There’s no getting around the fact that I’m getting older, and getting older brings with it some consequences.
One of the consequences for me has been the migration of hair follicles from the top of my head into my nose and ear cavity. This bring two problems, one of which I won’t discuss today, but the second one is that my head now needs something to keep it warm in the cold, and cool in the heat.
Once upon a time I had hair that was an ample cover for my head, and even ventured down onto my shoulders, but those days are no more.
The simple addition of a piece of cloth on my balding pate makes all the difference, and I’m grateful for it.
“That is why, no matter how desperate the predicament is, I am always very much in earnest about clutching my cane, straightening my derby hat and fixing my tie, even though I have just landed on my head.”
Charlie Chaplin
In the upstairs study where I spend much of my working life is an Ikea sofa-bed. It’s not a grand sofa-bed, in normal Ikea style it’s quite a simple affair. There’s little more to it than a metal frame, some wooden slats and two large pieces of foam. Yet for all its simplicity this sofa-bed is a real blessing to me.
For me, this sofa-bed represents a place of quiet, a place to stop and to relax.
At the other side of the room from this sofa-bed is my desk covered in all sorts of detritus; bills to pay, letters to be responded to as well as more than my fair share of technical gubbins associated with my work.
The sofa-bed is different though, it’s a place of tranquillity.
It’s almost like it’s a room of two halves, but to put a divide between the two would be a mistake. It’s not the contents of the room that make the difference it’s really my attitude to what happens in the different places. The desk can be quite a stressful place as I’m trying to get my work done. When i make time to be quiet I sit on the sofa-bed.
There’s are few things I like more than to sit on the sofa-bed with a cup of coffee and to write in my journal while the technical gubbins provides some quiet relaxing music.
The desk is a place of labour and stress. The sofa-bed is a place to stop and contemplate, because that is what I have made them.
It’s a blessing to have a place of quiet.
Recent Comments