12
June
At
long last I have finished Doctor Sleep
and begun You Are Dead. Now another
writer I like, Robert Galbriath is to release her new one in October. On Monday
I will get my pre-order in for that one. Actually, I was rather pleased with
mesen by walking out of Smiths Place with Vol 3 and 4 of the Game of Thrones series. I didn’t get
them because I have a loyalty for Waterstones with over a fiver on it. Even so,
I didn’t go over the road and buy them. See, what a good boy I was!
Anyway,
there I was reading You Are Dear when
I read that Roy Grace is the on call senior officer and is longer for a drink
when he arrives home to see Clio and his son. However, he doesn’t have one because
he’s on call; see, even he is being a good boy too. That got me thinking about
booze, novels and non-drinkers. I can’t remember ever reading a novel where
drinking seems to be normal at some point, but Doctor Sleep has a number of AA members working together. The book
starts with one of them being a drunk and starting to try to kick it. Even so,
the call of the glass is never far away.
As
for me, I haven’t had any ale for weeks now, and you know what? I haven’t
missed it. As for the malt I have beside me, I had some last weekend and haven’t
thought of it since, well, until now that is. But last night I also wondered
about whether drinkers ever think about non-drinkers and when they don’t drink.
I very much doubt they do; I know I never did. That led on to me wonder how
many non-drinkers there are in the UK, adults that is. It’s something we will
never learn I suppose.
After
I settled I was sat up again making a note of something that came to mind. I
spent 12 years with the OU and loved it too. I carried on even after I had
gained my BA Hons in History, which was my target. I carried on because I was
enjoying it so much. I was once asked when I would stop studying. My reply was
simple, ‘When I stop enjoying it.’ That happened when Dave died, and as much as
I disliked Dave, it did upset me. That had the effect of making me look at what
I was doing and why. At that time I was reading a geology course and yet again
I was surrounded by books and papers and maps and … … … The sight of all those
books suddenly took on dark view, one that made me move away for it all.
Now
back to 0.45 when I made my second note, which was basically, ‘Why shouldn’t
someone study just for the fun of it?’ You see, I was once asked what I was
going to do with the all my learning. At that time I was still Jan’s carer (and
of course I still am). But a degree in any subject isn’t a gateway to a
lucrative career on its own. So I relied to the question asked, ‘Why can’t
someone learn just for the fun of it?’
That question stumped my questioner, he
just couldn’t understand that. His theory was that learning ended when you left
school, how sad eh? Even when I suggested that he had been learned all his life
was refuted with a ‘No way!’ Again, how sad. I later learned from his wife that
she too wanted to study for a degree but couldn’t because he wouldn’t allow it.
By that I mean he wouldn’t pay for it. That I found even sadder really.
And
so for today’s picture …
A bar I found in Brum.
And
today’s funny … sorry, but I’ve found a page of these groaners …
Q: What
do you call a pile of kittens A: a meowntain
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