Saturday, July 24, 2021

Weekend thoughts

You know, for someone who is 71 and retired, you'd think there'd be no difference between a weekday and a Saturday, but I can't shrug off the distiction. It's deep in my head. 

Here I am, sitting in my pyjamas at 9.40 a.m. feeling relaxed and easy. Had it been a weekday I'd be feeling I should have been showered and dressed a couple of hours ago, and up and doing, but I can't escape this weekend feeling even though I haven't 'gone out to work' for years and years.




But I've been thinking about something else. If you read my last post and you saw the comments and my responses, it's clear what a fussy reader I am, how difficult I am to please, and how narrow are my tastes.

I have a theory that the older people become, the more like themselves they become. By that I mean that their distinctive personality characteristics become more and more exaggerated. I see it in my siblings. I can't say I see it in Dave because he has always been pretty extreme. 😉 (That's a wink emoji, Pete.)

So yes, I admit I am very choosy about what I want to read, and yet I have read more widely during this last year. I've read several memoirs for example, which I have always shied away from in the past, admittedly about subjects I've been particularly interested in - the experiences of ordinary non-fighting people in the second world war. 

But I have also noticed how impatient I've become with on-screen fiction. If the characters annoy me, I switch it off. I told you I'd given up Neighbours for that reason and switched to Last Tango in Halifax, didn't I? Well now I've got to a point where Gillian is beginning to piss me off big time. and it's not just her actions, it's also the way she expresses herself, or is it the actor's delivery? Who knows? I've given up on it.

So...I was wondering if this is an example of my becoming more and more like myself as I get older, i.e. more picky and more impatient, or whether there is another reason...

I think it's that the actions, the hopeless communications, the muddle, the cack-handedness, the ridiculous incompetence of our so-called government - added to their corruption and lies and lack of compassion -  makes me so angry that they have used up all of my short supply of patience, and I have none left to spend on characters in any kind of entertainment - in books or on-screen.

That is my conclusion. I rest my case.

And now, a propos of nothing, except that I'd like to leave on a sweet spot: you cannot have too many sweet peas:




6 comments:

Anonymous said...

The sweet peas are wonderful.

If I may proffer a saving grace...at least we no longer have have the dreaded T to contend with, and B will be pushed off his perch at some point.

To your point of becoming less patient. Me too - and rightly so! I have abandoned current book - as soon as it veered into child abuse - like you I want a satisfying read, and often that is to be found in non-fiction. 'Dadland' by Keggie Carew was a prime example - absorbing, fascinating, true.

Separately - I can't recommend the 2016 film of 'Cold Comfort Farm' highly enough (BBC4, on iPlayer).
It gave us 90 minutes of entertainment, not least seeing great actors egging each other on - to go large.

Thea x

Sue Hepworth said...

Thanks for your comments, Thea, and for the recommendations. I loved Cold Comfort Farm when I read it years ago so I will check out the film. X

Unknown said...

Hi Sue, I've also enjoyed having small recycled jam jars full of sweet peas in my flat and obviously loving the photos of your sweet peas.

I'm not sure if it's being less patient or just that becoming older means we know ourselves so well that it takes less time in knowing what we will or won't enjoy reading/watching/eating etc. I know 5mins into a film whether I will enjoy it or not and on the rare occasion I persevere, I just prove myself right, it really isn't to my liking (90% of the time anyway!).

I have just finished reading The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris and I just loved it.

Shafia x

Sue Hepworth said...

Hi Shafia, that’s a good point! I think you’re right. That’s certainly part of the equation.
Thank you for the book recommendation too. I’m going to look it up. X

Kristine said...

Hi Sue,
I too have noticed my husband and I becoming more impatient and more critical as we get older, though I'm not sure it is the result of a 'distillation' of our real selves. My husband was always an easy-going, gentle person, but not lately.
Like you in the UK we here in Australia have much to be critical about with regards our government, but also the selfishness of big business,(the obscenity of personal space travel), the growing amount of poverty and desperation around the world, the media focus on celebrity and the trivial, the paucity of quality television programming, and on and on. I think it is a combination of our age and a mature judgment of what is important, together with the times we are living in. It is sad that we need to turn away from the horror and focus on ourselves and what gives us joy to keep sane.
Regards,
Kristine

Sue Hepworth said...

Hi Kristine, thank you for your contribution.
Perhaps older people are feeling the same the world over, ☹️