Day 10

The landing at Gatwick was a huge relief and for more than the reasons of general wellbeing. My son and I had settled into our seats (albeit slightly undersized seating for two 6’2” guys).The flight was full and next to me on the aisle was a spare seat; wouldn’t you know it I hit the jackpot! She plonked herself down next to me and immediately started to talk. The next 5 hours was a non-offensive barrage of unfiltered topics which were relevant to her, her boyfriend, her mother, her brothers, her father and her fake Burberry handbag which she was very uncomfortable about leaving under the seat in front of her. It was her first time travelling alone and she wanted me to know that at 21 years of age maybe her parents had been a bit protective (or, as I imagined, they were afraid to unleash her onto an unsuspecting world who would not tolerate such incessant chatter!). We covered many topics regardless of how much I responded; sometimes I just stared ahead and nodded in agreement and other times I would say-‘oh really’ or something equally interesting.  It wasn’t a great hardship but I would have liked a few moments to myself just to, maybe, close my eyes for fifteen minutes. As we’d approached our landing pattern my eyelids had started to droop and I’d informed her that I wanted to sleep but this didn’t dampen her desire to continue talking. The quest for some good old fashion shut-eye had been well and truly trampled on and all that remained was to let her pray for a safe landing; thankfully she did this in complete silence and it was two minutes of absolute bliss!! 

We disembarked through the flexi- tunnel and the chatter continued. I stopped momentarily to readjust my hand luggage and expected that she would just continue and somehow disappear into the freezing fog of Gatwick; alas this was not to be and she waited for us to catch up- oh the joy!

At the carousel I was wondering whether or not she would latch onto us and want to come home with us but I needn’t have worried- as soon as she grabbed her distinctive case she turned and said “It was great meeting you guys and we had a laugh, thanks and have a nice Christmas.” Then she was gone; in a strange way she had made the journey go quicker and in all honesty did provide some laughs on the way.  I always say that if you can make somebody smile and moreover make them laugh then that is a gift- Happy Christmas Little Miss Chatterbox!

Day 9

The holidays are upon us and this is the time of much merriment and joyous laughter; the time for giving and receiving of gifts and of goodwill to all men, except that at the moment for me and my son who are supposed to be in ‘Arctic UK’ for Christmas it isn’t so joyous. Our flight from Cyprus was cancelled last evening due to severe weather in the UK and most of Europe. We had a choice of our money back or moving our flight to the next day, today. So here I am, amongst the babble of foreign tongues all around me, in the coffee shop at the airport departure lounge. Most of these people seem to be travelling to non European destinations if their laughter and chatter is anything to go by. You can tell who the UK bound passengers are by their long faces and discarded piles of crisp packets and drinks cups. I can live with this kind of delay without feeling too aggrieved under normal circumstances but this time the delay means that I will not see my brother and his family, as arranged, who are due to fly out early tomorrow for their own Christmas holiday; neither will my son see his cousin. As if this wasn’t bad enough I received weather updates a short while ago from another brother in the UK. He informed me that although my flight may arrive on time and only leave two and a half hours later, the real problem will begin when (and if) we land at Gatwick. The weather forecast is for freezing fog and temperatures down to ten below zero! Effectively the runways could become ice rinks as will the roads. So even if we arrive in ‘Arctic UK’ we could be stuck in the buildings at Gatwick sleeping rough until the morning when the Gatwick express starts up again. I can’t expect family to drive tens of miles, risking life, limb and bumpers just to collect us and all the while hoping that they don’t skid off the motorway into a bottomless ravine! The more I think of it the best thing now would be the postponement of the flight until tomorrow morning which means that we could sleep rough in the airport of a warmer climate without the need for heat retaining foil ‘blankets’ as has been the case in the UK; you really can’t help thinking of Christmas when you see those unfortunate passengers wrapped up like huge Turkeys ready to go in the oven! But seriously, it’s at times like these that you realise how fragile our whole infrastructure is. The fabric of our lives is intricately woven and we are all at the mercy of unseen forces which are all ultimately masters of our very existence. The disruption of millions of people’s lives can be attributed to ‘severe weather.’ No amount of science or technology is a match for the raw, unpredictable beast that is ‘Nature’.

