Monday, 14 October 2013

After one week: routine

The Hub, home of the Ensterprise Systems group
After an exhilerating but also rather tiring Sunday, it was back to work. Amazingly, already after this short while it starts to feel like routine.

I'm sure we all know this from experience: when you start at something new, be it holiday, a new job, a new hobby, the first days leave a much stronger impression and seem to last much longer (especially in hindsight) than later on. Part of the brain is switched off as soon as habits are formed. I would love to know how to counteract this; but on the other hand, habits are themselves important, if you want to get into flow then distractions must be avoided.

Work habits do appear to be different in the Enterprise Systems research group from what I'm used to: I had the entire floor to myself for most of the morning. I wonder if this is typical of Mondays: last week I was never the first to arrive. Or is it because the cat is away? That doesn't sound too likely as an explanation, the rest of the group are hardly mice.

Cox's Orange Pippin: they taste as good as they look
So, dear readers: nothing much to report. I left in time to get some shopping done before dinner - yes, another pizza: I appreciate all your concern about my eating habits (there's that word again) but it's hardly as if daily cooking your own food is the universal standard. And there's always fruit: to my great joy, I found Cox apples in the supermarket, a kind that can hardly be found in the Netherlands any more but which is my personal favourite.

I will end today's post with a question for you: why are Cox apples called Cox Orange?

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3 comments:

  1. Els / Wim15 October 2013 at 06:43

    In this part of Holland Coxes are still always there abundantly from Oktober till February or so, when the special taste is fading and a few weeks later all Coxes are gone. Indeed months made special by this uncomparable brand of apples. There seem to be other brands of Coxes, but Cox (d') Orange has the right taste. Makes spirits go up.

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    1. Arend15 October 2013 at 08:56

      Putting a French d' in front of the Orange doesn't help much, I doubt if the French city is the right etymological explanation. The wikipedia link in the post has "Cox's Orange Pippin" as the full name and explains the Cox and Pippin part but not the Orange. No French connection is evident.

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  2. ron16 October 2013 at 10:16

    The name Cox is derived from the French word 'coche', meaning 'eerste snede' in Dutch and 'slice' or 'section' in English. It refers to the first harvest of the season, because this type of apples grows the fastest in orchards. The color orange refers to the first color of the sun in the morning. Nice Dutch invention.

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