Our Individual Rituals.

Are We creatures of habit ?

There is still the little question in the back of my mind. Is it just me, which would be kind of loopy, or is it normal for a lot of people...please do let me know ! What is in question, is the different rituals that one has for different activities.

Take reading for example. Leisure reading, that is. Reading someones blog about enjoying books , got me to haul out my Agatha Christie collection again. Most of her books have been reread several times by me, throughout most of my life. So for me, they kind of represent comfort. Even just being a " visitor " in the life depicted in her novels, is enjoyable, comforting and wholesome.

What is the ritual ? Well, it always involves reclining on a couch, with a cup of tea ( ideally proper steeped tea ) and two slices of toast. The toast should have at least butter, the real kind, but having jam with it, would be the dot on the ' i '. Of course the most important part is to have plenty of time to read. But like Pavlov's dog, when I pick up one of her books, the tea & toast are part of the activity...

Going into town on a Saturday morning and always being dressed up, is another one. Actually that was more in South-Africa, when I was younger. We all, and of course yours truly included, had to be dressed to the nines. There were actual shopping excursions planned to get the ' Saturday-morning ' outfit perfected. I have an inkling, that it had mostly to do with wearing school-uniforms most of my school career !

But my most practiced ritual of note, is getting behind the wheel of our, or in fact any car. When I did my driving test, the thing to do was, to adjust your mirror, move your chair, check the side view mirrors and disengage the handbrake !

Well nowadays ( this probably started as I drove out the testing grounds with my newly minted licence ), when I get behind the wheel of a car, I quickly move my rear-view mirror to check if there is any ' spinach ' between my teeth. That little ritual drives Bob crazy, as I somehow never get the mirror back in its previous and perfect for Bob, position. The next important move, is to switch the radio station to the music of my choice, and to also make sure it is loud enough to drown out my singing along... !

Let me know if you do at least something a little bit similar to me !

Biggi