Reading

Now I have a 30-40 minute commute every morning and every evening I find myself reading 1984 by George Orwell, a book I've always wanted to read but life got in the way. By that I mean when I pause for breath, I just want to watch crappy tv, surf the net, reorganise my room again, tut at my wardrobe or worry about a deadline without having to concentrate on something I want to take the time to know well.

During my commute there's not much else to do but subtly snuggle up to strangers and be consumed in words I've heard a lot about, but never experienced.

I'm about a third way through now and I find myself pondering a world without certain givens. A world without coffee shops, a world without music, a world without plastic wrapping, a world without knives, a world without guilt and a world without lips. Different and separate worlds of course, as a world without all of those would pretty much be Mars and we'd all be pretty bored right now. 

I also find myself pondering whether you could really have a world without attractive people. If we were all ugly and undesirable surely we'd find new definitions for the words?

On a lighter note, a nice gentlemen noted how much he enjoyed 1984 to me yesterday when he saw me reading it, as he took the seat next to me on the train (in the middle of a three seater with spare seats elsewhere - who does that?). Then he proceeded to take out his Kindle, unlock it and return to the book he was reading. I can't put the name of it here, it would shame my blog. But its basically The Secretary (the film) but crap. If you've read it then I surely hope it was for a joke, you won money and you are getting counselling. Or you're at least appropriately ashamed of yourself.

J and I have made a pact not to read it. We only read good books. Like classics and Buffy novels.