Concentration

Written on board Celtic Ferries Ship.   Thursday 22^nd August – to be uploaded later. 

Concentration is difficult for me these days…. I’m very easily distracted by the internet, the TV or blogs or, or, or … So I’ve come up with a cunning plan to trick myself into getting some work done …. I set the timer on my phone for 15 minutes and work on whatever it is I need to do …. 15 minutes filing, 15 minutes practice time, 15 minutes working on new bookings, 15 minutes meditation … and it’s working for me. 

Running some errands on the way down 

But today we’ve set out on our first holiday in 15 years – well it’s not entirely a holiday cos we have a few gigs on the way, but it’s a break from routine.   We drove down through the country today finishing up a couple of jobs en route, delivering stuff, seeing people etc 

… and got on to the ferry at 8 for a 9.30 overnight sailing.   Beautiful night for it too ....

Two ferries leaving before us

 And it’s packed … people sleeping on the floor everywhere and in fact a couple of women came on in their PJs ready for the night!!    It’s always colourful in summertime on ferries.   But I love sitting and watching it all …

 A woman just walked passed us and turned to her youngish son and said “ I TOLD you to wait over there for me!   Now go before I give ya brain damage and I’ll come back and get ye in a few minutes”!

We just burst out laughing …  although what she said was awful, it was delivered in a broad Dublin accent which, if you listen very closely you’ll recognise as English, but is really a language all of its own – from the markets area of the city, and spoken by a lot of the travelling people.   A few minutes later 3 youngish men stood beside us talking and it took me at least a couple of minutes to realise that they were talking English too. 

Beautiful night for a sailing

I love listening to people in public places – catching one sentence out of context can be really funny.    There’s no wifi on board tonight so kids are running around the corridors and between the people lying on the floor, so the cinema beckons now before we go to our really comfy cabin ….  If we can get in past all the wee urchins!!

But before that I’m trying to get a few minutes to concentrate….

I started a new piece of knitting around the same time as we started Inner Excavation – and it’s driving me nuts …. It’s a lace pattern (with a very long rib!), done in 2 ply wool – and you have to totally concentrate or you’ll end up at the end of the row with either more stitches or less stitches than you need.   It cannot be done while watching TV or while chatting and I’ve spent most of the last couple of weeks knitting two rows and then unpicking them again … 

I now have two stitches less than I need on the needles between half way and the end of the row and I’ve already ripped this out a couple of times!! 

So I’m thinking this needs to be like a meditation … do one row at a time, in total concentration and then put it down for a while and repeat.  

Or else I’m going to be leaving £50 worth of wool for another project. 

I’m writing this to upload it over the next couple of days when we have a connection again … but for now it’s back to people watching and start practicing my understanding of French – the cinema’s been abandoned ….

This is Day 22 of Effy’s Blogalong Challenge.