sashinka | observation orientated, with a twist of lime | a blog

OK, so all this getting up at the crack of dawn has caught up with me.

I've been getting up at 5.30ish for about three weeks now. I have called a lot of people in India, Khazakstan, Asia in general. I have called a lot of people in Brazil, NY etc at the other end of the day. It's a global village. Blah blah blah.

I am very, very tired. So tired that during the week I became convinced one evening I had lost my mobile, and was running around trying to find it, even went back to Tesco, but it wasn't there. It wasn't there because I'd plugged it in to charge, and couldn't hear it ring when I called myself.

Like I say, I'm tired. I don't generally do those kind of things.

I have not built my sukkah/succah this year, which I feel a little sad about. Partly logistics - the only Sunday was the one before Yom Kippur, because all the chaggim are on weekends this year. And... other, more personal things.

That said, I am replete with sukkah invitations. Sukkot is the barkingest of all the chaggim, I think. I mean, it's fun, but it's mad.

So you build a small hut in the garden that you're technically supposed to live in, but it suffices to eat all your meals in it. Except, we're not in a balmy mediterranean country, we're in England in October. It's raining. My hair will go frizzy (although I will, of course, get over it). And you have arba minim (four kinds) and you wave palm fronds around, and you (er, men) do circles round the bimah in shul, and... Hoshana Rabba, don't even go there.

It's fun, it's really fun, but try explaining it to someone who's never done it. It all sounds a bit - frankly - unusual.

It's a very social time, because everyone's so pround of their DIY sukka (although nowadays, most people get pop-up ones from Sukkamart) and people invite you round for lots of meals, which is fun and lovely. There are even those who don't work in chol hamo-ed (next week, basically) although you have to be pretty frum for that.

I'll be working.

Because, like I said, I have a lot to do.

There's a little bit of me that wants to go down to the Golders Green Road this afternoon to get arba minim. I nearly got some late last night.

Over my life, people have often said to me I'm very spiritual. Mostly - but not exclusively - these people weren't Jewish. But I don't think I am spiritual. I think that being Jewish is very practical, and I love all the practical stuff. But to the untrained eye, practical can look spiritual, I guess. I've said all this before. Sorry. I've been blogging for nearly fives years, it's over a million words, I think, I'm bound to repeat myself slightly, right?

So, I may or may not be spiritual, although I do spend a lot of time thinking about the abishter. And I may or may not be... these things don't really matter. You can drive yourself crazy. I like it. I like, love the whole thing. Even if bits of it look a bit nutty.

But I'm so tired I think I might stay in bed and give shul a miss, possibly. Because the thought of a lie-in just sounds orgasmic.

Must go and phone a Loretta. Can't stop.