Oh, dear I am a whole day older today and have done bugger all. But its Friday – or at least I think it is because I have just done my Friday Pilates but then it could have been my Monday or Wednesday Pilates. Everything seems to be interchangeable. The days are punctuated by Pilates, Yoga and Bridge. Without them – well it would be just one long duvet day.
Remember Bill Murray in Groundhog Day “I wake up every day, right here, right in Punxsutawney, and it’s always February 2nd, and there’s nothing I can do about it.”
I know what he means. I wake up every morning when everything stays the same. COVID statistics, Mask wearing or not? ridiculous claims by our leaders, fears of a second wave.
“What would you do if you were stuck in one place, and every day was exactly the same, and nothing that you did mattered?” asks TV weatherman Connors in Groundhog Day.
For those of you who don’t remember the iconic 1993 film Groundhog Day or didn’t see it; Murray portrays Phil Connors, a cynical TV weatherman covering the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, who becomes trapped in a time loop forcing him to relive February 2 repeatedly until he gets it right. He awakens every morning at the Cherry Tree Inn to Sonny & Cher’s “I Got You, Babe,” playing on the clock radio.
My morning wake up is BBC News – I check just to see if by any chance it is all a dream and there is no COVID19. Fat chance.
So today I was examining one of my most unattractive traits Envy. It hit me during my Pilates class when the teacher who is the mum of my son’s wife and who used to be a ballet dancer – did a particular exercise.
Not only could I not open my legs wide, but I could just about move a few centimetres towards the floor. I have been doing Pilates for 5 years and before that yoga for 5 years how can it be possible that my body is still so stiff that it refuses to accept these positions. While the rest of the class can flow effortless and gracefully from floor to standing, I hobble on to my knees then very gently so as not to alert my sciatica, heave myself up to the standing position by which time the rest of the class has moved on 2 exercises. You know when you start with a new teacher and they ask “Has anybody got any injuries” I am torn between reeling my catalogue of injuries, back, knees, ankles, hips, neck or just keeping shtum.
Envy didn’t end with the Pilates halfway through the Zoom class her other daughter arrived with her new baby granddaughter – yes, I have no grandchildren, 3 sons but no grandchildren and to top it all – she has a husband!
It is unwarranted envy. And I know she would feel bad if she knew that I was having these thoughts as she is a lovely lady. Just have to get to grips with Envy and realise while I might be getting a bit decrepit, and have no husband, and I can’t get out and ‘about, I am still extremely fortunate in so many other ways.
Note to self: Get your priorities in order Felstein.
Talking of partners, I have been watching the Indian Matchmaking series on Netflix. Matchmaker Sima Taparia helps clients in the U.S. and India to find suitable partners. I am loving it and it offers an inside look at the custom in a modern era. It’s fascinating. It’s like a Tinder Premium. Having listened to stories from my 3 beautiful and intelligent girlfriends one in her 40’s one in her 50’s and one in her 60’s who have kissed their fair share of frogs but not found a prince I am thinking maybe a matchmaker is the answer.
My mother once broached the idea when aged 30 I was still single and she was concerned that I might marry outside of the Jewish faith. Needless to say I ignored her. But as in India, matchmakers have been part of the Jewish custom for centuries. A shadchan, a traditional Jewish matchmaker is common for ultra-orthodox Jews. The shadchan performs a pivotal role in ultra-orthodox Jewish circles where young men and women rarely mix, but marriage at an early age – 17 or 18 – followed by a large brood of children is considered highly desirable.
In a way I am a kind of matchmaker as I am always on the look out for suitable men for my girlfriends and I have arranged a couple of dates for them which unfortunately didn’t work out. I am wondering why it is so difficult. Maybe because it takes a very confident man not to be intimidated by very capable women who they maybe find a bit scary and threatening. Or because my girlfriends have been on their own for a while and are not willing to accept second best. And why should they?
So, after watching the Netflix series I am suggesting they try a matchmaker. Would be safer, less arduous and hit and miss with a lot more miss than hit. What have they to lose?Anywhere from £6,000 to £30,000 and with no guarantee. If this was a journalist article, I would research it more for you but as it is my blog if you are interested in knowing more you are going to have to do the hard work.
I will keep you posted.
Have a good weekend – if it is the weekend…
“Let’s be careful out there”
Serendipity Me 
It is Friday. I just checked on my phone to verify.
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once upon a time we knew what day it was
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I took to doing a bit of online yoga during the lockdown and appear to have done my shoulder a bit of an injury – so now the physio has prescribed exercises for me to recover. Meanwhile, I’m back at real yoga (4 in the class, great social distancing) which is especially targeted at ageing bodies. So no guilt about stiff bodies and no attempts to do the impossible. Just keeping the ageing joints oiled.
As for the matchmaking, it used to be very common in rural Ireland. There’s a play by John B Keane 9well known Irish dramatist) called The Matchmaker which is still doing the rounds! Have you seen the TV series Orthodox on Netflix? That would put you off arranged marriages forever. Very well done and really worth watching.
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Yes I did see orthodox – thought it was excellent. Fundamentalism of any kind if dangerous. thank you for continuing to read. it does get hard sometimes to find stuff to write about but hey what else am I doing?
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