Pillowbook of Prudence…

Inspired by The Pillowbook of Sei Shonagon.

Things that I hate:

Living in the city. Traffic lights and lines of traffic. Tarmac paths. Crowds. Being away from the city in a quiet village and finding that some selfish little 20-something has decided to have a party with boom-boom music which he feels obliged to have at full volume. No doubt he is from the city and is returning to the city on Sunday. I wanted so much to have the peace of wind, waves and nightbirds this evening. (Perhaps it will rain, driving the Spoilers and Soilers inside.) Realising its getting a little chilly to wear red shorts. The smell of garlic the next day. Autumn leaves. Missing my husband. Having no daylight saving. Having to go back to the city tomorrow and leaving House. Black clothing.

Things I don’t hate:

Wine. Finefood shops in the city. Office-supply shops in the city. My city garden. My city friends. Tennis, the Dog’s Home and social stitching. The view from home. Autumn leaves. Gardening. Riding my $10 bike (Circa 1950’s). Chocolate. The crispness of an autumn morning. Daylight saving. Jeans. Neutral colours that are not black. The Little Black Dress. (Now there’s a contradiction) Blue.

On this eighth day of April, I contemplate how people can be so blindly selfish as to not wonder what effect their actions (music, driving, litter…) might have. Is it the way they plan to live the rest of their lives? Or how they plan to raise their own children? I wonder if I am becoming too parochial, too ‘old’ in my thinking. And suddenly, with the ease of someone rapidly approaching their ‘old age’, I think so what? A friend and myself commented recently that we were becoming grumpy old women and we decided who cares? Obviously the little 20-something down the road doesn’t.

On a more positive note, I think how lucky I am to live in a place where the city is barely an hour from the country, coast or wild bush. Places that will rarely have a soul walking where I want to walk or boating where I want to boat and where I can truly be at peace. And where if I choose, I don’t have to wear black in order to feel that I fit in.

*Those who have read the Pillowbook before will know that black and I have an antipathy and I see black as truly what it is – the absence of colour!*