 The information screen is currently showing that our flight is still scheduled; so all that is left is to keep our fingers crossed and hope for a safe and trouble-free landing. Godspeed!

Day 8

At long last the moment we had all been waiting for (slight generalisation) finally arrived; a well known German supermarket arrived on the island and what a reception they received! I just so happened to be at a loose end on the first day of trading on the 4^th of November so I decided to have a look at what was on offer. I parked up at 7:45am and grabbed a brand spanking new trolley and stood in the short queue which was not getting longer by the minute as I had expected. I met somebody who I had seen a couple of years ago at a friend’s house. He was there for one thing and that was it; a petrol powered chainsaw. He was a man of course much like me living in the 21^st century, but unlike me he was insistent that he didn’t do the shopping seeing as that’s his wife’s job. We killed time until 8:00am when the doors finally opened to a big cheer. Organised chaos ensued as doddery 70-somethings clattered trolleys and made snide remarks under their breath, all trying to get through the entrance at once. The Christmas sale mentality was put into motion as the race to the non-food section began; the opening day offers were indeed special. I took my time as I merely wanted to browse. The scene which confronted me as I approached from the quiet, foods-section could only be described as bedlam. There were packets of ladies-wear being opened and discarded, oversized boxes being manoeuvred onto trolleys, shoppers barging other shoppers, shouts of joy and despair from others as the last pack of cheap cotton underwear got snapped up. The aisles in that area were now no-go areas and you would not voluntarily, trust your shins to the frenzied mob, who were seemingly devouring everything in their path; it reminded me of a plague of locusts making short work of a corn field, but with bigger teeth!

After moving away from the mob I took a stroll around and dropped some keenly priced goods into the trolley. On my travels I caught sight of the ‘chainsaw man’ who by this time had not only purchased his bargain but lo and behold there was real food shopping in his trolley! I didn’t make eye contact because I couldn’t be bothered with the idle chat and besides I didn’t want to embarrass the macho man inside him. I made my way to the checkout where the first customer had just passed through and I could hear a commotion from outside. After I had paid and begun to exit I noticed a throng of people outside the store making themselves heard and complaining to the security staff who were preventing any more shoppers from entering. There were no more trolleys left which of course made me a target as I exited... ‘quick, run for the hills!’ was my first thought but the young woman with babe in arms seemed harmless enough;  I wished her luck... she was in for a rough ride.

Day 7

We’ve all heard the words: “I’m not a morning person” spoken at some point in our lives. So what does this really mean? In most cases it means that this type wake up miserable and for the next hour or so treat anybody near them as if they’ve slandered their whole family! The bad news is that if you somehow manage to rub them the wrong way, then the whole day is shot to pieces and you’ll have to start again tomorrow. The worst kind of person to partner the aforementioned is a chirpy positive, ‘glad to be alive’ morning type-like me. Even after 23 years of marriage I can’t seem to do the ‘keep quiet’ thing; at the end of the day we are what we are.
Some people wake up in the morning and seem to just want peace and quiet and you cannot speak to them and if you do then you can expect a grim,mono-syllabic response. This type of person cannot function properly until consuming a good quantity of coffee and at least an hour has passed since waking. If you wake up with such a person you have to try to resist the need to witter on until your partner is able to respond in a civilised manner; this is much harder than it sounds!
 Is this  behaviour normal or does it imply some hitherto undiagnosed problem; after all its a new day, the opportunity to do things better or to make somebody smile; the ability to make our day negative or positive begins as soon as we step one foot out of bed. So for somebody like me who is annoyingly positive and happy first thing in the morning is it because I was born this way or is the way we are affected by external factors?

