12 of 40 – Curling v. Curling up with a book

“My son’s curling tonight. It’s the semi-finals but I don’t think he’ll win.”

“I’ve never see curling.”

“Well, why don’t you come along then.  It’s open to everyone.”

Well, why don’t I? It is, after all, the year of doing New Things.  So I said thank you very much, and I would see her later.

This was last week. I was away with business, in the land of the brave, where curling is not something you do with hot irons or rags overnight.  While an early night curled up with a book, before an uninterrupted 8 hours’ sleep was very appealing, I decided to go out and do Something New.  Curling is a Very Big Thing in the town I was staying in, with club history going way back.  There is a proper rink in the back of a hotel (some bars have pool tables, oh no, not this one – far too ordinary!) and a spectators’ gallery overlooking, where you can have a bar meal or drinks.  So that was my plan – meal out, watch the curling, do Something New.

And that’s what I did.

Joined the client, who kindly introduced me to her friends (mostly mums having brought their kids to the semi-finals), had a drink and a meal (very nice salmon and extremely good chips), watched her son lose at curling (although it was a very close game, and they did very well against a strong opposition) and did Something New.

So why not write about it until now?

Because I wasn’t sure what to write.  It wasn’t particularly grand, or exciting, or interesting. I didn’t come out overflowing with enthusiasm, or having had a particularly enthralling time.  I think I thought it was going to be a bit more gripping, to be honest, although why I thought that would be true about a junior league of a sport I knew bog all about, and surrounded by parents who had seen it all before and were more interested in my chips than the score, I don’t know…

And then I realised, not every New Thing will be life-changing. Not every experience will be high (or low).  Some will just BE.

Like life.

And that’s OK. (I’m still glad I went, and I would go again – if nothing else to cheer on the skipper who got his team so very close to the finals…)