Keep Smiling

You'd sometimes be forgiven for thinking that a friendly smile costs money.  Some people just won't part with one for love or money (well, I've never tried money, so maybe this statement is a bit too sweeping).

Recently I went out to lunch at a local restaurant with a small group of people.  The weather was fine and the tables on the terrace were all taken.  Inside the restaurant quite a few tables were also occupied so we decided to move to the upstairs area.  This didn't suit the waitress who was apparently not enthusiastic about having to come upstairs to serve.  She looked at us as if we'd crawled in on our under-bellies and was extremely slow in taking our order.  By the time she came back with the food the place had filled up and every table upstairs was occupied.  So her disgruntlement was all for nothing as we were not the only customers she had to serve in that area.  What she had done, however, was ensure that I would not use that restaurant again.  If management are pleased to employ someone so unsuitable then they do not merit my custom.  And, of course, human nature being what it is, I have related this incident to all my friends and acquaintances.  Maybe she was having a bad hair day, but quite frankly, how would I know that?  I took her at (unsmiling) face value.  I'm not about to psycho-analyze every waitress I see - let's face it, I'd be locked up if I leaned across the table and tried a bit of Freudian therapy on her.

Various studies have revealed that smiling, even when you don't feel like it, can reduce stress regardless of your actual mood.  If you act cheerfully, you will become cheerful.  Interesting, isn't it?  I expect the opposite is true, too.  If you go around with a mournful face and expect rain, then you are going to feel grumpy or sad and you may even get a downpour.

Cheers, everyone

Have we lost the plot?

When our kids are small we teach them how to cross the road and especially we teach them not to run across because they can get killed by a car.  We watch over the food they eat, try to feed them plenty of vegetables and fruit.  Warn them of all the common dangers.  And we do our best to keep ourselves healthy too.  We go to the gym, we jog, we apply tons of sunblocker and try to watch what we eat.

So why is it that some people like to do dangerous things, like walking across the Grand Canyon on a tightrope?   Or swimming from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage?  Is this something heroic?  Something to be applauded?  I don't think so.  Suppose I meet someone at a party and all they can tell me is they swam across a huge expanse of water, let's say the English Channel or whatever, just because they'd always wanted to do that.  I'd be inclined to ask if they didn't have a big enough swimming pool locally.  Am I dense?  I really don't see the point.  If one of my kids ever said they'd like to walk the Sahara barefoot, I'd be inclined to slap them around the ear - metaphorically speaking, I hasten to point out.  I would think they were deficient in appreciating the normal pleasures of life. Sure, there are a few things I'd have liked to do.  When I was a teen I thought being a bullfighter would be really sexy - yeah, my brain developed a bit since then - and I thought driving a Ferrari around a Formula One racetrack or exploring the Amazon jungle to mention only a few would all have been a big adventure.  But did I make any of it the main aim of my life?  No, I most certainly did not - those low-hanging cherries on life's little tree were just as exciting even if more commonplace.

Bob Geldorf, bless him, will be travelling into space on a commercial flight in 2014.  This is something I can understand.  If you've seen everything that the planet earth has to offer then by all means get into your spacesuit.   And what a conversation opener at that party.  "Seen anyone you know up there, Bob?"

Things I never heard of before..

Have you ever heard of UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity?  I only came across this recently while browsing the web. It is what it says on the tin:  a list of cultural things which you can't lock up in a museum or save on your i-pad but things which are wonderfully old and traditional and should be carefully preserved.

Next time you are at a dull dinner party or any social gathering or even that wonderful coffee break at a meeting, you can trot out a few facts that no one else would be crazy enough to know (well, most people wouldn't know unless directly involved and I suppose it has more to do with being interested in our human heritage than being crazy).  Want to learn about some of the things on the list?  I'll be brief, so you'll just have time for one cup of coffee.

The hopping dance in Echternach, Luxembourg is held every year on Whit Tuesday in honour of Saint Willibrord, the so-called Apostle of Benelux who reportedly converted the Benelux countries and Germany to christianity.  It is a simple dance solemnly performed by children and old persons alike and attracts thousands of tourists each year.  The performers hop first on one foot, then the other.  Spectators are asked to show respect for the procession as it moves through the town.  No one knows exactly when it started but it continues unabated every year.

The Silbo Gomero is the whistled language of the island of Gomera and is used to communicate across the deep ravines and gullies which are to be found all over the Spanish island.  I would love to hear this, I must admit, and have already researched a trip to Gomera.

The Space of Gong culture in the central highlands of Vietnam. This has all the mystery of the Far East and begs to be further explored.

Finished your coffee?  I hope I roused a tiny bit of interest.  Just imagine that somewhere in our world people are putting forward these intangible cultural ceremonies to be preserved for posterity.   Kind of gives you goose pimples, doesn't it? Have a nice day!

Woman Power - we'd better believe it

I'm just back from a trip to Germany to attend the christening of my youngest grandson.  It was a happy family occasion, as was to be expected.

I flew over as usual and caught myself telling quite a few people that the aircraft was piloted by a woman.  Now why did I do that?  I really don't know.  It is not as if I believe women are incapable of doing things which were mainly done by men yonks ago.  Women pilots have been around for years and no one comments any more.  And yet, this being the first time that I had sat in an aircraft piloted by a woman caused me to comment on it. At any rate, I shut up about it very quickly.

This got me thinking.  Deep down we are all impressed if a woman does anything we perceive to be out of the ordinary.  We have all these powerful female executives heading big corporations and making tough business decisions and some of them have been so kind as to write books on how to get to the top of the corporate ladder.  There is a lot of speculation that we might have a woman president of the United States if Hillary Clinton can be persuaded to run.  But is the media going to be more interested in what she wears and how she does her hair than in how effective in politics she will be?  Take Julia Gillard, the former Prime Minister of Australia.  During her 3 years of office she introduced a variety of important bills and yet the media badgered her about looking dowdy and housewifely and were more interested in her relationship with her husband. 

Kind of off-putting, isn't it?  And I don't feel any too proud of myself to have been remarking on that woman pilot.  Do women still need encouragement and empowerment?  I have given up on the idea of women being equal to men.  It is never going to happen.  The working woman who has children at home knows all about the tug on her heartstrings no matter how supportive her partner is.  Children need their mothers because mothers play a different role to fathers.  We can't get away from that and once we have acknowledged it, we have a better attitude to both family and work.  It is no disgrace to be a mother first and foremost - if you have a good relationship with your children, they will always be there for you.  On the other hand, if the company you work for no longer needs you they'll chew you up and spit you out.  That's the reality.