bookmark_borderThe Long Weekend

I fear that my new abode will very quickly be filled with a mish-mash of antiques and general tat. Mostly the latter.

I’m basing this on a short wander around a vintage store at the weekend. Lots of big old pieces of furniture, as well as a lot of stuff I wouldn’t give house room but quite a few pieces that I would, one of which I’m still tempted to go back and get (a lamp base made from wooden letterpress blocks).

It may also be filled with books as not only did I wander around a book fair (where I succumbed and bought a compendium of Lewis Carroll works) I also made my first ever, and definitely not my last, visit to Voltaire & Rousseau. It’s a magical place, floor to ceiling books, shoogly piles of paperbacks waiting to topple over and a cat snoozing away in the corner.

Voltaire & Rousseau

I also wandered past a music store, mostly guitars, and started to ponder buying myself a piano, or at the very least a good quality keyboard. Nothing I can do with that for now until I know where I’m going to be and how much space I’ll have but it’s another thing to add to the ‘maybe’ list.

And yes, I admit, I saw this today and did stop to ponder… (not sure I’ll ever have room for a baby grand mind you).

I can see me spending more and more time hunting through vintage stores in the future. I’m beginning to find my ‘style’ is more eclectic than minimal, although I do fear I’m being influenced a little too much by blogs like Apartment Therapy (aka, furniture porn). What on EARTH have I become!

Sunday was spent largely doing nothing, much like today, as there is little that needs done around here. Having the house on the market means it is clean and tidy at all times. In fact I deliberately left all my dishes lying on Sunday just to give me something to do this morning (I’m a little OCD about that kind of thing). And now, well right now I’m going to put some music on and sit and read a book.

The rock and roll lifestyle continues.

bookmark_borderDouble check

Obsessive compulsives are a funny lot, aren’t they. I don’t mean funny “ha ha”, I mean funny “intriguing”.

What makes them tick? (ha! no pun intend!)

I’m sure you all have your own little personal… things… I was going to say foibles, but that’s not quite right. From arranging items on your desk perpendicularly to the edge, to the order of items on your kitchen cupboards, we all have a way of doing things that may not be unique is certainly very personal. Even the most untidy people have something that must be done a certain way, or an item that must always be left in the same place, even if that just means that the keys MUST be hanging on the hook.

Which makes me wonder how far the leap from being a tidy and organised person to an obsessive compulsive?

I’m a tidy person. I like it when things are put away in their place, and everything is neat. I’m not overly obsessive about this but I can only go for so long, tolerating a mess, before I have to do something about it. That may mean I just chuck everything into a cupboard —the adage “out of sight out of mind” was made for me— but usually it means a clear out of old junk and a reorganisation of bookshelves.

Bookshelves! Dammit… meant to pick one up from my parents at the weekend. I digress.

So what if I’m tidy? I’m not obsessive about it, I don’t have a compulsion to tidy everything I see.

But then you start to dig a bit deeper and start pairing up common habits, rituals if you will, and begin to wonder. Over the past few months —and I’d guess that this is since Louise’s Mum died and I’m trying to be more “protective”… or something— I’ve not been able to get to sleep unless I’ve checked that the backdoor is locked. Doesn’t matter if Louise has says she has locked it, doesn’t matter if I’ve HEARD that she’s locked it, if I don’t physically check the handle, giving it a good rattle, myself then I’m unable to drop off. Obsessive? Compulsive?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to belittle OCD, or those who sufferer from it. Mental illness is a huge area and, because of the nature of the beast, has differing effects on everyone. That caveat aside though, it’s startling to think how close many of us are to becoming sufferers.

With that cheery thought in mind, what little rituals do YOU have? What silly little things stress you out for no good reason (and you KNOW there is no good reason but they still stress you out!) ?

UPDATE:
Even if you don’t want to comment PLEASE take a moment to read Martin’s comment. Very open honest and illuminating. Thanks for sharing Martin.