Once children arrive into the relatively closed-shop of the marriage / relationship life seems to speed up, accelerate. We get visibly older, seem to have less time to ourselves, weekend lie-ins disappear, sex (remember that?) is more hurried in case it is interrupted by the todler, everything becomes a frenetic race - for example, dressing both kids for school in the middle of winter becomes a military operation done at speeds that induce G-forces. You know what I mean? Life moves at a greater pace; offset slightly by the counterbalance of sleep deprivation and general fatigue which does its best to re-balance the the whole shooting match. You spend a whole Saturday racing around like a cut cat from venue to venue, squeeze in some food shopping, if you're lucky a shower or some other form of personal hygiene (for me deoderant and/or aftershave disguises the general pong), swimming pool, the park etc, etc. No wonder we need the working week to recover.
At the time it feels all too much - like your head is going to explode. But after it has subsided and the kids are in bed and the emotions of the day - highs, lows, anger, infectious laughter - the relief sets in, usually helped by a few glasses of wine. We all think "if only we could slow down" but I recently discovered that this is a myth. We need to speed up even more. Let me explain:
I had a day off on Friday and whilst surfing the Interweb (thank you Homer) discovered via the BBC website the wonders of YouTube.com. It's pure voyeurism. Car crashes, Japanese girls stripping to their underwear, plane crashes, baby monkeys falling to sleep, cats and dogs fighting and then making up, peoples holiday vids ...... No porn which is a good thing (sorry The Prince or should that be 'the artist formerly known as'?) but basically harmless fun. So I decide to add my own video clip and I film the drive to Notting Hill to visit a nursery friend of firstborn's. In an attempt to cut down the length of the video I decide to speed up the clip and the result speaks for itself (the high-pitch bits are pure, uncut tantrum!).
Click on the link below (you'll need sound). Life really is much funnier at high speed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jihzTA9zYZw
At the time it feels all too much - like your head is going to explode. But after it has subsided and the kids are in bed and the emotions of the day - highs, lows, anger, infectious laughter - the relief sets in, usually helped by a few glasses of wine. We all think "if only we could slow down" but I recently discovered that this is a myth. We need to speed up even more. Let me explain:
I had a day off on Friday and whilst surfing the Interweb (thank you Homer) discovered via the BBC website the wonders of YouTube.com. It's pure voyeurism. Car crashes, Japanese girls stripping to their underwear, plane crashes, baby monkeys falling to sleep, cats and dogs fighting and then making up, peoples holiday vids ...... No porn which is a good thing (sorry The Prince or should that be 'the artist formerly known as'?) but basically harmless fun. So I decide to add my own video clip and I film the drive to Notting Hill to visit a nursery friend of firstborn's. In an attempt to cut down the length of the video I decide to speed up the clip and the result speaks for itself (the high-pitch bits are pure, uncut tantrum!).
Click on the link below (you'll need sound). Life really is much funnier at high speed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jihzTA9zYZw
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