almighty for the day gone by, and pray for a good night’s sleep. Then I switch my reading lamp on, snuggle up with my book, and read my way to that point when I am ready “to sleep, perchance to dream”.