In the small corner of the provincial English town in which I currently live, there’s a local post office. It closes for lunch each day, and on Wednesdays and Saturdays it closes for the entire afternoon. I find this intensely irritating. It inconveniences me and it goes against all modern ideas of business as a service to its customers.
And yet…
I strive to live a simpler, slower life. How difficult is it for me to take into account the well-publicised opening hours of a small sub-post office run by only two staff, who work hard enough to deserve an undisturbed lunch break and some time off each week?
Not difficult at all really, but the notion of service is so ingrained in us in our 24×7 world that this post office arrangement seems almost deliberately antagonistic.
There’s a lot about service in the Christian Gospels as well: being of service to others, offering oneself in service to God and community. Service is expected of Christians (and of many other faiths, Islam for example.) But Christ regularly withdrew from the crowds. We have his example of rest, and the whole piece around keeping the Sabbath holy. I am a personal advocate of having “Sabbath moments” throughout the day.
But despite being aware all that, it still makes me illogically angry that I have to think about what time it is before I walk down to post a parcel. I don’t want that limit.
What limitations are you unwilling to accept?
Image by Post Box
Elsewhere:
Let’s give ourselves a Sabbath moment by looking at this beautiful visual meditation of seeds by Elaine at Green and Berries.
And in choosing the image to go with this post, I was delighted to find on Flickr whole groups devoted to photographing British post boxes and post offices. It shows that eccentricity lives on in my country! Here’s the Postboxes by postcode group, just for fun.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
There’s so much in this post. First let me disclose that where I live the post offices all have long hours, every day. (And long lines, every day.) I’m in Los Angeles and I can get anything I want to, whenever I want to. But I envy you this inconvenience. The longer I am in a city with all it’s modern “conveniences” the more convinced I am that cities aren’t good for us. When we crowd each other people tend to get rude and demanding, at best. (At worst … well, look at our current crime rate. Horrifying.)
I’m here because it’s the right place for me at this time. But I am planning on moving, someday, to a much smaller, much less convenient place.
The idea of 24/7 service (and the treatment of those serving us) is another cause for concern. We don’t do people any good if we allow them to treat us as servants. Perhaps we need a better word for things…something that takes serving out and utilizes something like Giver. Something that indicates we should be grateful to the person.
There’s a true Zen story about a master called Joshu, where the table leg of the main altar in his chapel broke. The leg was wrapped up with some hideous looking tape, but nevertheless made to function again. A benefactor offered to buy Joshu a new table, but Joshu would have none of it. The broken table tied up with tape served the needs of the little chapel just fine thank you. I see your story as one of those make-shift solutions that my own life is cluttered with. The people serving in the post office have adapted themselves to a workable solution for their needs, like the table leg —- there is something so lovable in that, honestly, I would delight in reorganizing my schedule around them.
@Em, thanks for your comment and welcome to my blog. I commute into London and so I have this kind of dual existence, of the 24×7 city on the one hand and the town I commute from on the other. I think there’s a sense in which I am different in the city. I probably like myself less, but I feel more alive because it’s so speedy. (Also I hate the town I live in, so that’s another lens I’m looking through.) I really like what you say about changing the word for service. Looking differently at all those of us who both give and receive service may very well start with language.
. The thought of a table leg in a chapel done up by tape is dreadful to me on more levels than I can easily express, but I understand the idea behind it. I am working on some self-organisation!
@kigen: I both love your Zen story and am appalled by it
I am learning to look at every instance when I think something “should” be a certain way and realizing that in all cases, it can only create a problem for me. At the same time though, this doesn’t mean I won’t try to change things I feel need changing. The trick is in realizing where I have that power and where I don’t.
This is hard to articulate without it sounding convoluted, but the limitations I struggle with are in accepting my own limitations around what I think “should” be, particularly when I know I “should” accept a limitation. In other words, I need to accept that I can’t stop putting shoulds on things, and even telling myself that I should accept that I do that.
The computer has speeded up the pace of our lives and our sense of 24/7 availability. While it appears a convenience, it also robs us of our natural rhythms and the balance of work and leisure, public and private.
Here the post offices are closed on Saturdays. There are satellite post offices running in (usually) drug stores that keep longer hours and that offer full service. It is at one of these that I pick up packages that the postal service was unable to deliver to me personally. I live in an urban area, though.
I find banking hours to be restrictive, although they have been somewhat extended of late. The banking machines and computer banking services have bridged the gap, but I miss the face-to-face dealing with people. I do not miss the long, long lines.
The disconnect between the structured hours of banks and post offices in certain places and our own unstructured working is palpable. I do not think the post offices and banks are the culprits, though. I think our acceptance of the 24/7 workday is at the root of it all.
Well, this post & comments have triggered some reflection. And on first reading I thought I’d have nothing to contribute.
I have the greatest difficulty accepting my own limitations. Perfectionism? Perhaps. Creativity & Curiosity? I hope so. I have so many interests and want to pursue them all. Now.
