‘The builders are coming on Saturday morning’ Kate my landlady had messaged… And so I was ready and waiting bright and early – for a Saturday 🙂 when Miguel and Elideo arrived to tile and transform my bathroom floor…
‘Where are the tiles’? Elideo asked – I ran up the steps and knocked on Kate’s door, ‘They’re asking for the tiles’…
‘But the quote included tiles…’
I ran downstairs to my flat again and relayed the message… Elideo showed me his text to Kate – written in Portuguese style English – explaining the quote didn’t include tiles… I could see how the information had got lost in translation…!
Miguel and Elideo planned their next move, B and Q wasn’t open, Leylands was eight miles away – but google located a Wicks just one mile down the road… I phoned Kate…
‘They’re going to Wicks to get the tiles…’
‘Can we have cream‘ she asked
‘We’d like cream tiles please’ – I relayed to Elideo ‘You’d like grey?’ ‘No cream please’ – I pointed to the wall…
Kate arrived at my flat having had time now to shower and dress…
We’d like cream tiles please…’ she re iterated
Can need money for tiles please’ Elideo asked….
Between Anadi Kate, her daughter and me, we gathered together £100 in cash and off he went…
The day was already unfolding in a fun way… I felt I was in situation comedy, all of us were just playing a part, none of us upset or cross
The Zen of being engaged in each moment.
Anadi and I then headed out to allow the work to commence… We made our way up the Kings Road, bought ourselves some breakfast and settled to enjoy it in the Duke of York Square… We sat on the ground, leaning against a wall with the winter sun on our faces…
And watched the world go by around us…
People sitting in their own sun traps, eating – and drinking coffee; I silently admired the beautifully painted red nails of the young man sitting opposite us with his friend, sharing pastries and chocolate tiffin. The man beside us had brought his deck chair, he sun bathed all wrapped up, coffee in hand with his newspaper was spread out all around him… A small boy learning to ride his bike wobbled precariously by – ‘pedal faster faster’ his mother encouraged…
Life in motion
A teenager lit her cigarette – her friend immediately retorted – ‘Don’t do that! Do you want to live to have husband children a mortgage, and not die at 40, if you do – don’t do that!
I laughed, he whirled around ‘You agree?’
‘I’m not laughing at what you’re saying’ I said ‘I’m laughing at the way you told the story’…
‘My accent makes everything better’ he laughed and on they went…
Anadi and I sat longer, enjoying watching this particular play on the stage of life…
I was reminded of the author of ‘The Zen of Running ‘ Fred Rohe’s words…
“The joy you are living while dancing your run. You are not running for some future reward-the real reward is now!”
True of the Zen of living too, ‘The joy you are living while dancing your life… you are not living your life for some future reward, the real reward is now…
Being fully here and now, without looking to an imaged future where we think will find what we are looking for – brings huge rewards.
Anadi and I continued to wander further afield, through Hyde Park with all the other wanderers with nowhere to go and nothing to do, and eventually we wandered home to see my shiny new bathroom all tiled and beautiful
With grey tiles 🙂
When we are here and now, aware of the still point within each breath, aware of the silence within each of us, our life will always emerge from this place, rich in joyous joy…
Every moment unfolding exactly as it should, whether it brings us grey tiles or cream, knowing that this moment is perfect