Monday, January 22, 2007
personal conflict dept: I have these annoying neighbours over the road. they walk everywhere. he comes home early to help w. the kids. she sat in my lounge room and banged on about how she just accidentally got pg when she was pg and I was exhausted with a four-month-old born by IVF. they had a second child around the time I wanted to. you get the idea.
this morning I walked the dog to the bread shop; noticed the wife there and so took a path home that wouldn't cross hers (hard as she lives across the road from me). she is the single most self-obsessed person I know, despite not fitting the cliched mould of a blond who's had work done. she just turns every conversation back to herself. she's probably really very nice, but I am just over having my time wasted by anyone.
the husband, who draws a public service wage but also runs some sort of counselling service, was in their front garden, cuddling the baby, who is about nine months - one year. I called out hello, politely enough. He said "have you seen little Ingrid?" (the baby) and I'm afraid I didn't cross the road as the comment clearly invited. I was afraid the wife would arrive any second and trap me in a meaningless conversation, and I have masses of work to do. so I called back "yes, a few times", which is true, then added "sorry, I have to work". he was like, oh, OK.
this is exactly the kind of thing I have consciously decided to do: not waste my precious time on people/things that are meaningless to me. but some inner parent is telling me off for my rudeness and unneighbourliness.
there is, sometimes, no solution that suits everyone. and I'd rather be rude and guilty than lose the time I have to big nothings (in this case, too, I really do have work to do that I should be doing right now: boring paid work, but work all the same).
this morning I walked the dog to the bread shop; noticed the wife there and so took a path home that wouldn't cross hers (hard as she lives across the road from me). she is the single most self-obsessed person I know, despite not fitting the cliched mould of a blond who's had work done. she just turns every conversation back to herself. she's probably really very nice, but I am just over having my time wasted by anyone.
the husband, who draws a public service wage but also runs some sort of counselling service, was in their front garden, cuddling the baby, who is about nine months - one year. I called out hello, politely enough. He said "have you seen little Ingrid?" (the baby) and I'm afraid I didn't cross the road as the comment clearly invited. I was afraid the wife would arrive any second and trap me in a meaningless conversation, and I have masses of work to do. so I called back "yes, a few times", which is true, then added "sorry, I have to work". he was like, oh, OK.
this is exactly the kind of thing I have consciously decided to do: not waste my precious time on people/things that are meaningless to me. but some inner parent is telling me off for my rudeness and unneighbourliness.
there is, sometimes, no solution that suits everyone. and I'd rather be rude and guilty than lose the time I have to big nothings (in this case, too, I really do have work to do that I should be doing right now: boring paid work, but work all the same).
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