I got some feedback from a reader this week which is always refreshing.
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"Not very positive nor helpful in these times" was the frank verdict. And fair enough. Last week's article about Tim Wu's book on the rise of modern advertising and it's grip on our mind might have been a little dark. No one likes to think they're easily manipulated by external forces.
So, in possibly confirming that, I'm taking up the reader's suggestion this week to write about the thoughts of Austrian psychologist Vicktor Frankl.
And how they might apply to cleaning my blocked roof gutters in the face of a looming east coast low.
Frankl wrote "that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way".
Normally I'd lay on the couch and do nothing, but according to the Bureau of Meteorology, and in strange harmony with Frankl, the situation demanded I change my attitude and choose my own way - in this case, to get up on the roof - otherwise we might end up with an insurance issue.
A ladder seemed the obvious choice, although a helicopter always seems better. My usual attitude to ladders is they provide a swift passage to, if not madness, then certainly spinal injuries if not treated with respect. Particularly when set up on wet, uneven lawn.
But climb that ladder I did, and as I attempted to step off onto the slippery roof I was reminded of a second Frankl quote from my reader: "When we are no longer able to change a situation - we are challenged to change ourselves."
Situation wise, I was perched 50 per cent on a shifting ladder and 50 per cent on a slippery roof and feeling the gravity of the situation intensely - in both philosophical and literal terms.
Pride before a fall seemed a very imminent concept in a halfway world.
But given I couldn't change the situation, I was challenged to change myself. So rather than step off with trademark grace and style, I lunged desperately onto the tiles bum first, suckered down like a starfish and hoped I held. Then I arsed my way along the gutter to the downpipe, hairy grub style rather than risk a walk, and attempted to clear them.
It wasn't pretty but I think Frankl would have been happy I'd found meaning up there on the rooooof. The Platters and James Taylor make it sound like such a peaceful place. It's freaking dangerous.
Attempting to get back down Jacob's ladder I was reminded of dear reader's cheery sign-off having urged me to be more positive: "Me thinks this is helpful. Cheers stay safe."
I don't think she was being sarcastic but climbing down that ladder didn't feel safe at all. However, that wasn't the attitude required in that situation. Having got down in one piece, I fully endorse being helpful and positive particularly in times like these.
