Solitude

It's lovely to get some time to yourself. Yes, parents and friends are wonderful, but sometimes all you really want is a week of no social responsibilities, when you can buckle down and do all the things you have been planning to do for weeks. Yes, you get to read some of the books on your piles, break out the 'Adventures of Superman' DVDs that have been waiting, copy edit some of the serial stories that have been waiting to be joined up, and cook your own food to your own specifications. Yes, that last point is probably the most important one. It's great to eat what you want, and when you want it, even if you lose lots of time in the preparation and the cleanup. When you've given up sugar, absolute control of your own food for a few days is an unmissable opportunity!

Solitude, that great panacea for woes, is not something that people seem to experience much any more. Is that right? Am I reading the wrong smoke signals, do you think? We're all so connected all the time! It's nice to kick pack, think the deep thoughts, and not worry too much about where there's going to be a racket springing up from a nearby room in the next few moments. Yes, you get to wonder about whether the world does have anything in common with a great big onion, or whether the absence of triangles in modern design is a deliberate slight against Pythagoras, or even whether world peace could be achieved if we put all this petty nationalism behind us.

It wasn't all solitude, of course, as there has been a very lonely sheepdog hanging around. Oh, it's no joke when a sheepdog loses part of her flock for a week. The moping has been unbelievable, the refusal to eat more than the bare minimum is heartbreaking, the endless trips to the window to see if people have come back are miserable, and the giant sighs endless. The poor dog, cared for constantly, fed and pampered, medicated responsibly, is forlorn beyond all reason! Fortunately for her, the wait is almost at an end, and my solitude due to end. The balance is about to shift, and different virtues wait to take their prominence once again.

For now, a few moments more to think, and perchance to dream...

O.