It seems to be the case that Gill has coined a new word. Google 'endishness' - her term for the ennui that overcomes wandering motorhomers as their retrurn ferry date looms ever closer - and this is the result:
Aside from one reference to an obscure on-line game from 2015, the mighty Google assumed 'endishness' was a typo, though I have to admit 'Wendishness' is also a pretty cool word. I speculated it might mean a deep seated need to travel along bendy roads, but no, it refers to the characteristics of the Wends. Again, thank you Google - 'The Wends of Lusatia, an area in the Eastern part of Germany, made up the smallest group of the many Slavic races who include Poles, Czechs, Russians and other Slavic peoples. I was intruiged to learn that in some of the small villages that straddle the Polish/Czeck border about 20,000 people still speak 'Wendish'.
According to Wikipedia, in Australia and Texas descendants of Wend immigrants commemorate their ethnicity at local festivals 'with attendants from all over the world gathering to share their stories, eat Wendish Noodles and streusel coffee cake,[13] participate in cross-cut saw and other traditional competitions such as egg decorating to keep alive the way of life brought from Lusatia'. Sounds great... lets all get a bit 'Wendy'! What else have we got to do to fill our days?
Well so far as I am concerned this mainly - hours spent googling trivia while Gill sits opposite engrossed in Candy Crush or knitting ever more elaborate Aran jumpers for Ralfi, our daughter's seriously over-entitled miniature dachshund.
So much of this year had been just biding time, brain not exactly fogged, more drizzled, tricky to concentrate, a background glumness pervading each day. This malign inner state deserves a specific term too - slumpishess maybe.
I have taken to bombarding Gill on WhatsApp with images from our last long trip to Spain in early 2020, counting down the days.
There is a kind of desperation about this as France and Germany close their borders to British tourists seeking to slow the inexorable spread of the Omicron variant. Will Spain follow suit? The Spanish prime minister is meeting with his regional colleagues as I write this. If we are prevented from sailing to Santander on January 25th it will be the fourth time we have had to postpone the crossing, booked early last December in a fit of misplaced optimism. I am not sure how we managed to persuade ourselves back in December 2020 that we would be able to travel on January 10th 2021, wishful thinking I suppose. It remains to be seen if history is about to repeat itself. If we are destined to be trapped here all winter I don't quite know how I will cope with that. What lies beyond slumpishness - despair? Anyway, until proved otherwise we must remain hopeful.
What I am hoping for is the opposite of endishness - which is difficult, since almost by definition a neologism is doomed to lack a balancing antonym, so I am left with no option but to propose one. The opposite of endishness has to be beginingfull - that blissful state you achieve as you lock-up, fire-up the overloaded moho and allow yourself a brief smug smile as it bursts into life with a satisfying Ducato growl. The neighbourhood moggies scatter as we proceed out of the cul-de-sac with a certain stately grandeur; next stop some channel port or other, we savour the prospect of months and months of simply mooching about. It's what we wanderers crave - begingfullness.
2 comments:
Hi Pete,
I was thinking recently that some sort of petition would be appropriate, to have 'endishness' adopted into the British Medical Dictionary (accredited wholly to Gill obviously) in order to cement its' recognition as an actual medical condition, I think my GP would certainly sign it, if only to put an end to my incessant dronings over the telephone! But now I have to try and dispel the thoughts of noodles and coffee cake from the mix of negative emotions, what a to-do! But 'beginingfullness', now there is a word to conjure all manner of most positive emotions, I think even the trip planning stage is enough to transport one into 'early onset beginingfulness', I like it! However since returning from the Provence in early October I'm not sure that my endishness has actually left me, in fact it seems to grip ever more ferociously as time slowly passes, it's unrelenting. I'm desperately trying to totally immerse myself into the spring 2022 trip planning which does help to bring minor relief, but in such uncertain times it's not quite enough to evoke beginingfulness.
It seems to be 2 steps forward followed closely by three steps backwards at the moment, unfortunately I think it is inevitable that Spain too will shut us out and we will ourselves be placed under further restrictions within days of being allowed to 'carry on as normal' over Christmas. The only crumb of hope on the horizon is the first reports of data analysis on the Omicron variant, maybe there is hope that your optimism last December will prove not to have been misplaced and you will be Santander-bound on 25th January, I sincerely hope so. If we are not Calais-bound on 7th March then I think that we will have even passed the stage of desperation.
Now, having undoubtedly lifted your spirits to a new high with my message of such positivity and hope (sorry!), I would like to wish you and Gill a happy, peaceful and safe Christmas, and hope for a New Year positively brimming with beginingfulness!
Hi Tim,
Best wishes to you and yours for the festive season and the coming year. Lets hope for lots begingfullness in 2022.
I remain hopeful for the prospects for long term travel next year. The indictions are that Covid is mutating into something more 'endemic' and manageable without having to completely lock down. I can't see France being able to maintain the ban on all but essential travel from the UK for more than a few weeks.
We are increasingly drawn towards maxing the Schengen allowance by travelling in two 90 day blocks with three months between them. So for next year that would mean Iberia from late January to the end of April. Spring and early summer at home, Then our long postponed return to Greece in August/September/October. The downside is having to travel in S. Europe in August when it is busy and hot, but if you plan to return to Spain early the following year, then you do have to get back home in late October. It's all very frustrating.
We have put any plans for long haul on hold for a year or two. With luck air travel will have become more reliable by then, anyway, we need to do a bit of saving up before southern hemisphere sojourns are on the cards.
Best wishes
Pete and Gill
Post a Comment