On Friday the 17th of August - Five Things

It's Friday, it's nearly 5 o'clock - so it must be time for a Friday Five.

1) Oh My God! The Pound! The Pound! Pound is currently trading below 1.27. Seems to be driven by a bit of Brexit uncertainty and a bit of Turkey uncertainty. I'm not planning on holidaying abroad, other than Turkey, for the foreseeable future. Which is currently next summer. This is okay. I have holiday options on the Scottish Islands, in the Scottish Borders and even in exotic Cornwall. Like middle-class remainers all through these sceptered isles I will pretend that the consequences of dealing with my reduced circumstances are deeply fashionable and socially conscious choice.

2) Personal best at the weight lifting this week at 140 kgs (or 120% of my body weight). Even my youngest brother is impressed.

3) It is my charming wee niece's first birthday. She has been to the zoo and has been surprised by a sealion. My son has described, through the medium of interpretive dance, the difference between a seal and sealion.

4) The Captain is back at school and all the school activities start up again. Football on Saturday. Rugby on Sunday. Judo on Thursday. So between that and building some Ikea furniture I think that's the weekend sorted out.

5) Work, both works, have had their challenges this week. To the point where I do wonder how some people manage to get dressed in the morning and, indeed, why some other people bother.

On Habits - A Friday Five

1. What bad habits bother you the most?

In myself, the bad habits that bother me the most are drinking too much coffee and the assumption that if something ought to do be done then I, or someone in my family, are the people who ought to do it.

In other people, stopping in door ways or other points of access and egresss to have conversations or look at maps and not being able to follow the logic or rhetoric of an argument and therefore making bad political choices.

2. What good habits do you most admire?

In myself, going to the gym, because it has taken years of self-knowledge to understand how to turn my desire in to better physical health in to a sustained programme of work.

In others, either asking good questions or having an instinctive care for other people.

3. What unusual habits do you observe in your family members? Do they bother you?

Quite a lot of my family have a distinctive little cough we do at the back of our throats. It doesn't bother me much, even when I do it. My Lovely Wife, whenever she returns home after any sustained absence *must* tidy something. At first it used to irritate me as I took it as both a condemnation of my housekeeping and a denial of her need for some rest - but really she just needs to physically re-establish herself in her home. So I never mention it. Except now.

4. Which bad habit do you think would be the most difficult to get rid of? Why?

For myself, eating too much, which is linked to eating breakfast. I don't feel hungry first thing in the morning so tend not to have breakfast. This in turns leads to me being hungry at lunch time and buying too much lunch. And then eating too much lunch.

For other people - a nicotine addiction seems to be really hard to shake off, worse than heroin apparantly. I think this is because nicotine is really addictive, has bad effects which are contingent, probabillistic and far in the future and people are bad at dealling with that sort of thing and smoking is still more or less socially acceptable in a way that shooting up is not.

5. Which good habit do you think would be the most difficult to develop? Why?

For myself, allowing my immediate moral outrage to be a spur to immediate action. I am too ready to delay action until all the facts and my own calculations are in. I wish I were more ready to express my disapproval more instinctively.

For others, being able to think in different ways depending on the situation. In particular, like an economist. Most people are not aware that they have habits of thought and these things can be challenged and changed and made a servant rather than a master.