18 | November | 2013 | Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss

Tell us about a time when you felt out of place.

Photographers, artists, poets: show us CONFUSION.

Window decoration

When I saw this little blue plastic bear in the shop window I just had to take his photo. Actually his colour was changing all the time, I just happened to click the camera when he was blue. He also changed to green, red and yellow. He was the personification of confusion.

I was one of the creators of the Land of Confusion. Everyone seems to become confused around me. It might begin with the scissors – not that I mean any harm, I take them from the drawer use them and then replace them, but not always in the same place. Yes it can really be confusing with so many drawers to choose from. Mr. Swiss likes to have them in the same place so that he can find them again. Understandable, but that is where the confusion begins. I just put them away and it might be in another drawer.

I remember about a month ago I had a doctor’s appointment. I arrived on time, even a little early, as you never know, you might be seen quicker. I reported at the receptionist desk. She examined her computer screen and called another assistant. They spent five minutes pressing buttons and moving the mouse, and then she asked me if it was really an appointment for that day. I was beginning to feel unsure. Before I could answer the question assistant No. 2 said “I have found you, but the appointment is for next week”. Oh dear and I could see the little card glaring at me on my especially constructed small pin board at home saying it is today. Perhaps we were not all confused, I definitely was. Then assistant No. 2 asked assistant No. 3 (No. 1 was dealing with something else) to ask the doctor whether he might see me all the same. After ten minutes further waiting time (which now overtook my original appointment) she said I could wait in the doctor’s room, he would be along straight away. Now he is a lovely man and he was beaming all over his face when he entered the room. He was probably a soul mate and was happy in the land of confusion. It is not every day that you have to find time for an extra patient who was a little red in the face to say the least. My next appointment is next month. I removed the last appointment card with the correct date which I read wrongly, and now have the new card hanging there.

Then there was a memorable visit to the dentist for my half yearly teeth scraping, removing all the tartar which seems to amount from various coca cola, cake and biscuit indulgences. I cleaned my teeth before going, to make a good impression on the dentist and not wanting to spoil his day with the aromatic remainders of lunch. No-one likes to see the dentist and their waiting rooms are always full of nervous people. I was greeted by a friendly receptionist, she knew my name from many previous appointments, but she asked “are you sure you have an appointment today, you name is not on the list?”. Yes I did it again. It was something like an execution being postponed for a week.

I remember my working days in the office. It was an office in Switzerland, the country that invented tidy and cleaning, not just in Spring but every day. Every desk in the office was neat and tidy, everything in various sorted piles or arranged in trays with one exception. The funny thing was I always found what I needed, even if my desk was one big unsorted spread. My boss would sometimes get a little nervous when he needed an important document, but I always knew where to look and I always found it. He would breathe a sigh of relief. I was an expert in organised confusion. Once a month a lady would clean our computers and keyboards: she would take the keyboard, reverse it in the air and tap it lightly on the back to clean out the dust and dirt. I always seem to have a pile of bread and biscuit crumbs on the desk afterwards. That could be known as edible confusion.

Mr. Swiss was sure that by marrying an English person he would have a perfect English lawn in the garden. My idea of a perfect lawn is something that lives, here and there a daisy, perhaps some dandelions and clover, but nobody’s perfect. The insects, snails and worms thrive in my lawn.

I never really feel out of place, it is the others that always seem to be doing something completely different.

Daily Prompt: Land of Confusion

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