11 September 2008

A few of my favourite things

One of my colleagues is being sexually harassed on our site by someone she used to work with; the fallout from this has pretty much taken up my entire lunch hour. As such, all I have time for is a list of five things I love but rarely acknowledge, even to myself. Just thought it was about time I gave them props!

In no particular order:

Canned pop from a hotel vending machine – I don’t know why, but these seem to be so much colder than canned drinks from any other machine. I don’t normally get wound up about canned pop, but given the shipwrecked nature of hotel rooms, a very cold drink can feel almost luxurious in that particular setting.

The smell of gum, newsprint and tobacco – making gift shops and newsagent stands one of my all time favourite places to loiter, when I have the time (which is never).

Floating on my back in the ocean, or the sea, or even a pool – the most liberating feeling I know. That’s above flying, which fills me with terror, even though I’m mostly over the phobia now.

Hotels in general – I’ve stayed in countless hotels but I still get excited about it every single time. Typically, I have the best sleep of my life, provided the pillows aren’t too hard or lumpy. And regardless of quality, I like the idea of going downstairs to have a meal, especially if it's breakfast. I even like having a drink in the skeezy hotel bar, right before going up to the room for bed. I suppose it feels like living in a very big house, where all your needs are met but nobody expects anything in return (except £100 a night) and nobody keeps tabs on you either. It's an agoraphobic's paradise really, and having once had agoraphobic tendencies, I can still appreciate this.

Planning vacations – taking holidays is nice, but thinking about a holiday and trying to envision what it will be like is 80% of the enjoyment for me.

You know, I didn’t realise the common link between these items until I’d written them down. I guess I must subconsciously love holidays as much as I do consciously.

2 comments:

pk said...

A unified psyche? Man are you going to be a good parent: meanwhile Kate wants me to read this book about dealing with adolescence: it seems to involve (a) being called a stupid old fuckwit a lot and rising calmly above it and (b)talking frankly about sex, in as much detail as necessary.
God help me.I have two or three years grace though....

Anonymous said...

I think if you can manage to raise a child who feels confident enough to call you a stupid old fuckwit in a fit of pique, you should congratulate yourself on a job well done! Seriously. As long as it isn't accompanied by theft or arson or something. But fingers crossed on the sex thing. I plan to give mine a book on cross-pollination and hope that he asks a neighbour next time.