that it could be worse …
does this knowledge hurt or help
get you through your day
I have long held that listening to an online digital radio station from London helps me get through my workday.
See, as London is 4 or 5 hours ahead of us (depending on the season) by listening to this station, I know that, somewhere in this world, someone has already made it through the next 4 or 5 hours.
Lately I really can’t complain as I have a pretty cool job that has me working in a place where I can stroll on the beach along the Atlantic Ocean on my lunch break.
But there was time when besides having to be available 24×7, I also felt that anytime I picked up the phone I could be fired for no other reason than that I COULD be fired (and one day, that call came … come to think of it, the same place called me twice … its a long story).
It made for a great work environment.
I did know, even then, there were worse jobs but that never really made me feel better.
Maybe that was because I never knew how much worse a job could get.
Yesterday I happened to researching the horse drawn carriage tours that are available in Beaufort (or Beaufort by the Sea as they like to call it) South Carolina and I came across this bit of descriptive text.
First it says, “Re-live the past through the narration of our professional guides and the clippity-clop of our horses …“
Then to reassure any and all of those concerned about those horses that clippity-clop, the descriptive text goes on to describe the care of those horses.
It says, “When the horses are working, each horse is individually monitored no matter the weather conditions.
During a hot summer day their temperature is taken rectally at the beginning of the day, the start of the tour, and after each tour.
Their respiration is taken at the same time as their temperature.
If an individual horse goes up by 3 degrees then we do not allow them to go out on tour until their temperature drops to their normal rate.
If their respiration goes up, they are not allowed to go out until they have dropped to within a safe range.”
While I was happy to learn the care and comfort of these poor animals was high on the list of the people who conduct these tours, this text revealed an aspect of horse care and clippity-clop buggy rides that I had not thought of.
That maybe I wish I had NOT thought of.
Good to know.
But something, maybe I didn’t need to know.
And as for the process …
Well, let’s just say, it’s not my circus.
And I am glad for the job I have.
And they next time I got the go-to-work blues, I will say to myself, “Well, I don’t have to …”
No Haiku For You 