With great force of willpower this morning I only snoozed my alarm twice and was out of bed almost three quarters of an hour earlier than has been my wont lately. I had places to go but wanted to manage to run round the village as usual beforehand. Besides I was aware that we had very little milk left, not enough for me to organise breakfast before going out. The milkman arrives midmorning on a Wednesday, which is not a problem if I have cycled to Uppermill and back before a late breakfast, but IS a problem if I want to sort breakfast earlier in the day. So I popped into the coop for a bottle of slightly inferior milk (i.e. not produced by a local dairy farm) while out on my run.
The early morning was surprisingly grey and overcast. Uh! Oh! I thought to myself, has our run of fine sunny days come to an end? But, no, that was not the case. The sun was trying to force its way through as I ran homewards, and by the time I had showered, it had evaporated most of the cloud and the sky was becoming clear blue once more.
I was up early because I was planning to travel across Manchester by bus and tram to meet my friends from the Italian conversation class for lunch - our occasional face to face instead of electronic meeting.
My journey comprised a bus-ride to the Oldham metrolink stop and a long tram-ride, fortunately without any changes, almost to end of our tramline. I had my trusty kindle with me, which was fine until it started to flash up messages: Battery low! Plug in as soon as possible! How very annoying to be at risk of my kindle quietly dying on me just when I needed it. Fortunately I managed to keep it going until I returned home and set it to recharge straight away. If I were a younger person I would probably have a playlist or a podcast on my phone to listen to. As I don’t have that, I shall have to start carrying my iPod mini (by now almost a museum piece) around with me.
Here’s something else about books and reading:
“Umberto Eco, who owned 50,000 books, had this to say about home libraries:
"It is foolish to think that you have to read all the books you buy, as it is foolish to criticize those who buy more books than they will ever be able to read. It would be like saying that you should use all the cutlery or glasses or screwdrivers or drill bits you bought before buying new ones.
"There are things in life that we need to always have plenty of supplies, even if we will only use a small portion.
"If, for example, we consider books as medicine, we understand that it is good to have many at home rather than a few: when you want to feel better, then you go to the 'medicine closet' and choose a book. Not a random one, but the right book for that moment. That's why you should always have a nutrition choice!
"Those who buy only one book, read only that one and then get rid of it. They simply apply the consumer mentality to books, that is, they consider them a consumer product, a good. Those who love books know that a book is anything but a commodity.”
And here is a cartoon which amused me as it describes Granddaughter Number Two quite perfectly.
Lunch at the Italian restaurant at the other end of Manchester was very pleasant, by the way.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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