Euphoria Postponed

What a contrast from last week, when successes vied with each other for attention in the blog.  Someone asked me at lunchtime yesterday what I had achieved in the morning and I was hard-pushed to provide an answer.  It had been much like the rest of the week, lazing over breakfast, catching up with social media, reading other people's blogs, and so on.  Some days I can sit at the computer for hours between coffee breaks!

The trip last Friday to the Christian Resources Exhibition has left me some interesting recollections.  As usual at these places the stallholders can't wait to thrust material into your hands.  At one stall, the man held out a small purple plastic bag and asked, "Would you like a bag?"
Bemused, I gave him a polite and honest answer, "No thank you."
"What's the matter?" he retorted, "Don't you like my bag?"
"I didn't say that."
"Oh, it's me you don't like, then."
"Not at all," By this point I was beginning to tire.  It seemed an awfully protracted conversation about a plastic bag ... even a purple one!  "I just don't need another bag."

It wasn't until then that I noticed that the bag actually contained more leaflets about what he was promoting; I didn't want more leaflets either ... especially as, by then, I had realised that his product was of no interest to me.  I mused further as I walked away, thinking that, if he was that aggressive to everyone who passed, he wasn't going to do much business.

As it was I came home with a rucksack full of material. It was quickly sorted into three piles.  There were those like 'how to install underfloor heating in your church', which went straight into the recycling basket.  There were others like brochures for retreat locations, which were immediately filed for future reference if I decide one day that I want to get away from everything and everybody for a few days.  And there were others that I really want to read, but so far have been too busy (doing exactly what? I hear you ask ... without reply).  These are still sitting in a neat pile on the table.  I dare you to ask me next week if they are still there ... but I'd rather you didn't.

Embarrassed by yesterday's unanswerable question of how did I spend my morning, I decided I really ought to produce some evidence of achievement. For many years I had prided myself on having completed my tax return by the end of April.  As things have become a bit more complicated, I've realised the wisdom of waiting until all the finance houses have submitted their certificates and reports up to the archaic and magical 5th April.  In recent years, therefore, my target has been the Spring Bank Holiday at the end of May.

Yesterday afternoon saw the exercise completed from scratch to final filing in less than four hours ... despite the occasional diversion caused by the fact that I'm now no longer working.  In this new circumstance, with no regular income, I realise there's a greater need to be aware of upcoming commitments, so there are no financial surprises to crawl out of the proverbial woodwork.  So the follow up to the tax return (which, by the way, indicates a small refund to come when the Inspector - is there one, in these totally computerised days, I wonder? - gets his act together), is therefore a spreadsheet where I can record everything in 'tax return fashion' as it happens.  I'm working on that one.

There is a tinge of dissatisfaction that some things have slipped off the radar, like the latest Welsh exercises, and those families I was enthusiastically chasing through the censuses the other week.  However, I think a few days where there are no identifiable achievements are acceptable.  They help to keep one in the real world, where success is not a constant.  With feet thus securely on the ground, one is better able to cope with the occasional burst of euphoria.

More euphoria next week, as I come to the leaping-off point for the year's second journey in the motorhome.