As Good As It Gets — Three Days In The Life Of A Cynic

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Once upon a time … for a few days … Life was as good as it gets.

I was living in Zone 3 — I know, I know, the shame … but I’d do it all again in a heartbeat if it meant I got to lead the life we’re supposed to once more — and below are the most significant of my journal updates for that time.

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DAY 1

One earwig. Many, many snails.

It’s been so long since I last saw one, I can’t remember what earwigs are for anymore … but it’s fun rescuing them from the sink and setting them free when washing lettuce ¹.

They were tiny, tiny, tiny snails … not much bigger than a pinhead many of them … it took ages to rescue them all — whilst I did, tiny though they were, when they started to move, I could feel each of them crawling around on my fingers … making me giggle with delight.

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¹ Food comes out of the ground and off trees here, so it comes with free dirt that has to be washed off before you can eat it … and free creatures to rescue too! ²

² It’s much more fun than the stuff you get from supermarkets — I think I could get to quite like rescuing things before I eat them by accident.

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DAY 3

Once again … today I saved many lives.

Yes, I know they’re only tiny, tiny snails and their lives are only little, but they’re all they’ve got — so, to them, their lives are as big and important as yours or mine are to us.

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DAY 11

Today’s animal rescue: a cricket / grasshopper ¹.

This was a difficult one and I had to chase it all over the apppartment before I was able to catch it under a glass — a lot of times I nearly had it, but then it moved again and I didn’t want to risk injuring it by being hasty, so it was a bit of a trial … but worth it for the sense of having accomplished something worthwhile by saving a life.

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¹ Don’t ask me which — you don’t see them at Sainsbury, Tesco, Waitrose, or wherever.