AN ORANGE ADDICTION

" Orange is the New Black" seems to be everyone's favourite addictive piece of TV. As per usual, I am at least 100 light years behind everyone and have only just started it. Don't get me wrong, I knew it was there, because any time I tried speaking to my daughters, their eyes remained glued to the

screen and I  got a token nod and the standard " yes Mum" to any question or statement I asked.

How are you? Yes, Mum.

Shall we go grab a coffee and you pay? Yes, Mum. ( definitely something wrong!)

The sun is black today. Yes, Mum.

Would you like me to rip of all my clothes and run down the street? Yes, Mum.

OK. Last one was a trifle exaggerated but whatever it was had them and everyone around me hooked. So, finally curiosity killed this cat and I signed up for Netflix and OITNB. This was a BIG MISTAKE cos now I am totally and utterly addicted myself. My eldest daughter ( bless her heart) tried to protect me by warning me about the sexual elements of the programme. Why do young people always believe they invented sex? Unfortunately after an eternity teaching teenagers, very little scandalises me any more, this series included. But fascinated I definitely am.

What is it about other people's lives that make them so intriguing and why can I get very little done until I have seen every single episode of all three seasons of this series?  I cook with the iPad on. I wake up early and watch it in bed. I rip through my chores to watch another episode. I go to bed early so I can cuddle up to my iPad and see what happens next. Addiction is a problem and I freely admit it, I am addicted to this series, so much so that I dread what will happen to my morale when I finish season 3  and there is nothing left to watch.

The last time this happened was after my breast cancer surgery when my neighbour Ally walked in

with every episode of "Sex in the City" and told me it was scientifically proven therapy. She was so right that I never moved for a month. How had I never watched this on TV? I told you. I am always light years behind. I didn't even know what a Jimmy Choo or a Christian Louboutin  shoe was till then. I was a disgrace to the female race till that series.

Other people's lives often appear to be so much more interesting than your own.Its easy to get caught up in the escapism that life in a prison or a serious shoe fetish provides, because its so far from your reality that it provides a temporary break. Its good to escape. Its healthy. But after a while engaging back with the real world is necessary or it becomes a totally different issue. It becomes avoidance.

I meet a lot of bloggers online and sometimes they let you into a snippet of their lives. Everyone appears to be addicted to something - food, weird diets, religion, certain life styles. And yes some of them are interesting and some well are just not for me. I'll tell you one that is not for me -kale. My husband recently planted a lot of kale because everyone has been claiming how addicted to the health benefits of kale they are. I'm calling bullshit on that one right now. My body does not like kale. I do not like kale and I could easily provide wind energy to a small country if forced to eat it again. But some people are addicted to the stuff and good luck to them. I'll stick to a prison series. It doesn't effect my digestive system.

A lot of people used to tell me I was addicted to coke zero. Again, sorry to my mother and brother who think I consume 3 cans a day, but I actually consumed 1 can a day. The very nature of the word addiction implies a pleasurable act which becomes compulsive and interferes with ordinary life responsibilities, such as work. Drinking coke zero was pleasurable and compulsive but did not interfere with anything, or so I thought. I  stopped  months ago, of my own accord when I learned about the dangers of aspartame. Scientifically proven or not, anything you consume regularly that effects your body is an addiction and I don't need to risk anything stuffing up my body further. Its already a mess without aspartame in it. So, I ditched the chemical pleasure zone.

I'm sure some people will think there are good addictions. I'm not sure about whether such a thing exists but happy for you all to enlighten me. Tell me what you are addicted to and whether a good addiction is possible or whether it is an avoidance tactic for something deeper. 

I will leave you with that deep thought. 7 episodes to go.

Till next time...xxx