ROUTINE ONCE AGAIN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19217, 5 January 1926, Page 10

ROUTINE ONCE AGAIN.

SETTLING DO¥/N TO WORK. A COLLAR-PROUD DAY. .LITTLE MILD REBELLION. IRKSOME EXACTIONS OF T926. A form of inertia was apparent in the city yesterday—not the city streets, which, in spite of the exodus of Sunday, still contained many people with holiday freedom written on their faces. The "city" where inertia or, at least, a laggard spirit prevailed was the shop and office —the place where routine, the same old routine, called for attention and obedience. Tho sun-tanned faces —and arms, certainly the arms—told the common story of the holidays for the majority, and the flush of health proclaimed the benefit derived from the period of relaxation under bright skies. But the commercial machine was not in proper working order. Its performance contrasted in striking fashion with the high speed run just before the holidays. Then it was tuned up to concert pitch. How different yesterday. "And," remarks Ada calmly disregarding the lady who wants to buy two yards of green ninon, "he said ■—Apparently He, the eternal He, said a good dea.l, and so did Ada, and one gathered that Ada and He had enjoyed the bright long days that had left so red a sunburn just at the place where Ada's little sleeve now ends. In tho meantime the green ninon had no personal interest for Ada or any of her friends. For the moment they were not in the mood to enthuse over the exquisite "creation" the ninon would make. A Holiday Ring. But there was exceptional lack of interest among the counter ladies of the establisliment where the little dark girl, looking happily self-conscious, wore a new ring upon the most important finger. The delighted squeaks that rose from the group of girls who surrounded tho ringed one, proved quite conclusively that a lot of the common talk about the hard materialism of the modern girl is all moonshine. Moonshine may have had a part in the betrothal, but who could doubt that the lucky man would have been hesitant if his chance to propose had come on an evening when there was a deluge from the south ? Proposals of marriage, after all, do not depend upon the weather. One has heard of a man finding courage to say his little "piece" on a muddy track beneath a dripping gum tree. But a calm moon helps a lot to make the ideal setting. It is only when the girl rejects the suitor that he is glad of darkness and discomfort Not Tm Old at Fifty. la an office sitting behind a huge ledger sat a man of the type which usually rami to a time-table all the year —the typo which hangs up its coat half a minute to nine o'clock and arrives home for its dinner at 5.17 p.m. and never by any chance breaks his self-imposed routine even to the tying of its bootlaces. But he was not writing nor even looking at the ledger. Ho had a far-away look. , A sort o:[ reverie held him. " For. a moment he was simply another loose cog in the old machine. Perhaps he 1 had caught a shark; perhaps he had Won a game of bowls; perhaps the idea had.got into his head that a man is not too old to marry at fifty. There was no finding out; Here and there one heard men who should never go to races unless one of the enlightened takes them by the hand, saying that if they had only continued to "back" the Absurds they would have made money, if they had "followed" a horse or a stable or some other equally remote possibility. One feels that the majority of the racing people paid dearly for their holiday, and are not likely to be in so good fettle as the horses that won—the horses they might have backed —when they settle down to the routine of 1926. The excitement of the racecourse may sometimes be a tonic, but it is possible to have too much of any tonic. Without question there is too much racing in Auckland during the Christmas and New Year week, and those who devoted their holidays to it may have reason to envy the hundreds, if not the thousands, who rolled'home on Sunday evening from camp and bach. The Homing Campers. It was a stimulating sight to see car after car heavily loaded with camping gear making for home. Many of the cars bore signs ,of many miles. It had been perfect tojiring weather, and one can only guess at the number of people who found the rest and change they needed per medium of tho car and camping outfit. For the next week or two, or month or two, according to the nature of. the individual, the camping folk will live upon- memories. And so will those who cruised the gulf. They have hardly begun properly to digest the holidays on the water with its endless interest and variety. They have not yet fully entered into the story of what happened when ,tho wind switched round to the southeast, .or how they took the narrow channel in the dark. With these highly important matters upon their minds—and each man and each woman, whatever the form of their holi- i day have temporarily changed their standard of values owing to the domination of holiday events—it was inevitable i that the tasks of yesterday should appear more as an outrageous imposition than the chief factor in life. It seemed very hard indeed that it should be necessary to earn one's bread. j But the rebel spirit is only the reaction. We shall all come back to earth quite soon and this new year, this absurdly exacting 1926, will merge with the past and link itself to the future, and genuine regrets will see it pass away after it has become a definite unit of effort and accomplishment. But it is adding bitterness to gall to talk hopefully of the year of work ahead. We all want to enjoy a week of melancholy brooding before we become reconciled to the _ order of things—to old familiar routine that saves us from more fretfulness than we know.