“The simple bare necessities,
Forget about your worries and your strife.”
Baloo, The Jungle Book
Sometimes simple is good: a simple conversation, a simple meal, a simple coffee or a simple task.
Last week, I ended up having a conversation with someone who was stating that the Gentleman was all about Savile Row Suits, Polo and Champagne, and busy socialite lives. I was trying to convince him that being a true Gentleman is about appreciation of time, making others at ease and not about grandeur, posing or putting on a show. It can be simply making your friend a great ham and cheese sandwich and sharing a bag of crisps (potato chips for the americans) over a good conversation whilst wearing shorts and shirt in the sun.
A gentleman value is found in the simple; the quality of a moment or a thing.
“It’s the simple things in life that are the most extraordinary.”
Paulo Coelho
This weekend gone was one of the weekends that was full of these simple pleasures and those simple tasks that take you out of yourself and for the benefit of others.
I started the weekend with a friend, sitting around talking and putting the world to rights and ended up having a lot of fun and a great Dinner with Mrs 1PG joining us. We ate burgers and drank milkshakes – not so good for the diet but great for the spirit.
I went down to Kent to visit my mother and did a task for her of jet washing her very large patio. It is simple and monotonous, I sometimes felt like that Legionnaire in the Asterix comics. Sometimes that simple task can take you into yourself and give you time to think, reflect and take stock of any situation. In effect it is a form of meditation and you feel a simple sense of achievement.
My weekend was rounded of with a late roast lunch on the Sunday with my brother and his lady. We as a family sat around in the sun and ate, talked and caught up. It is a rarity to get all of us together generally without a large amount of planning. So another simple surprise.
So why am I discussing this simple weekend? Well, we all are so busy being busy and sometimes trying to put on a show or please a huge amount of people, sometimes it is just better to sit back take stock and look at your life. Take time for yourself, do that simple task you have been putting off, spend quality time with loved ones, be it friends or family, but at a slow pace.
It was a simple weekend of simple pleasures and not a Polo Pony or Champagne flute in sight and certainly no Savile Row suit.
I think I might also take it easy next weekend and catch up on reading in the sun, if it is still hanging about.
Simply, respectfully yours,
#1PG
