Variety is the spice of life. Oh really?

All one can do is shrug one's shoulders and chuckle. After enjoying a much deserved long weekend break away with some close friends, I have again come to appreciate just how impossibly difficult it is to shove a group of very different individuals into a confined space for any length of time without incident - a sort of ‘big brother’ dynamic if you will, but without the cameras.

Of course all of us are great friends (some for many years) and will remain so, but the spawn of familiarity, the insipid little runt known to you all as contempt, soon rears its mean little head. Being the people that we are, and living the busy lives that we do, we inevitably pack in our emotional baggage along with the toothbrush (and a bottle of whatever we feel takes the edge off), and we all begin our merry little dance.

For the most part, we get along. Of course. We are considerate and helpful but soon personality quirks, behavioral idiosyncrasies, sensitivity, insensitivity, and the absence of tact, all start creeping in. Add chronic doses of whatever’s in the aforementioned bottle and before you know it feathers are ruffled, noses are out of joint, and the music begins in earnest. You can guess the rest. Suffice to say that there were probably plenty of hushed "he said, she said" moments.

If you think that this is all a little melodramatic, you would be correct in that observation. Naturally we all experience this phenomenon. I’m just trying to emphasize my point. I'm pretty sure all of us are happy to be back in our own spaces and already planning the next holiday together.

My only advice to people (some more than others, and I sincerely hope they know who they are) is best summed up with the idiom: Discretion is the better part of valour.

Just a thought.