No, I am not indulging in a Blackadder-style fake-madness attempt to avoid going "over the top" (or as I call it "The School Run") next week- in any case that was "wibble" as any fule kno (I digress Molesworth I).
A weeble is an ingenious toy, whose longevity is no doubt attributable to it's inherently humorous appearance. The toys have a wide base and narrower top half (almost like an egg standing on it's fatter end) and they progress by a rocking, wobbling, shuffling motion that reminds me of the last two weeks of pregnancy number two. By virtue of their wide base/narrow top/egg-like shape you cannot knock them over - they can roll right over but will simply self-right and carry on - hence their slogan "Weebles wobble but they don't fall down" (I wonder if that is what inspired ChumbaWumba's hit.......)
I have often been compared to a weeble - obviously, and flatteringly (!) because of a certain similar pear-shaped-ness, but mainly because of my own ridiculous resilience when knocked virtually flat to simply sproing back up going "I'm ok, look it's fine!!!" (Obviously I mean emotionally, if you knock me down physically I'm gonna stay down until I know that you have gone away - or is that bears you do that with, sorry no, T-Rexes on ill-conceived vanity-projects islands owned by misguided millionaires................I digress).
So where do I get this "hey, I'm ok now" nanosecond recovery time from?? (Because, dear reader, if I can find out and bottle it I will have enough money to (a) build a huge library to support Mr LAL's monstrously huge history text book collection and (b) actually live in London for the purposes of stalking opera singers at Covent Garden).
Unfortunately I am b*****ed in my quest for such wealth as I have no idea! Temperament I assume, plays a large part. It is certainly possible to dent the weeble-resilience and it doesn't work half so well if I am on the Keats/Byron end of the "mood positivity spectrum" - but that pretty much only happens if I am seriously under par and also at the same time coping with difficult circumstances.
Or to put it another way, how do you create a sense of hopefulness or optimism in yourself to help you cope with the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune"? I don't know. The "comfort activities" towards which I incline are shopping and eating - neither of which work. I'm grateful I incline to nothing worse.
Singing and being outside both do work. Being at and worshipping at church does work - not least because that is the place where I can let out a lot of negative emotion (tears, snot, stress) in safety without any judgement or anyone freaking out that I may be having a proper breakdown - they just pass the tissues and give me a hug!
The weeble resilience was certainly useful in my earlier days as a trainee solicitor, being sent on endless appearances before District Judges to argue the case for big insurance companies defending claims by the reams of claimants who have tripped over the paving slabs on the high street -you do lose a lot of cases when you defend!
But that usefulness was NOTHING compared to the vital need to "bounce back" from each fresh parenting challenge! And for now, I am rocking, wobbling, shuffling and weebling my way through. And sometimes I feel as if I have rolled on my big pear/egg shaped base until I am almost flat. But then......
SPROING!! I'm ok, I'm back up!! And I am very thankful indeed to feel that way.
Now, does my bum look big in this...........................
