Monday, September 6, 2010

What brightens the most 'meh' day?

Today was one of those days when I wished I was somewhere else. Specifically, the front verandah of the little bungalow at Merimbula Beach Holiday Park in which we spent three days of our holidays. Views straight to the horizon. Big, full moon reflecting on the water. Stars strewn like fairy lights across the sky. Sunrise emerging from the waves.

Instead, I was in the Fibro suffering a holiday hangover. The first week back, I think everyone is carried along by a feeling of wellbeing and powered by holiday smiles. A week later - specifically, the next Monday later - that's all gone and it's as flat as the Dutch landscape around here.

Mr3 never wants to return to preschool. Asked why, he says there's simply not enough to do. Like he's working on simultaneous world-saving projects at home.

Mr6 is tired. Tired enough to go to bed without a fight, and only one chapter of Captain Underpants (which we will discuss on another, much funnier day).

The Builder and I spent the evening folding clothes. To liven things up, we made up a new game. It involved sock puppetry and matching pairs. The good news is that we now have only five odd socks wandering unloved around the laundry. The bad news is that this activity was about as exciting as it sounds.

I did, however, unearth one of the books I swapped on holidays. One of the best things about holidays is the reading time that becomes available when you're not connected to the phone, internet or TV guide. This can be problematic, however, when you read like I read - that is to say in large, hungry gulps without pause for air. You need an awful lot of fodder to feed that sort of addiction. Which is why I like staying in places with libraries - particularly the ones where you can simply take a book, as long as you put another on the shelf in its place.

I finished The Fountainhead, a cracking read by Ayn Rand, and replaced that with a second-hand purchase of a James Patterson co-authored crime novel (for which I was glad I'd paid only $3). That was left on the shelf at our next stop, happily replaced by a Donna Leon Inspector Brunetti novel. The one I discovered tonight. The one I haven't finished reading. The one I'm heading off to read right now.

The perfect antidote for a day like today.

18 comments:

  1. You can stay in places with libraries and swap books? Seriously? Where are these places? Post holiday blues totally bite. Meh indeed. I hope the antidote works.

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  2. That post holiday feeling is revolting. I never ever want to rise to the surface from the glittering depths of a holiday.

    And my holidays have bookshelf "librarys" that you speak of. Bliss.

    My mother-in-law fills the bookshelves in lovely husbands old room with books she thinks I will enjoy. Whilst father in law takes children to the beach. All day. Every day. PERFECT HOLIDAY.

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  3. I'm VERY impressed by only 5 odd socks...that must be a world record!

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  4. Escaping into a book is sure to cure a ‘meh’ day. Your holiday sounds fabulous, I am trying to talk my hubby into going away for a few days on the school holidays that are coming up soon.

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  5. Sock puppetry sounds a good way of passing them time when you're folding laundry. Do you do the voices too?

    Sometimes the only cure for meh days is a good book. Even better if you've picked them up for a song. I'm having a craze on Maggie O'Farrell at the moment and picked up one I hadn't read in the Oxfam shop for a £1. I'm going to read it tonight. After I've put the ironing away.

    I wonder where the remaining 5 socks are. Maybe Alla Hoo Hoo is making a den.

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  6. What a fabulous picture... I love holiday book shelves... A few years ago in a hostel in Mumbai I got so fed up with an awful detective story set in Aberystwyth that I swapped it for one of my favourite biographies ever - Richard Holmes Shelley that was just hanging around on the shelf, asking to be read.

    Thanks for sharing this great post

    Hannah

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  7. You were holidaying so close to where we live ~ we possibly even crossed paths without knowing;. It is a beautiful neck of the woods.

    Which library does the swap thingy? I didn't know you could do that? How cool! Wouldn't everyone swap their crappy books though for the lovely interior designy ones? Or the cook books?

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  8. I know the holiday hangover well. I hope you all feel less 'meh' ASAP. xx

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  9. Only 5 unmatched socks??? I have a full colony of them - they drive me utterly insane.Seriously I'm possibly near triple figures...

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  10. Worse than the first week back is the last day - packing up, journeying home with over-tired, over-stimulated children and just knowing that you're going to require a compass and a Sherpa to make it over the mountain of washing. I hate that day.

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  11. I'm sorry, I'm stuck at holiday envy. I can't get past it to post holiday blues.

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  12. Get stuck into organising the photos. If you are like me, if you don't do it now, then it will be forever before you get back to them.
    They also help remember how great the time away was, you can relive it on the 'meh' days.

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  13. A library that allows you to take a book if you leave one in exchange, that is pretty amazing. Getting absorbed in a wonderful book really is the antidote to an otherwise bad day.

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  14. Hmm. Am beginning to wonder if it's just me who has a 'take one, leave one' approach to holiday accommodation libraries. I thought everyone did it! Am feeling less 'meh' today, probably because I've been able to use one of my favourite words several times today: ennui. Love it.

    @ClaireyH You are right about those photos. I shouldn't allow them to join the two years' worth of unsorted photos on my computer. Good advice!

    As for the socks, I have to confess that this is the NEW batch of mismatched socks. I dealt with the old colony, which numbered considerably higher, by simply throwing them out. Oh. Just thought of something - did I throw out the match for my current crop of 5 in the great purge? Sigh.

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  15. It sure is tough getting back into the regular routine of life after a holiday...though it's been soooo long, I'm not sure I remember my last holiday (not including school holidays at home which is almost upon us, eek!) Oh captain underpants, we're enjoying a little of that at the moment, funny!

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  16. I think it is a sign of a great holiday that you are feeling this. You should be happy. You have officially moved past the "same shit, different location" phase of parenting!

    As for the book situation, I have never done the take one, replace it at those holiday houses. I like the idea though and think it is how it be done if it isn't the actual rules. A great invention!

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  17. Just had a thought - maybe your 'swap libraries' aren't actually supposed to be swapable. What if you've been cheerfully swapping your books at holiday accommodation for years and years and leaving a trail of bewildered owners in your wake?

    Regardless, it's a GREAT idea and I'm doing it from now on.

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  18. Oh I know all about days like that...
    It's hard remembering that they'll pass when you're in the thick of it!
    x

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