Musings

Yesterday while out driving down a street near our house, I noticed the figure of a lonely woman standing at a window.

There was no curtain and she could clearly be seen. I wonder why she was there. Perhaps she was looking out at the beautiful day. Maybe she was waiting for someone to come home. Maybe she was just daydreaming.

The image of this woman stuck with me and reminded me of how different and yet similar all our lives are.

I know I often find myself day dreaming. I love imagining days gone by and love ‘people watching’. I like trying to work out what kind of life this person or that person may lead. Are they happy, or are they sad? What do they do?

Life is funny isn’t it? We all seem to be so busy rushing around trying to fit in as much as possible. But if we forced ourselves to slow down a bit, we might have time to stop and look around more, and soak up what life has to offer. We need to find out what makes us truly happy and find the time to look after ourselves.

The pace of life seems to have become way too fast. Simple pleasures like a stroll on the beach and impromptu picnic seem to happen less and less. I keep telling myself does it matter if the laundry is not done, does it matter if dinner is not ready on time? It is not a matter of life or death. I know I put pressures on myself daily which is silly really, at almost 70 I think I have the right to indulge myself a bit more. I always feel guilty if I don’t have a productive day but on the other hand I think I deserve some ‘me’ time.

I love to travel when possible, I find it is a way in which I can escape the ‘hum drum’ of everyday life and I can pamper myself a bit. While travelling overseas recently I experienced the lovely drive into Singapore from Changi airport. The gardens were so neat and tidy and not a scrap of litter could be seen, only beauty. What I particularly enjoyed was the beautifully-shaped trees that lined both sides of the road. The branches twisted and turned in all directions and almost seemed to form some sort of puzzle. I must admit to being a bit of a tree-lover; they are so interesting with their knots, and gnarly trunks and branches.

In Rome they have Cyprus trees that dot the landscape – which look so majestic, but there is also another beautiful tree which is quite like the pine tree. The trunk is tall, thin and bare, and the top of the tree is perfectly trimmed into a unique round shape with a flat top. These trees of course are hundreds of years old. I have been told they were trimmed like that during Roman times so the enemy could not hide in them.

A few years ago while writing my children’s books I wrote quite a lot about trees. One tree in particular was a very tall, grand old tree. This tree was based on the tree in the play centre next door to my home and I named him ‘Mr Oscar’. I really loved that tree. Sadly one day, to make room for extensions to the play centre Mr Oscar was cut down. I actually sat there in my lounge bawling. I think my kids thought I had completely flipped my lid. But I was sad, he was an important part of my story and I was upset to see him go. ‘Mr Oscar’ really seemed to have a personality to me.

I don’t really like change, maybe that’s because I am getting old but seeing old familiar things disappear for ‘progress’ I find quite hard. I guess that’s life though. There has to be new beginnings in order for us to progress. But progress does come at a cost.

In life there is a beginning and there is and end, but let’s hope the journey is an exciting one.

By Kay Rayner. Read more here.