Search ‘I’m not a morning person’

Sleep is important for our general well being and for proper healing and cell repair and regeneration. Your body is ruled by your body clock which utilizes ‘Circadian Patterns’ which in turn rule your world! These patterns are disrupted, for example, when travelling between time zones and are responsible for jet-lag. Genetics have been identified as being responsible for varying sleep disorders so it is also likely that not being a ‘morning person’ could have its roots in your genetic makeup. So the next time you wake up miserable just blame your parents and accept that this is just you and tough for everybody else!

Day 6

Well, after the driest November for 100 years the rain finally came, and how! Thunder, lightning and all the trimmings. Sitting here with my Capp’ and looking out at the grey gloom it’s oddly calming and somehow ‘warming’ as the pit-pattering rain gently washes the pavements clean and signals, perhaps, the onset of winter. What is it about falling rain that mesmerises the onlooker into a soothing daydream unlike any other? Getting lost in the moment of just ‘being,’ without thinking of anything in particular is the most relaxing moment in your day. This is no coincidence and it is well documented that it is actually a healthy thing to do, whenever it may occur; let the day dream run its course-don’t fight it. This is probably worth a bit of research to confirm the benefits.

Search- ‘Daydreaming is good for you’

Research has shown the following findings:

1.      When we daydream, the more complex part of the brain is subconsciously  activated causing the problem solving and idea making departments to become supercharged so that although it seems as though you are doing nothing, your good friend, sub consciousness, is busy solving all your problems. 

2.      Trying to solve problems and sitting there scratching your head can just increase the block on your progression. Taking a break from it and forgetting about the problem can actually help to solve it. Daydreaming takes you away from your problems on a conscious level whilst laying them at the door of your ‘inner’ brain.

3.      Also daydreaming can relieve stress momentarily which in turn makes you happier; obviously this is good for your health. However, experts agree that too much daydreaming can be a problem and it is important not to lose touch with the present day!

So next time that you find yourself daydreaming, just let yourself go...be happy, it’s doing you the world of good.

Day 5

Looking at the forecasted temperatures for the week ahead in the UK gives me the chills. One thing I don’t miss about the sprawling metropolis, which is my birthplace, are the long cold winters. Yes the snow fall has come early this year in Northern England but the cold and the rain will be around until April at least; does this kind of prolonged winter have a negative effect on those affected ? How do residents of communities as far away as Canada for example deal with the extended periods of snowfall which make UK winters seem mild in comparison? I remember reading an article many years ago which referred to S.A.D. – “Seasonal Affect Disorder.” This is something which would explain a lot for many people, so with my hot beverage for company once more I’ll Search-“seasonal affect disorder” and see what we get. Wow! This really is a hot subject out there with 1.63million results.

Basically from all the stuff out there we can glean the following interesting facts and statistics:

SAD is something which can affect you at the same time each year and could make you feel moody anxious grumpy and, of course, sad; you may lose the desire to do your usual stuff; you may sleep more and get drowsy during the day. You may crave high carbohydrate foods such as pasta and bread and subsequently put on a few pounds around the middle. In countries with long and clear cut seasonal changes it is reported that 6% of the population could be affected with SAD. Another fact to note is that 60-90% of those affected are women. Children are not so susceptible to the symptoms. In warmer climates such as Cyprus and those nearer to the equator the condition is rarely seen. Have no fear you are not alone and there seem to be ways to combat it.

 One type of remedy is that of light therapy and would be used for the whole season. Essentially there are two types of the therapy; ‘Bright Light’ which involves sitting in front of a custom made light-box for half an hour each morning. The other is ‘Dawn’ therapy which is a light source which comes on at a predetermined hour and behaves like a sunrise increasing in brightness as time goes by. There are also portable light sources which can placed on your desk at work at these are compact and unobtrusive. The downside of course is that the therapy needs to be used every year for the whole of the winter season. Of course the most drastic and life changing remedy would be to emigrate to warmer climes; not for everybody!

Get a light-Be happy.

