Go with the Flow

Today I’m trying to go with the flow. Holiday time is over. Summer is all but gone. I’m alone again – with my thoughts and my work. But it’s not all bad. Life goes on. Yesterday it rained – all day – on and on. ‘Rain in the morning; showers in the afternoon’ they said on the weather forecast. It was all the same to me. So I cleaned the house, worked on some articles, watched the garden grow.

Today the sun is shining – you see! ‘After the rain the sun’ the song goes! It’s market day today and the bells on the clock tower are ringing out a merry tune. I’ve done my shopping; stopped at the market place to buy some shocking pink dahlias; now it’s time for a cappuccino. I notice that the little doyley under my coffee cup tells me I’m drinking Fairtrade coffee and saving the rainforest. That’s good. Yesterday I cleaned the house while the rain fell and the garden grew. Today I’m sitting in the sunshine, drinking coffee and saving the rainforest. Multi-tasking again! Maybe work’s not so bad. I’m trying to go with the flow, as I said. No more complaining. No more holding out for the last moments of summer or the remnant of that good old holiday feeling. No more shirking of work and responsibilities…

There is a gentle but persistent buzz in the background that seems to confirm my resolution: the sounds of everyday. I stop to analyse it: the hum of conversation, a plane flying low overhead, the jangling bells, a motorbike on the other side of the square, a van starting up its engine – the unstoppable cycle of life and the rumblings of my fellow human beings, intent on enjoying this beautiful autumn morning, no matter what.

‘After the rain the sun… after the sun the rain’ the song goes on. Well, tomorrow it may rain again. Tomorrow there will be more work to do. But the garden will grow – and after all, how can you have a rainforest without rain? Maybe I’ll stop wingeing and try to take each day as it comes…