Random Thoughts
Random Thoughts
Oftentimes guests are like a gust of wind. When coming, they come alone; when going, they go with all your elaborate feasts. Surely they will leave you something as well. The exhausted feeling. That’s basically what happened to the household I live during this weekend.
The sister-in-law of my friend’s mother came with her son and friend to visit us last Friday. It brought both chaos and thrill to the house at the same time. While expecting the ringing of the doorbell, my friend’s mother and I were busy
in the kitchen preparing for enough food for eight people. I had just come back
from my camping trip with my friend; I had walked around twenty miles during the trip. So you could imagine how knackered I was. But never mind, guests are far
more important.
Finally several hours’ preparation brought to the dinner table two trays of quiche (vegetarian and bacon flavor respectively), cold noodles, wholegrain raison
bread, several trays of barbecue food( lemonade chicken, sausages, steak,etc), salad, and drinks and snacks. During the intervals of food preparation I also went outside to clean up the mess left by the chickens on the patio. The evening was merry and fun though. Every guest brought in the conversation with his/her fun
life experience. I didn’t talk much but listened most of the time.
Then second day we went to National Trust Lanhydrock, a main tourist attraction
in Cornwall for a walk. It was a breezy and fine day. Though I was not very impressed by the Victorian house, I enjoyed the walk very much together with my friend and his cousin. Along the carefully man-trimmed lawn bluebell were in full blossom, and so were the lines of magnolia. There were also many other types of flowers and plants which I couldn’t identify unfortunately. At one point we walked astray from the map, but nobody was worried. In the nature going astray didn’
t demolish the fun of walking but increased opportunities of exploration.
Our guests were a group of people vastly different from us. Like the sister-in-law of my friend’s mother and her friend, there was nothing in this world which
could bring them consummate joy but shopping. They shopped, and they shopped during the period they stayed in the house. But still, they are all nice people. Their visit brought the different type of vitality to the house. Likewise, it brought in another aspect of life.
Sometimes staying in one place too long, one is liable to relate the place as the whole world. Life is pretty much centered in the everyday routine. But if there were guests, one would spontaneously imbibe in the sense of newness and difference coming with them. And this feeling of newness and difference sometimes is
indispensable in our life. It brings back one’s craft for knowing and exploring
the outer world. Without it, life is pretty much like staple food: You have it,
but meanwhile forget you are having it.
|
轻松英语