Right then. The Scoop.

My girrel's got ants in her pants. And that, ladies and gents, is the essence of today's Big Scoop. But let me go off on a lazy sunday tangent.

We've all got our wee nickity pickety "wars" to battle in life. Mine's probably intrinsic antinomicity. How does one successfully enable co-existence of one's intrinsic contradictory needs, wants and beliefs? How to satisfy, for instance, a want for chaos but need for stability? How to merge the longing for novelty with the need for the familiar?

If we were one-dimensional creatures it'd be complicated at best. Take into account the multi-dimensionality of our existence and the fact that sometimes, different aspects of our lives seem to evolve at different speeds, and it's like trying to figure out a rubic's cube when colour blind.

Since I've met Jo, it's like that rubic's cube has developed a will of its own. The more I try to force it, the more it unravels. But if I simply lay out my options, and probe my way around with an open mind, the planes magically appear to line up. Things start making sense. That's a rather unnerving discovery for a control freak like myself.

I've been restless. I know I need to hang fire here in Belgium to finish this particularly steep learning curve before I can take the next step in life. But I have an urge to skip ahead. Dive into that next comfort zone. A clash of a need and a want. Meeting Jo, at first, seemed like the ideal escape route. An excuse to skip ahead. But when her and I are together, it's like an entirely new dynamic emerges. Whenever we feel like speeding up, skipping ahead or get entangled in a war of two opposing wants, needs or beliefs, it slows us down. Forces us to focus on what we would otherwise fail to notice. And every time we let it, the planes of the rubic's cube start lining up. Not always correctly, but ever closer to a solution.


After weeks of charting both our options, struggling with our own and each other's antinomicity, the dynamic suddenly gained unexpected speed. Circumstances changed and Jo decided to quit her job in England. She's been successfully unemployed for 4 weeks now and last Thursday, she landed herself a wonderful job in... Belgium.

It will bring chaos to the stability, novelty to the familiar. And chocolate waffles to the wee Scot. It might bring out the best opportunities for both of us, blend opposing wants and needs. In any case, we're about to cross over into a new comfort zone in at least one life aspect. And suddenly... I feel surprisingly calm.