Lessons From A Slow Kettle

I haven’t blogged for a while because September is my holiday/go slow month. We didn’t quite manage the whole month in the end with extra meetings and a couple of bookings sneaking their way in

Due to the kindness of someone who believes in the fact we need a holiday, we managed a wonderful 2 weeks abroad. We went to a lovely village in Greece on the Mani peninsular - Stoupa. We’ve been there before. The accommodation is basic Greek, and you have to be willing to slow down - or you won’t survive the holiday(!)

It’s a well known fact that a kettle in a Greek apartment will always take longer to boil due to the low wattage. But the kettle we had was amazing in its slowness - it took over 30 minutes to boil enough water for two drinks. (You should know at this point that we have an instant water boiler at home because I find it difficult to lift a kettle. I’m not used to waiting for hot water!)

This was a huge lesson in patience for an impatient person like me. When I’m on holiday I like to do things a certain way - starting the day with a cup of coffee in bed whilst doing a sudoku puzzle or something similar. Another one with my breakfast whilst doing my daily readings - and so the day goes on.

But when the kettle takes 30 minutes - you have plan your coffee/tea carefully! You can’t have ‘a quick cuppa’. You have to wait for it…… and then savour it. I didn’t get my coffee in bed very often - I gave up and opted to only have it with breakfast most of the time.

Ok, It’s a bit of a first world problem - some people in the world have to walk for a couple of hours to get a jug full of dirty water, so complaining about it just seems wrong. But, I decided I could learn from it.

As a result of this slow electrical equipment, we sat and rested for longer - because we had to. Sometimes we gave up and said “You know what? Let’s go out for a coffee” (And a nice cake/Ice cream - of course!) And as a result of going out we saw more, tried more things (Fig Ice cream for one - wonderful stuff!) and relaxed more than we might have done.

What started as an irritation turned into a bit of a joke that has helped us create precious memories that are so essential, Not just the memory of the kettle, but also of the places we went instead of waiting for it to boil.

This kettle has reminded me that there are times to slow down and savour things, to appreciate relationships, to ponder and think. To just make time….. For people and for ‘stuff’.

It’s amazing what you can learn from a kettle……