What’s triggered this bout of melancholy, you’ll be wondering? Well, it all started in the spa this weekend just past...hang on...you thought I was in pampering heaven the weekend before this one, an indulgence from my darling husband to compensate for the Amsterdam trip that got smothered under a cloud of volcanic ash? True...but I was again to be found luxuriating in the spa this Saturday just past, this time a treat for my mom’s birthday that I’d booked months ago. Yes, it’s a hard life, but someone’s got to live it...and after what I learnt on Saturday, I’ll be needing all the spa days I can get, to stave off the ravages of old age.
The setting for the spa this weekend was not as tranquil as the fabulous, exclusive Henlow Grange of last Sunday... instead, it was part of a hotel, a spa offering good treatments but unfortunately sharing the leisure facilities (pool, sauna, steam room) with the hotel. We arrived mid morning, planning to do a bit of gentle swimming and take a sauna before having lunch, with the facial and manicure treatments scheduled for the afternoon....only to discover a pool full of shrieking children! Not exactly what we’d had in mind, but we decided to nevertheless make the best of a bad deal, and went to relax in the relative quiet of the sauna.
We’d just settled ourselves into a pleasantly, heat-induced drowsy state, when we heard a little boy come running over from the pool and excitedly discover the adjoining steam room. “Come on in everyone!” he yelled back to the squealing masses in the pool, “It’s nice and hot in here!” Two little girls (most probably his sisters) skipped over to join him...but they weren’t quite as enthusiastic as he was about the steam room, only staying in it a few seconds before they wanted to explore their other options. Much to our horror, they were looking set to join us in the sauna, but they were quickly put off when their brother warned them loudly:
“No, don’t go in there....it’s full of OLD people!”
The two old people in question just looked at each other and smiled....we were more relieved about not having our sauna disrupted by fidgety children, than insulted by his ageism. Later though, his words started to rile me a bit, and I began wondering exactly how old I really do look...but I then I realised that anyone over the age of about 18 must appear desperately ancient to a boy of about 10. Thankfully, soon after this the children’s mother started rounding them up to leave, and we were left in peace to dip our decrepit old bodies into the pool....
Age is in the eye of the beholder...an old crone or a young girl?
Haha, oh dear! Still the important thing was the kids left you alone after that!
ReplyDeleteLoved this post... I doubt I would have been
ReplyDeleteso pleasant if my quiet space was invaded.
Kids...ya just gotta love 'em. (or hate 'em)
ReplyDelete