Ironic dust gatherings

A late evening post as I drink tea and wonder how we reached midnight already. I have been tutoring and mentoring today. Teaching about gender roles and stereotypes; what does it mean to be a man/woman in a wider social cultural and historical context, etc... Since it is apparently half term my students can see me during the day and it seems to work well. Then I met some of my students for mentoring sessions this afternoon after making the journey down the A59 happily occupying my space in time where all that is required of me is to keep alive and alert, drive on the left hand side of the road, keep within 60mph and sing to the tune of the shuffled spotify playlist. This drive sounds wonderful; blissful in fact. Probably because it really is, once I befriend the fact that I commute it is really my saving grace some days. My car is my breathing space where even my phone must be unattended to. 

I have reached the point where I get clients or students who don't show up or who cancel and of course I worry or at least I hope that they are OK. And of course I will always seek to rearrange their session. But lately (and I don't know if I am 'allowed' to feel this way) but I have almost been thankful for the inevitable late cancellations or no shows - they have been a small window in time for me to catch up on things that would otherwise be left until now (midnight is not always my most productive time). The things that I cannot do whilst I drive. 

As I walked back to my car yesterday I realised that I could not recall the last time I took my car to be washed, and as the rain poured down from the heavens I was ashamed to discover that I have become of of those people who thanks goodness for the rain because it cleans the car. Because the rain cleans the car... Goodness. And yet despite the rain the dust on my car has somehow remained. And as it is autumn and the leaves and twigs are gathering on the ground, the interior of my car seems to be a magnet for such autumnal debris and since cleaning the outside of my car is a challenge and task that only Mother Nature can attend to, cleaning and hoovering the inside is a new concept altogether. There is a small forest gathering in the foot space of my dear Clio. This is a somewhat hilarious concept for most who know me to embrace pristine homes and cars; my car is less than clean but you know what? It is fine and I am fine with that.

I have spent some time drinking wine or eating dinner or generally in the company of some very good human souls lately. It has reminded me that there is much more to life. So I have accumulated dust on the paintwork of my car. So what? It simply means that my life is too full of what matters to stop and waste time sitting in the car wash whilst I pay an extortionate price to have it washed only 24 hours later for it to revert back to its dust-gathering ways. I have realised whilst writing this that there is something ironic about the dust on my car. Dust usually gathers when something remains static; when something remains still and untouched for a long period of time. But life is anything but static and motionless. Life is full-speed and the universe is constantly turning so that nothing stays the same. Let us not gather dust, but also allow what settles to settle. 

Time to rest! 

Buenos noches