Day 4

Okay, so this is a really big day for me (no I’m not ordering a large cappuccino) I’m giving my completed 67ooo word manuscript to my wife for comments; I’ve told her to be brutal and given her a red pen! This is the culmination of two years ‘hard-ish’ graft some days and nothing on other days. But to see all this effort in print- if only in spiral bound A4- gives me a feeling of satisfaction tinged with slight apprehension(the red pen of course). In all seriousness this is a good thing, after all, the point of writing is so that others can read it- I never actually thought that I would ever get to this stage considering the number of times which I’ve re-read and changed whole sections each time. If this is how it feels to print the first manuscript then it must be truly awesome to actually have your first novel published. I wonder how many budding authors are out there and how many submissions actually result in publication; it must be a scarily high rejection rate, and for good reason. Personally, I really enjoy writing and have started my second work of fiction albeit scribbled down in my big yellow A4 pad- I find it easier to first let my thoughts flow through the pen to paper and then modify as I transfer to my laptop. In this way I use my written notes as a template which I can add to or subtract from as necessary. The first couple of pages can be viewed on my other blog: http://writeronanisland.blogspot.com. Please comment as to whether you are interested enough to read any more. Thanks for looking.

Day 3

Well if you’ve come this far then I hope that ,at least, you’ve left a comment. If you haven’t then please comment as to why not...J.

Today hadn’t started as planned; when you leave home five minutes later than usual it seems as though the whole city has done the same! You then find every single useless driver ever born in front of you the whole way to school. To cap it all coffee shop time is being steadily eroded...road rage!!

Anyway I’m here now and naturally my usual parking space has gone (not happy today)! The second choice of parking up becomes my only option, and like everybody else I simply park on the yellow line-have no fear. Entering the coffee shop I somehow feel that the dynamic is all wrong; the barista nods to me and starts to prepare my cappuccino. I look to my usual seat and feel as though I’ve crossed into a parallel universe, a topsy-turvy world of inaccuracies and anomalies: somebody else is in my exact soft leathery seat with their own laptop, happily tapping away. Never seen him before but if I had been on time... ‘Cappuccino medium’- the call stops me from descending into coffee- shop-rage. So why do I feel so aggrieved. Well we are all creatures of habit and we like our ‘places’ ; if your boss at work decided to move your desk to another part of the office you would most certainly kick up a fuss; if somebody took your regular(unassigned) parking spot you would curse and slander that person beyond reason. So, much like a dog who urinates up a lamppost or your car tyre we are just being territorial.

 The hard chair accommodates me but the small rectangular table is barely big enough to fit my laptop and coffee cup side by side. My new laptop (finally) runs for at least 5 hours on one charge so I set myself up and consider the stress of my short morning so far. Stress is a killer and it really is no joke. Search-‘Stress kills’

Your stomach is knotted; your muscles may be sore or tense; you feel exhausted most of the time; you have high blood pressure; regularly feeling low and unhappy… these are all symptoms of stress and can damage your immune system so much that your body could be open to heart disease, diabetes, respiratory problems, and cancer. When we are stressed our cells alter their shape and ‘get sick’ thereby allowing weaknesses in our immune system; this in turn opens us up to all manner of infections and disease. ‘Free radicals’ are able to take hold and nobody likes ‘free radicals.’ The American Medical Association reports that 75% of all sickness is directly related to stress.

Relax… give way to other drivers, don’t worry about being late, don’t worry about those unpaid bills, let others sit in your seat and above all … love each other.

 In other words try to avoid stress at all costs!!

Have a chilled day people.

Day 2

Okay, so maybe I was a little bit biased in my last post regarding the benefits of coffee...nothing wrong with a positive spin to start the day, is there? Maybe I’ll balance it up later, but for now a warning about emails. I am the curious type and in a mad moment of weakness and said curiosity taking hold of me, I clicked on one of those “free download e-book,” links; no obligation of course but get ready for many more similar rubbish emails- oh dear! For example: “check out this site friend”—“make $1000 per day”--“give up your day job with this money machine”—well if these guys are making so much money why would they be trying to make 10 or 20 dollars on selling the aforementioned money spinners? The obvious answer is plain to see –there are no free lunches! You can of course click on the “remove me from list” link but this only seems to create an “undeliverable” email message (and probably puts your details on more lists!). Usual coffee usual leathery sofa and the sun is already warming the pavements outside-still no rain with today’s’ mercury expected to reach 28 Celsius; scarily warm for November...socks in bed not needed yet.

