During my recent trip to Rome, amongst the pizza eating, even more gelato eating (savoury is just a gateway to sweet after all), and difficult days of walking to and from beautiful places, I found myself noticing how everyday life was just carrying on around me. In the little square where I ate my pastry and drank my latte in the mornings, men in orange hi-vis vests were digging around under the old cobblestones. At crossings, nuns waited for the green man alongside the tourists with their cameras and maps, on their way to the ‘office’, I suppose. ☕️
I felt very privileged for a start, getting to just be on holiday. Not everyone gets holidays, and for that I am very grateful. But there’s something I do love about this, in a more philosophical way. That even if you’re in a holiday destination – drifting on those long, meandering days of gift shops and constant eating and tired feet and sight after gorgeous sight – everyday life just keeps ticking on. Even when you’ve forgotten what date or time it is, someone else next to you on the bus will be checking their phone to make sure they’re on time to their dentist appointment or texting their partner to pick up onions. There’s something about that juxtaposition I find interesting. Because while the holidays and the stepping out of regular life and experiencing the colours and smells and textures of a new place are so fun and full of aliveness, it’s the everyday where we spend most of our time. And I think that’s why the enjoyable little routines or daily activities of tea in the morning, a book before bed, or chatting to your co-worker are, yes, totally forgettable with time but so vital to enjoy and be present for. Easier said than done yes, but if the Buddhists are suggesting it, you know you’re on the right lines! 📖
Anyway this also got me thinking about Desert Island Discs. I love that the people interviewed are so accomplished and loaded with accolades yet, because of the format of the show, always get deep and real very quickly and end up talking about the things that touch all human lives. Love and relationships and death and how curiously lives unfold. An oldie but a goodie!
As a side note, the meanderings of the human brain are very curious – from nuns to Desert Island Discs in 300 words! Fun fact: It was first broadcast in 1942 from the bomb-damaged Maida Vale studios! 🏝📀
Lovely George, and good to read some musings on your recent trip to gorgeous Rome ❤️ PS also good to hear you're into Desert Island Discs, can't beat the Beeb! 👌