The Classic Rituals of a British Wet Sunday.

It is Sunday and I have just had a roast dinner of belly pork with roast potatoes, roast parsnip, roast carrots,  cabbage and some pigs in blankets (that’s sausages wrapped in Bacon for those outside the UK) and a couple of Yorkshire Puddings. This was followed by a nice cup of tea and a Mr Kipling French Fancy (pink). It was lovely and I have now sat down for a quick break in front of the PC.  Of course in the old days I would settle down in front of a good Gary Cooper Western in glorious black and white while the rain attacked the windows.  OK I don’t watch old movies on the TV these days and I can’t remember the last time I noticed Gary Cooper on the box, but it is still raining as it did in the old days.

Anyway this has made me ponder the ritualistic behaviour of us human beings (OK yes I have done this before), you see we all tend to have routines and rituals that we do on an almost daily basis.  Take today. I got up staggered about for a bit until I found the bathroom and was frightened by some terrible beast in the mirror peering back at me. I managed to make a cup of tea feed the cats and stagger back to bed for a while, then got up again staggered about again until I found clothing got washed and grunted and pointed at stuff. I then as I do either on a Saturday or Sunday drove into the Castle of the Bishop and bought some croissants from the Spar Shop. . . they are remarkably good and freshly made and worth the trip.  On returning home I ate the croissants having heated them up a bit first, with more tea and grunting a lot and pointing at things like the cats or squirrels or pheasants that are all watching and waiting for food. I then feed all these critters who devour the food in seconds. They do not realize just how expensive all that food is, luckily they spend a lot of time chasing each other in a game of tactics to see who can get the most food.  After cleaning my teeth and scaring myself in the mirror again I sort out the wood burner so that it can be lit later today, that also meant getting some logs and coal in and sorting out some kindling and emptying the ash. I have also put all the recycling in the car ready to get rid of the lot tomorrow, one of the newer rituals of modern life. In the old days it all went in the big trusty metal bin and was thrown by men into a huge bottomless pit. Sadly they can see the bottom of the pit now so we recycle instead, and normally the men come and take it, but due to the constant windy weather of late it is easier to get rid of it all myself rather than see it all blowing up the road.

I then had more tea pointed at stuff (again) and gave the cats more food, the cats eat a lot of food, but they are now sleeping. As for me, this afternoon is going to be lazy I did my good deed yesterday and so I have few plans other than drinking more tea and annoying folk on the internet a bit. . . Only because Gary Cooper has run off somewhere. I might do a bit of drawing if I feel in the mood but it is a damp slightly chilly Sunday in the rolling hills of Shropshire so being lazy seems the best option.

The point of all this though, is to point out that us humans like our routine and rituals and we are not at our best when we are forced out of them, which for me today is not the case . . .PHEW

And OK this is not one of my more exciting days, but remember what I said about Neil Armstrong. . . . . . . . . . . its not all moon rock and rockets.