Making a Decision

Making a Decision ©                   

By Michael Casey

Its hard to make a decision, its easy to make a decision, I cannot make up my mind, that’s my decision. I just cannot make up my mind what to do. If ever you have a big decision, those words have been in your mind and on your lips. Whether to have a boy of a girl on you lips that’s another kind of decision, mainly influenced by the party you are attending, but I’m not going to talk about that, your love life is your own affair, if affair is the right word too.

I remember when we bought our first car, a Skoda, it was all we could afford and I had decided it was perfect for our needs, just the 2 of us and baby soon to arrive. In fact I think my wife was pregnant when she passed her driving test, though emergency stops as part of the test were somewhat interesting. Picture the baby flying out as she hit the brakes.

My wife said she preferred another car so we investigated a Suzuki this or that, it was not as good. We went and looked in car showrooms and sat inside cars, and so forth. We looked at another model of car as well which I cannot remember until finally we settled on the Skoda. I had done all the research already but in the interests of Democracy I repeated myself and the wife got the Skoda.

It’s crash test figures were the most important, because we had a baby girl now. My dad helped with the car too, like he always did in life. He left me a bit of money in his will which meant we upgraded to the Comfort model of the Skoda. Dad always said have a bit of comfort in life, and so as he died he gave us comfort, in the shape of Skoda comfort. I am not even a shadow as good as my dad, but I try my best.

Other decisions in life are not as hard to make, what shall I have for dinner, as you walk around Aldi looking at the food on display. We all eat what we like and we may try something different if we see somebody else eating it, or picking it from the freezer. We may eat the same thing over and over till we get sick of it. Then we pick something else and eat that, until we get sick of it.

In England we have the traffic light system of foods nowadays. This is a system of 3 colours, green, brown or red. It tells us what is good, not so good or bad for us. It shows fat, and saturated fat and salt levels. To be honest I never knew it existed 2 years ago, but post unplanned quadruple heart bypass I’m trying to save my heart, with cKd too I’m trying to save my kidneys as well. Makes me sound like a high end chef all these hearts and kidneys. My Arthur my Arthritis is just my bastard, so I take cod liver oil for that.

So as we walk around Aldi or Waitrose if you are lucky enough to live in Harborne, we all look at labels and chose the healthier options, on the ward for Heart Patients salt is totally forbidden by the doctors. You will be surprised just how much salt is in food, I speak as a person who never used to sprinkle salt on any meal, though I have to confess I ate far too many processed food items, if you work shifts you just throw in food and eat it without reading anything. Maybe you should all not follow my example, its your decision.

Choosing a wife, a girlfriend or a lover is a difficult decision too, as is the male choices. So why do we all make these decisions? Nobody else would have me, we were drunk at the Christmas party, and we ended up in the storeroom, or the disabled toilets etc. So something provided the spark and it was a spontaneous decision, then either it continues or its the worst thing that happens in your life, and one of you finds a new job in the New Year.

Or every year at every Christmas party you end up in the stock room with a different girl, so after 13 years its 13 different girls who have had the benefit of your, your, whatever, whatever you want to call it. I won’t tell you my friend’s name or any of the girl’s names, 13 is an unlucky number so I’ll say nothing, besides John is a Judo Back Belt 5^th Dan, he calls me Mary.

Deciding where to live is very hard, we are thinking of moving house at the moment, so we have to consider the location in relation to the girls’ school. What you can afford makes a big difference, and some areas are Hot as they say in China, so if you blink you miss a chance and the house you want is snapped up. South facing properties are so much nicer than any others, you come and view a house only to discover its always dark due to the angle it is built in relation to the sun. You may as well be in the shadow of a mountain.

So you have to decide what is the most important factor, location as regards shops and school. It must be close enough for me to walk to the shops, that’s very important. Can I get a bottle of milk for our cereals, and a loaf of bread.

You find the perfect house only to discover that the local gossip lives next door, so you breathe a sigh of relief you did not sign your name on the contract. A friend nearly had his colleague buy the house next door, you may get on with your workmates but right next door would be too close for comfort.

So what have I decided after thinking about all these decisions, I think I have to do the lottery and then buy a large detached house with garage by the girls’ school, and if I buy the house we can have a Labrador called Camembert.

Or become a gigolo to a Chinese/Japanese/Korean billionairess just for the sake of getting a big house. I told my Shanghai model like wife this and she just laughed and laughed, if you listen carefully you can hear her laughter above the sound of the vacuum cleaner. And that’s how we first met, she had a vacuum cleaner in her hand. I wonder will I meet my billionairess with a vacuum in her hand, then I’ll clean up.