WordSmith: A routine interrupted by a bothersome element
Gerard Smith's latest column is an interesting reflection on the meaning of routines and rituals...
We’re all creatures of habit, routine and ritual. I have a small plastic cup that I fill with tap water every night and place in the fridge. In the morning, I enjoy its cold hit to the system; followed by a hot black coffee. There are experts who would disparage my morning beverage routine, but it works for me.
Chilled tap water, and coffee granules diluted in boiled tap water, the start to my every day. A routine ad-infinitum. Until, on the 30th of July 2024, my start to every day was interrupted. I returned home to a piece of paper stuck in my letter box: Do Not Consume Notice. The capitalisation of each word carried a quiet, yet ominous tone. Until further down the notice when capital letters printed in red for danger, screamed: IMPORTANT: Boiling your water WILL NOT render it safe to drink.
Blimey! It didn’t bother me much; then my brother and his partner arrived home for a family celebration. It really bothered them, and they were most vocal in their bothering about it. In a futile attempt to dilute their concerns, I confessed: “That notice was dated 29th of July, delivered a day late, I’ve drank loads of tap water in the interim and I’ve not been sick.”
The brother shook his head, “Our kid, you might have been drinking s**t, the bacteria’s probably dormant in your gut, you could get ill later on,” he proclaimed. Being told I’d probably drank copious amounts of water with a pooh mixer made my stomach churn. But still, I shrugged dismissively, “I’ll be alright.”
Later that morning I began to vacillate between hot and cold, “It’s funny weather, hot one minute, cold the next,” I said, avoiding the brother’s eagle eye as I put on my jacket during a cold shiver. Feeling the brother’s proclamation might come to pass and not wanting him to witness it, I slipped away.
Later that afternoon, a sudden water brash and wave of nausea culminated in me suffering the indignity of being sick on a street corner. I don’t know if it was psychosomatic, or the result of my imbibing contaminated water. But, it was unpleasant, and I shall henceforth avoid drinking *H2-POOH until we’re given the all clear.
Clear water, only when it’s clouded do we realise what an elixir it is. “It’s the world’s most valuable resource,” said the brother, while I basked in that post vomit calm. It took the ‘No Drink’ notice to remind me how often I reach for the tap. Even now, I find myself filling a glass, only to remember I can’t drink it when I lift it to my mouth. Trips to the tap are hard-wired into our heads, we do it routinely, without thought.
I always think that ‘routine’ is the secular sister of ‘ritual'. My morning water in the fridge is routine, yet every time I leave the house, I bless myself with holy water in a bottle on the hallway cabinet, that’s ritual.
I’m not a particularly religious person, more spiritual – I never leave the house without doing my holy-water ritual. That same weekend, while rushing out the door for the family party, I stopped to do my ritual, “What you doing that for?” asked the brother. I shrugged and said, “I always do it.” Which wasn’t an answer, because I didn’t have one in that moment. But with reflection, I’ll try to find the semblance of an answer, here.
On the whole I think routine and ritual are good for us (as distinct from superstition and obsessive disorder). In our world of change they’re our personal constants that provide comfort. I don’t know what each day has in store for me, yet I do know it will begin with my morning routine and ritual; and there’s an element of control and comfort that comes with that.
While watching the Olympics with this column on my mind, I became hyper aware of the athletes pre-event rituals, from: blessing themselves, thumping their hearts, air kissing, and more. I’m no sports psychologist, yet what was clear to see, in that high pressure arena their ritual was a piece of consistency and calm before the competition.
Routine and ritual are a good thing for me – I’ll drink (bottled water) to that.
*Nature of contamination is author's personal assumption and not based on reported fact.
The 'Do Not Consume' notice has since been lifted on the water supply concerned.
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