Landlady: Life… Oh Life…
Sorry to rub it in, but I’m currently sitting on yet another balcony of yet another boutique hotel, this time in Bodrum, Turkey. It is Saturday night and beyond the glimmer of the pool, I can just make out the lights of the yacht masts in Bodrum Marina. The sound of an open-air Turkish pop concert wafts over the air. From here it is not too unpleasant, but I wouldn’t like to be any closer, as to me all modern Turkish music sounds like ‘Big in Japan’ by Alphaville, which I never liked in the first place.
I am in Bodrum for three days to wave off my visiting offspring one-by-one. The Small Daughter was the last to leave this evening on a much-delayed flight to rainy Gatwick. TSD left too late for me to be able to catch the ferry back to the little town where my Turkish house is, so I’m ‘forced’ to stay another night in this very pleasant boutique hotel.
Normally, I wouldn’t be quite so rude, but I’m in rather a pensive mood
The hotel owner offered me a free drink, then tried to corner me, but I thanked him profusely for my ‘free drink’, then went to drink it alone on my balcony.
Normally, I wouldn’t be quite so rude, but I’m in rather a pensive mood as I went jogging this evening at sunset on my normal Bodrum run,which begins with a 1.5k steep climb to some deserted windmills west of the Marina, from where you get a spectacular 360 view of the Bodrum Peninsula. There, and on the downhill home run (on the downhill stretch,
I have time to think about anything other than dying embarrassingly of a heart attack on a steep hill in Bodrum), I started thinking how lucky I am.
I know lot of people with way more money than me, who are Fagin-like in their enjoyment of life, counting every penny as if it’s their last.They already have enough money to enjoy a fabulous life, yet are waiting for the perfect time to do so. Knowing when to start is good. Knowing when to stop is crucial. I stopped more than 15 years ago (possibly imagining that the only time I would enjoy my money would be at my own funeral) and I have never looked back and wished I’d made more money,which frankly was going begging in the late ‘90s.
In the Kitchen at The Supermarket, another staff member with whom I used to work had the perfect analogy for the work/life balance. She’d always say to me that as soon as she switched on the light in the morning at work, everything she did thereafter was in preparation for going home. I totally agree.
