Heroes Not Zombies

I found this lovely little tray of gooseberries in the local fruit and veg shop the other day. I haven’t tasted a gooseberry since I was a child. I don’t know why I haven’t eaten any for all those decades, but the first taste of one took me right back. We had gooseberries in the garden of the house where I was born and I looked forward to eating them every year. We had mainly green ones, which are more sour than these red ones, but we did have bushes of red ones too.

What takes you back? Which sensations bring back memories for you? Are there any tastes which do it? How about smells? Or sounds? I don’t think  our brains are all the same. There’s no doubt that some people are more sensitive to sounds than smells, or to tastes or whatever than others. Which sensations are most provocative for you?

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Look at this plant. Wow! Has it got SPIKY leaves! I find things like this totally fascinating. These little spikes really were needle sharp. This is one of the ways a plant can protect itself. Not much fun when you brush against it or stand on it with you bare feet! But then, that’s what it’s trying to tell you NOT to do!

People can be like this too. Spiky-ness is a very common human strategy of protection. It’s very uncomfortable to be around but it can be very effective in getting the person the distance they want or feel they need from others. Trouble is because it’s so uncomfortable to everyone else, it’s not a strategy that elicits much empathy or understanding. Mostly people either just get “jaggy” back, or avoid the person like the plague. If it’s temporary and what the person really needs is a bit of personal space then it can really work, but if it becomes a way of life, or a strategy which seems ever present, then the person using it can pretty fundamentally feel alone and unreachable. It’s a sad and difficult loop to be stuck in.

It takes more patience and the desire to understand in order to help to gain the trust of someone like this. And it’s only once that trust begins to kick in that the spikes begin to recede.

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As I was wandering around Valensole the other day I found myself in the Rue Grande.

Doesn’t look that grand, does it?
However, what caught my eye, was the catalogue sticking out of the way too small letterbox in that door there.

This struck me for so many reasons. First off, the building looks uninhabited…..like for years! However, it’s a small village so the postie is bound to know! Of course, such worn external appearances are actually the norm in village France. Still surprises me that. It’s a quirk of the French (actually, now that I think about it, the Italians have the same quirk)….it’s kind of as if they don’t really care about the external appearance of a dwelling but they have an incredible sense of style and chic so you’ll see beautifully dressed people coming out of such places. La Redoute is a major fashion catalogue shopping company.

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