There is One Sock on the Radiator

Not a pair, but just one, lone sock.

Actually, it has been there for a few days now, so will definitely be dry and should be paired up with it’s partner.

You know what happened; you empty the washing machine, don’t check thoroughly enough, and it got left behind.

And you only noticed it’s absence from the drying rack when everything was ready to be folded and put away.

One sock on a drying rack is a little excessive, so onto the radiator.

And that is where it remains.

Now, I assume you are now waiting for the slick and seamless translation of this indication of domestic slackness into a broader based metaphor describing the zeitgeist.

I was sort of waiting for that as well, but so far it hasn’t put it’s hand up to indicate it’s arrival.

So, perhaps we are looking at my personal zeitgeist, represented by an article of clothing being deliberately ignored – and yes, you can look at something and ignore it.

I have been doing it with this sock for a few days now.

There is a vase on the windowsill behind and to the left of the sock that is full of daffodils, full of the yellowness of what spring should be, and framed by a window dashed by the wind blown rain outside.

There are also my parents’ brass candlesticks, last used to shine a small candle light into the darkness on Holocaust Memorial Day.

And an empty gin bottle, with a string of lights inside, to add a small glow into dark nights.

Still no metaphor, no great revelation, no lightbulb flash of inspiration.

And maybe that is okay, because the daily trudge that is required to get through the day to day, within this indistinct period when the daily boundaries merge into a mush of repetition, that trudge absorbs the energy that revelations need.

The positive is that those I care about are still with me, in spirit mostly at present, and still as well as when it started, and moving forward and changing their lives for the better.

And that is good enough for me, for now.

I have made small, incremental changes that could make the future more interesting, but that will wait for another day.

For now, I shall prepare some bacon, mushrooms, tomato, toast and eggs, watch the rain streak the windows.

Oh, and put the sock away.