Image Wikia - Miss Piggy
No small pleasure this, more a great bit of luck: Helen, the beautician, rang to say she had a cancellation and did I want to make use of it, my original appointment having fallen through. I’m always happy to have a shave and some hot towels applied to my face, I’ll even put up with a massage and a mask, and today’s treatment was a joy, as always.
Something in one of the products she used made me sneeze; as this would be a very meagre little post otherwise, I’ll add some wisdom which might come in useful during the winter months:
“Concerning Sternutation or Sneezing, and the custom of saluting or blessing upon that motion, it is pretended and generally believed to derive its original from a disease wherein Sternutation proved fatal, and such as Sneezed died . . . . Yet Sneezing being properly a motion of the brain, suddenly expelling through the nostrils what is offensive to it, it cannot but afford some evidence of mental vigour. Sir Thomas Browne 1646
Another bit of luck: I met no one on a three mile stretch of very narrow country lane, with both edges muddy and deeply rutted; I’d have had a heck of a job to get out of the way of another vehicle, particularly if that vehicle had been a tractor.
(Only day 2 of my positive thinking week and I’m already scratching around in the mud for material).
Your final sentence is a good one! You're on a roll so no problems to keep positive for the week.
ReplyDeleteSneezing can be very satisfactory.
ReplyDeleteSneezing can be dangerous when the sneezer is driving. It can also be rather disgusting when you are too close for comfort and can't get away from the sneezer because you're stuck nearly skin to skin with a throng of other people on the train to work. When my Dad sneezes, I am sure the whole town can hear him, and it must register on the nearest seismograph.
ReplyDeleteActually, your post reminded me that I should ring my beautician and make an appointment. Haven't had anything professionally done to my face in two months.
DeleteHi Friko - loved this .. Sternutation - I've never heard of - well now I have! Sneezing or Sternutating down your tiny country lanes would be highly dangerous ... hedgerows and stone walls floundering to stay in one place as I careen forward - let alone the mud. Glad Helen was able to add to your positivity this week, and that intellectual challenge of the sneeze probably did some good to the negativity rattling around ... take care and Happy Weekend - cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteLove this post! It made me smile as I sit here with the laptop reading about all my friends in the blogosphere and what they have going right now. I am a champion sneezer when I get going. :-)
ReplyDeleteAh, ah, achoo. Phew. Now that I've stimutated, I can tell you how much your post made me smile. Keep scratching, Friko, I need all the chuckles I can get.
ReplyDeleteHey, you scratch around where you have to--LOL! Sneezing and muddy ruts--doesn't matter. ;)
ReplyDeleteThere is just nothing like a 17th century turn of phrase . . .
ReplyDeleteI'm backtracking to read your posts. I can't believe I missed something. As for sneezing, I must have much mental vigor. Good to know!
ReplyDeleteAh, but you never have to scratch around for captivating words!
ReplyDeleteEh, getting some one else to pamper us is most appreciated, especially at our age. I'm looking forward to the same as soon as an opportunity comes up.
ReplyDeleteSternutation is a lofty word I like to use at work. Jolly good fun.
ReplyDeleteI've never had a facial but I did go get waxed before the formal wedding we went to last month. too many whiskers to pluck these days. as for sneezing, I am a multiple sneezer. never just one, always at least three and sometime as many as five or six.
ReplyDeleteI think you did well with your positive note! I'd love it if I got in on a cancellation -- and if no one was on the muddy road when I was there!
ReplyDeleteAh, but the mud conceals many a treasure. Think what the esteemed Mr. Eliot found, scratching around in the mud:
ReplyDeleteGarlic and sapphires in the mud
Clot the bedded axle-tree.
The trilling wire in the blood
Sings below inveterate scars
Appeasing long forgotten wars.
The dance along the artery
The circulation of the lymph
Are figured in the drift of stars
Ascend to summer in the tree
We move above the moving tree
In light upon the figured leaf
And hear upon the sodden floor
Below, the boarhound and the boar
Pursue their pattern as before
But reconciled among the stars.
I am ready and waiting for Day 3's account of positivity...and waiting...and still waiting ;)
ReplyDeleteA good sneeze is so very satisfying !
ReplyDeleteThough it might better be enjoyed alone ...
I always like it when I stop sneezing and yesterday I scared our favorite Buff Orpington, I rudely sneezed while she was using me for a warm perch!
ReplyDelete