Something a bit more light hearted this week. You may have read “Counting My Chickens … And Other Home Thoughts” by the late Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire. If not, I commend it to everyone – it is entertaining, enlightening and wise. Here is a little extract that seemed to fit with my life this week and I hope it makes you smile – if only with a little weary recognition!

“Packaging has gone too far and the simplest things have become impossible to open. If you buy a toothbrush or a pen or tweezers you need a strong and sharp pair of scissors to cut through the armour plating of plastic which encases them. No house has enough scissors so you go out and buy some. But they are similarly encapsulated in a thick shiny film, which human hands and nails are not designed to penetrate. You pull, drag, stamp and bite but to no avail. You can see your longed for object in its close-fitting jacket, shining and clean, which makes it all the more desirable, but there is no hope of getting at it. You buy another pair of scissors and another, till they are ranged alongside the things they are meant to open. If there is a Scissor Packaging Opener lurking among the terrifying objects in John Bell and Croyden you may be sure it will be asceptically sealed so only a scalpel will do the job.

A few days after this piece was published, an anonymous scalpel arrived by post and happiness set in.”

#everydaylife #alicejohnsenlifecoaching