I think everyone has them; those quirky little routines and habits that make their personal world go round. Some are so simple as to barely register a mention while others seem strange enough to be worthy of medication but the fact remains that most of us have them and stick to them like glue.
Mine is a cup of tea first thing in the morning (following the glass of water that is actually the first thing, now I come to think of it) but where as I can cope if I don’t have that glass of water, the whole day just feels wrong if I don’t get that first cup of tea. It’s just part of my routine and where as I’m happy to guzzle coffee for the rest of the day, it totally lacks appeal for that First Hot Drink of the Day. Look, I don’t know either, it’s just the way it is with me!
It’s rare that I vary from it and when I do it’s only because it’s been forced on me by an empty tea cannister. I get that moment of “oh no!” followed by an entire day that feels somehow out of sync and it’s all because I didn’t get that morning cuppa! By the way, why is it that tea is referred to as a cuppa but coffee isn’t?
Anyway, compared to some of the quirky behaviour I’m aware of in others, maybe my little tea thingy isn’t all that bad and I know other morning tea drinkers in the same boat here but there are others out there that strike me as more “bent” than quirk. Like one acquaintance from years ago who could not cope if any of the foods on his plate touched each other and as a result, he never ate out. Then there was another would have to hang out her washing using pegs the same colour as the wash items. “But what happens if it’s more than one colour?” I asked her one day “Lisa! How many times have you seen me in, or with something multicoloured?!” she replied. Even her linen was mono-hued.
At least I am not that extreme when it comes to hanging out washing! I may use pegs of the same colour for each item but they don’t have to match the item colour as well!!! I mean, really!
But I also remember the work friend who had a different sock colour for every day of the week. Like, he couldn’t wear grey on Mondays because that was the Thursday colour and so it went on. It drove his wife nuts apparently. And another simply had to test the water temperature of his swimming pool before he’d immerse so much as a toe. It might be a lovely hot sunny day and the rest of the family in there having fun but he’d be at the edge of the pool, thermometer in hand and if the water temp had not reached whatever it had to be in his mind (and I don’t remember on account of it being his quirk not mine) then he was not diving in.
So there you go, my cup of tea thingy sounds almost normal now, doesn’t it! Even to me!