Habit

Are you a creature of habit or do you have the kind of life where you are able to wander through the hours at will?   Or do you indeed wish to wander at will rather than stick to a habit?

After a lifetime of teaching, when I had to be at school at a certain time then I got into a habit timewise.   Then I retired and for a few years we would get up when we woke up and go to bed when we were tired.  Things floated along just as we wished them to.

Then, of course, I was widowed and re-married a farmer.   There is little that is more prone to habit-forming than being a farmer, particularly a dairy farmer as the farmer was when I first married him.   Morning milking was at 6.30 and five minutes late and cows would let you know you were late.   Lunch had to be at a set time, so that if the farmer was working a few fields away he knew what time to come home.   Tea time had to take place just before evening milking.   And so the pattern went on - 365 days a year.

Now the farmer is semi-retired and could easily lapse into any old time, but old habits die hard.   He still gets up and goes to collect the daily papers at 6.30am; we still have lunch at 12.30 and tea at 5pm.   Even his two dog walks with Tess and Tip, the sheepdog, take place at 8am and 4.30pm.

This ordered life has spread over into other aspects too.  I still do the bulk of my weekly washing on a monday morning, while my cleaning lady is cleaning through; I still go to the supermarket every Tuesday morning and then on to have coffee with a friend; I still have coffee in the Golden Lion every Friday morning at 10am with a group of friends.  There are also monthly meetings, like my writing group which meets on the first Wednesday in the month, and my Poetry group that meets around about the last Wednesday in the month.

Am I a boring old f***?   Or is this regularity good for me as I come up to my 80th birthday tomorrow?   Speaking of which - I can't decide whether or not to have a tattoo done on my right shoulder as a way of breaking out.   Now that would be a departure from habit, wouldn't it?