And as for a 24/7 life, well, I’m resisting as much as possible. Though within my profession I was a relatively early adopter of Internet technology (c. 1995), I now feel like I’m falling behind. Also, I have a “Pay & Talk” cell phone & haven’t put money on it for over two months. I’ve got voice mail on my land line phone & I’m seldom away from home or offline for more than a few hours. Surely I’m not that important that someone needs me STAT. (Although I acknowledge for some professions/occupations immediate contact is essential.)
Yet, paradoxically, another limitation I have trouble accepting is the 24 hour day. I’d love another 2 or so hours I could devote to social networking because I enjoy interacting with my online friends. And I learn so much from them.
A bit of a mish-mash of thoughts, no? Perhaps it reflects the re-wiring of my neural pathways as a result of living in this 24/7 world.
Thank you for linking to my “homage to the seed” post. If anything can teach us about slow living & adapting to limitations within the environment, it is the seed.
In the last 3 summer, I’ve participated in veggie gardening for the first time in my life. AMIL loved having this garden and its presence is a dream come true for her and it brings her full circle to her childhood on a farm. She has taught me so many things from preparing soil, planting, nurturing, waiting, watching, watering, waiting. The garden has the slow, steady rhythm of nature and has brought me in pleasing step with the natural order of the world. This is a giant step back from instant coffee or any hurry and it feels so right. The hurry comes when the harvest is ripe and it won’t wait.
Elaine, your seed post really spoke to me!
The limitations I rail against are those in me that keep me from working as a nurse: chronic illness and fatigue. I cannot hold a job because I am too sick or too tired too often for the “attendance policy” to allow me to remain employed. I could be useful and be a wage earner if not for the arbitrary policy. I so miss being a nurse.
I rail against attendance policies at uni that prevent my brilliant son from attending and graduating. He has cerebral palsy from being born too early and it’s just not fair or right for the system to cause him problems, too. He has enough to deal with.
Perhaps these last two issues can be distilled down to my frustration with imposed rigid rules that hurt people rather than help. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps …!
Hugs!
Tess
I like this line of thought. In the area that I work there are lots of wee towns, each with their own ‘half closing’ day. Of course, it’s not universally applied – the big retailers stay open as long as possible, but I like the idea that once a week (apart from Sunday), the world of commerce is put aside – to some extent. Eccentric? Maybe, but also quite charming and sensible.
Such interesting comments and different spaces we are all at.
@Polli, I have had a post gestating on the issues around “should” for some time. I think I’ll have to dust it off.
@Barbara, I read a beautifully sharp comment about attempts in the UK by one of our banks to become more customer-friendly. The commenter said we should never forget that banks are the enemy, and all attempts at becoming more friendly and convenient should be seen for what they are: a further attempt to part us from our money!
@Elaine, I hate mobile phones. I have one, but rarely use it. I do like to check emails when I’m commuting though. And yes definitely, another two hours in the day – I’m one of those that needs a good 7 or 8 hours sleep to function well, but I do resent it.
@Barbara Anne, the garden sounds beautiful. But I have to ask you, what does AMIL stand for?? I knew about your fatigue problems, but I don’t think I was aware your son has cerebral palsy. I, too, hate it when people are prevented from achieving their full potential by rules and red tape.
And @Les, you’re right of course, it is charming and sensible, and I come back to the word that Pollinatrix has highlighted – I “should” support it. And I do. Really. Most of the time. Just not when I have to post a parcel.
Hi Tess!
AMIL is “angel mother-in-law” because she’s been wonderful to me in a bazillion ways for the 40+ years I’ve known her. Despite having been married for more than 60 years to a man with serious and undiagnosed personality problems, she can still laugh easily and is such a delightful person. I really lucked out or have been blessed or both!
Since you don’t like the town you live in, might you move house?
Hugs!
Ah, thank you Barbara Anne! I did go so far as to Google the acronym and got Advanced Microscopic Imaging Laboratory! I didn’t think that could be right!!
Yes, I am making plans to tunnel under the wall in a few months’ time…
oh tess – you make me smile – probably because i can feel the irrational irritation inside myself. one of my biggest irritants is the stop light between where i office and where i get my morning latte. it seems to be totally against me as i see the light change just moments before i can get there to cross. then i have to wait what seems like an eternity (maybe a minute, possibly two) before it changes again. i, too, am all about slowing down and simplifying things – perhaps not when it comes to my morning caffe? great food for thought here! xoxo
Hello..this is a bit of a round about way of doing this!…I’ve given you a Blog award for Sacred Graffiti and you will need to go to my blog to see it!…Many many thanks again xxx
@Lucy: yes, waiting for lights to change is a challenge for me too!
@silver fox: thank you, that’s such a treat. But your link to your name takes me to your bed and breakfast site – can you point me to your blog?
What limitations am I unwilling to accept?
What a great question! I will have to think about it. I am living in a village as well, half an hour from Geneva, and I rarely ever drive there. A slower life, definitely. A simpler life? When I look at my surroundings, I don’t think so…
Thank you or this. At this point, I am at a loss…