work and whimsy

It's been a busy few weeks, what with starting a new job and all. When leaving my old job I got a little bit nostalgic, since everybody was saying good-bye. I was thinking "this is the last time I'll mop the floor" etc. I started wondering whether or not regular customers would miss me, or even notice I was gone. All those people whose orders I remembered by heart, who I used to exchange a smile with when they came in, I remember them, but I wonder if they'll notice I'm not there... I started worrying about a regular elderly man who comes in and sometimes seems confused. He never knows how to order. I hope they look after him.

But then it was all over, and I said good-bye to the world of fast food and hello to offices and Excel. The world of high-finance and rush hour commuting and so on.

Currently I don't mind getting up in the morning so much. All the sunshine helps, as well as the person who went around tying inspirational quotes to trees with ribbon. I discovered the first one when walking home from the bus stop in the dusk, and the second one walking to the bus stop in the sun. My favourite said "If your daily life seems poor, blame yourself that you are not poet enough to bring forth its riches". Which seems like just the thing you need to hear when starting full-time work. I think it is always important to take notice of the rich texture of life and the world.

At first I wasn't sure if this was an anonymous poet, or someone quoting poetry. A quick web search revealed it to be an 'inspirational quote'. Somehow this sucked some of the joy from it. But I still think it's great that someone took the time to print out and tie these things to trees, to add that little bit of joy and whimsy to someone's day. Thank-you, anonymous benefactor.