Habits
Living as I do in a world free of timetables and clocks, it’s very easy to get into a string of habits.
I do much the same things every day, as each day is more or less equal to the last. In fact the days are so equal that the only way I know what day of the week it is is by remembering what I did the previous day [I went for the paper yesterday, so today must be Sunday?] or by looking at my watch. The latter nicely reminds me what date, day and month it is but unfortunately omits the year.
Now I don’t mind habits, nor do I mind routines provided those routines aren’t unpleasant. They do sometimes lead to problems though.
It has reached the stage where habits and routines have become so commonplace that I do them so automatically that I’m not even aware that I am doing them. Many’s the time I have got up to make a mug of tea, only to discover a fresh mug on the table beside me. At some stage I have made a fresh brew without even realising it. Other times I have discovered I have done the dish washing with only a vague memory of having done so.
A frequent occurrence is to find myself doing something with no clue as to why I am doing it. Why am I standing in front of an open refrigerator? I have to think back over the last few minutes to realise that I was making an habitual sandwich and was supposed to be getting the butter. I didn’t realise I was making a sandwich, but then it’s part of the routine.
The downside of all this is that I have routine and habitual places where I put things. Money always goes in a particular pocket; car keys are always in the same place and my pipe is always either in my gob or by my chair. Then the day comes when the car keys get moved to somewhere different and I then can’t find them. If they are not in Spot X then they must be lost. The fact that they are in Spot Y which is only a couple of feet away but behind something is irrelevant – they are lost.
I have lost my pipe. It’s not the end of the world as I have other pipes, but it’s not in my gob and it’s not by my chair, therefore it’s lost. There is absolutely no point in looking for it as it could be anywhere. I obviously put it down somewhere but for the life of me, I cannot remember where.
This is the downside of habit and routine – absent mindedness. Its’ a bugger. Absent mindedness leads to a break in routine and my whole life gets fucked up because things weren’t done the way they were supposed to be done.
So now I have a new habit which I have developed.
Everywhere I go I scan the are for items that I absent mindedly misplaced.
It’s a bugger.
Hi GD,
You describe my day to day life so well , have you been observing me ?
I’ve always thought that the theme from Radio 4’s “Getting Nowhere fast” described the feeling so well.
“I talk to myself much more these days I’ve found,
half way up the stairs I stop and frown.
What was I going to get ,and did I get it yet ?
And more to the point was i going up or coming down ?”
Not to worry .Until you get to the point where you’re standing in front of the toilet bowl and can’t remember what you were going to do there’s always hope .
One little habit I have developed lately, and it really irritates the hell out of me – quietly whistling nonsense tunes to myself. It is really fucking annoying.
More to the point, when you get to the stage where you’re sitting in a puddle of piss, and wondering where it came from?
That’s easy, stop listening.
At that point, which I hope you never actually reach, adult diapers are always an answer.
Anything else I can help you with?
I’m sitting on the couch reading your post. I know that there is something that I need to do, but I cannot remember what it is right now. If sit here for a little while longer, it will come to me.
Oh yeh. Outlook asked me to resubmit my password. I had forgotten it but I remembered eventually, so I have added it to my list of passwords. Now, what was the other thing?
Just set all your passwords to “incorrect”. Then all your programmes will politely tell you what it is each time.
Heard about the new ultra-high speed stairlift? It’s designed for people who forget why they wanted to go upstairs.
I could do with one of those. Stairs in this house are steep and ancient. They only lead to one room though where Herself tends to lurk so I don’t climb ’em very often.
Welcome to my W…what was the word…no it wasn’t ‘word’…sounds like it though…or was that in German?….w-w-w art?…nope not that bunny….must deal with the one on my foot though…’wartze’ is ‘wart’ in German or was I talking about the ‘wort’ as in beer making…what was that glorious term for pouring boiling water over malt?…oh yes Spargel…oh hang on that’s German for asparagus, which is white over there cos it’s grown under ground…still know all the words to that song too…♫”i’m toooo busy dodging through the flak” ♫…a 99 flake would be nice with a cuppa about now…I remember when they came in an ice cream by law and cost 99p…you won’t remember ‘pounds’ will you Granddaughter mine…we’ll be on Rabbit Pelts by then in our Post Brexit W…what was that word…?
Butter in fridge ???
Life at the manor…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8pZV5enryk
Go on, there’s romance up them there stairs 🙂