A quiet week, a something and nothing week, a good week #130

“What a privilege,” said Mary.

Chatting on the phone to my wise friend Mary yesterday I was recounting my quiet week. As I did so, prompted by her insight, the penny dropped. What a privilege it is to have a week of nothing. To just make it up as you go. To relish not having to be anywhere at any particular time. To just potter and be. To have time.

I’d been out of London for four or five weeks until last Sunday, missing, thank goodness, the worst of the recent heatwaves. A fortunate coincidence of timing, my flat was being decorated by my lovely friend Gill. How she managed it in that heat, a woman also in her 1000 Weeks, I genuinely do not know. If you’re looking for a London or South East-based decorator who really knows her art and her onions, drop me a line and I’ll put you in touch. She’s a goodun.

I returned to reclaim and clean my beautifully painted flat. It felt strangely odd to be back. I missed the company of the wonderful friends who’d accommodated, entertained and fed me – see photo of my ‘landladies’ above. And when I looked at my diary, a few coaching clients, and the final push on the assignment I bemoaned last week aside, nothing.

Nothing

Which, for a recovering FOMO sufferer, was mildly challenging. So, I gave myself a firm talking to –

“Ruth, an empty diary is not a measure of your self-worth, likeability or fun-factor”

and just got on with it, making it up as I went.

Quite quickly I started to relish it.

I mopped my floors and dusted my shelves with genuine zeal.

I took myself to an indulgent Wednesday matinee at my local cinema to see Lady a mockumentary following the eccentric and traumatised Lady Isabella, self describing as ‘aristocracy’s answer to the Kardashians’.

I went to a Gong Bath at my local yoga place, my somewhat dramatic reaction to my first-ever gong session now a distant memory, as I fell into something between a deep nap and a stupor.

And my lovely friend Stephanie emerged for a low-key, chatty Thursday night dinner.

All this and nothing but earlyish nights, walks around my neighbourhood, healthy food, no alcohol, gym sessions, and some genuinely brilliant TV and radio.

Speaking of which I appear to have developed a fully-fledged crush on the magnificent Hannah Waddingham. Fuelled, I suspect, by binge-watching Ride or Die and then falling headlong back into Ted Lasso, the latest series started last week. The gorgeous Hannah plays an assassin and a football club owner respectively but what both shows do brilliantly is celebrate friendship, female empowerment, fairness and decency. I’m not going to say any more. Just watch them both, if you haven’t already. Oh, and don’t forget Ann Droid, for similar reasons. Ssomething is clearly in the creative water right now. Interestingly my mum wasn’t a fan of Ann Droid…shame, I was just about to place an order ;-)

And then on Wednesday morning, Lauren Laverne on Radio 6 stopped me in my nostalgic tracks: apparently it was exactly 45 years ago to the day that Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, aka the Pet Shop Boys, first met in an electronics shop on Tottenham Court Road. She played six of my favourite tracks: West End Girls, Being Boring, What Have I Done to Deserve This, Go West, Left to My Own Devices, It’s a Sin. Each one evoking memories of my younger self and PSB gigs at Latitude, Heaven and the moat at the Tower of London.

Which is perhaps why, by the time I was recounting my week to Mary, her perspective helped me to see the week for what it was. Not a week of nothing. A week of stuff I rarely make time for - pottering, watching, listening, just being with the luxury of making it up as you go.

Oh, and most importantly yesterday I submitted the bloody assignment I banged on about last week. The outcome now in the hands of the Henley Business School assessors. Let’s see…

You

As ever, I’m interested in you. An empty week in your diary - cause to celebrate, or cause to panic? Drop me a line. I’d love to hear from you.

And remember, you’re never going to be any younger than you are today. Maybe just sit with that, smile, and enjoy it.

Until next week, my friends,

Ruth x

Thanks for reading my words, I really appreciate it. If anything struck a chord, leave a comment, ❤️, subscribe or share. It makes me smile and keeps me writing.