This morning everyone at work was talking about how they got
home last night. Each person had a story. A storm came through Newcastle yesterday afternoon, prompting a change to the normal day’s routine. Streets were cut off, houses and roads were flooded and the amount of water that
fell in that short space of time made us all stop and look. It was a
different kind of storm for this place.
I love days like yesterday.
Days when you have no choice but to change your plans, days when nature
temporarily lifts the veil of the mundane. Of course this isn’t always
positive. In an extreme case this could mean a tsunami, but in my case,
yesterday, it just meant a longer route home, driving through a new part of
town, a meal in a new restaurant, and a reminder to look around. I was
grateful.
Days like yesterday remind me of
working as a waitress in Concord , North Carolina Concord and the restaurant lost power. It was
late afternoon bleeding into early evening and the lights went out. The
restaurant was full of people in various stages of dining. We had to do
what we could, under the circumstances to help them finish their meals, pay,
turn those away who came too late. It was exciting and simple. We
did what we could with what we had.
For a long time I’ve had reservations
about affluence and too much choice. I hate how supermarkets make you
feel so miniscule, so overwhelmed.
This morning on my walk to work I
found a kittiwake chick that had fallen from its nest. In Newcastle near the river these birds nest
underneath the Tyne Bridge
I put the little one in a flower
pot. A small part of me mourned. I continued on to work to hear the
stories, and I wondered if kittiwakes made plans.
xo Laura