 Search “negatives effects of coffee”...well the bottom line on this is that more than three cups a day is not good and if you can’t function first thing in the a.m. without it then ... you need help! So there it is, all balanced up.

Oh no, my ‘favourite person in the whole wide world’ has just walked in and he’s walking over to contaminate my ‘me-time.’ The chairman of the PTA is not a bad guy but he does go on...and on...and on, until he’s completely eaten away my time with my coffee and sofa. Have I started the newsletter? Well of course Mr Chairman! Did you get photos of the talent show? Yes Mr Chairman of course Mr. Chairman- now please go away! He stays and tells me about his cat catching some virus and shedding all of its fur. I really couldn’t give a crap but he doesn’t sense my complete indifference and continues to prattle on about vets fees and the need to buy pet insurance for future diseases! I stifle a yawn and check my watch; thank the gods, it s time for me to go. Almost 8:50 as I step out of the coffee shop I breath in a mouthful of... second-hand cigarette smoke which has just come from the inside of a really attractive thirty something female; she won’t have that lovely complexion for much longer  if she carries on with the burnt offerings. This is a topic which needs its own time and date...watch this space.

Day 1

Routine is good,routine is healthy,we all need it and this is a great excuse to do what I do three mornings a week.We all need a little 'me-time' in a public place as opposed to just sitting at home and having 'me-time.' It's 7:30am and I have to be at work by 9am or thereabouts. I use the word 'work' loosely and is in no way intended to imply that any kind of hard graft is involved; my hours are 9am til 12 noon, three days a week on alternate days...See what I mean!
Cappuccino consumption three days a week roughly equates to four hundred euros per year. 'Yikes!' I hear you say, but lets put this into perspective:Coffee in moderate quantities is really good for you. I'll 'Google-it' in a minute.
'Cappuccino ready'
'Thanks Chris'
I drop a few cents into the tip cup( Its the thought that counts)and make my way to my regular soft leathery settee where I always sit...always.

My laptop really is a piece of crap; the lid hinge is about to give up creating intermittent screen flicker(oh my eyes!!), the battery only charges to 21% then miraculously uses this up in three minutes. The RAM is barely able to handle the typed word, causing regular screen freeze, etc etc.The point has been well made for the desperate need for a new laptop but my apologies for going off the beaten track.

The coffee is steaming, the laptop is plugged in and the skies are increasingly darkening overhead; the floor to ceiling windows provide an unobstructed view to the world. November usually brings little rain but this year looks more than promising. What do I mean promising? Yes, that wet stuff is what we need here; the parched land has been deprived for too long and if water cuts are to be avoided then we need a sustained deluge. Enough of the clear liquid let's talk about the dark velvety brown liquid. How did we ever live without the Internet? Search "coffee benefits"
The froth on my cappuccino gently caresses my upper lip as I carefully sip through it and make contact with the good stuff below. I'm not an "eat froth from the spoon" kind of guy, in fact I think that the only purpose for said topping is to insulate the hot beverage and to protect it from kamikaze flies; so if a small fly should get stuck in the froth, removing it is simple and avoids contaminating the actual coffee- brilliant!
Going back to coffee benefits, we can glean the following interesting facts:

A study of 126,000 people in the US over a period of 18years has shown that two cups of coffee per day can lead to:
1. 25% reduction of colon cancer
2. 80% reduction of liver cirrhosis risk
3. 50% reduction of gallstones risk
4. risk of type 2  diabetes reduced by single digits( 6 or more cups reduced this by 54%).

Apart from this ,as if all the above wasn't good enough, coffee can help to reduce headaches, improve your mood and even help to prevent dental cavities. All this makes 400 euros per year sound cheap and I for one won't be giving up the drink of the Gods any time soon!! 

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