We have a fruit bowl at work, and every Monday and Wednesday two boxes of fruit arrive in the morning ready for anyone who craved a little healthy sugar hit. I chose a nectarine that had the most amazing fragrant, sweet smell. It sat in my drawer for two days and even some tissues I had next to it were permeated with the fragrance. With great expectations, I took it out of the drawer yesterday, washed it and bit into it. It was SOUR. I bit in different places but there were no sweet spots. I had to throw it away. It's just too much to take, after the tantalising sweet fragrance, to bite into a sour fruit.
As I pondered over the events of the day on the way home in the train, I can draw some similarities in life to the nectarine. What if you just didn't expect something to turn out the way it did because it looked so improbable it would do so? Not so long ago, the economy was robust to say the least. Now newspaper headlines are screaming about job cuts, stock market tumbling further, property prices slowing, dollar at a low on a daily basis. So, if one has been released from their job, they can't even make their fortune from some other sources, or sell their property to get some money. The last resort, to move away to some other country where cost of living may be cheaper isn't that much more attractive because the low value of the dollar (admittedly an extreme option). Just yesterday speculations tore around town about a bank cutting 10% or 3500 of their workforce. Another has 2000 on the cards. Total financial sector job cuts = 10,000.
The state we're in right now just seemed so improbable 9 months ago. And unlike being able to throw away this nectarine for a sweeter one, there are none other nectarines out there. Every nectarine is sour at the moment.
The good thing is that, there are other fruits in life. Peaches, for family and cherries for friends, for instance. They're both stone fruits too, just like nectarines. At least there is a higher chance that they'll be sweet and will be more fulfilling.
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