Dear Readers,
Hi, hello, how are we doing? I has again been some time since I wrote, and that’s okay. I’m on a train, rolling backwards out of London. It’s dark out there, and under a sky chequered with office lights scoundrels lurk in suits, lying their way from one end of the day to the next at the taxpayer’s great expense. Writing a sentence like that reminds me of why I try to pay less attention to the news industry.
That was a grey opener – let’s try again. A lot has happened since I last got in touch. The Muse took me to India, and I’ll have to tell you about that epic in person. Here’s a photo:
Other things of note: I came second in a fancy dress competition. I came second in a writing competition. We did a lot of DIY (DIO?). I wrote two and a half short stories. I wrote cuid filíocht as Gaeilge and sent it off into the world of places that publish that kind of thing. I had an outstanding World Book Day – read all about it. I watched a lot of great movies. I became a director of the Hastings Book Festival. I went to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. I like to stay busy – I find there’s sensational energy in having plenty to do. And the more puzzling, packed-with-unknowns things-to-do are the most satisfying. Like how does a block plane work, or how do I ask for this thing in Italian?
There’s an artist named Magoz who speaks well about this kind of craic. There’s a difference between doing a variety of things that you enjoy, and enjoying a variety of things – a shift between enjoying the working out of something new, and enjoying the work of someone else. I like both. I like the figuring out. I’m one of those terrible people who loves to pull at the threads of a narrative, especially if it’s a particularly good one, and then talk about it in detail afterwards. Sorry, everyone. And I like the tricky problem-solving stuff of doing something that’s new, or a least new to me. Like a kind of brain activation. Forging new neural pathways and all that.
Anyway, the thing about having lots of interests to chase (I realise how lucky I am in this respect – I have a good job and I don’t have children or dependents and the kittycats are fairly automatic) is that there is a limit to what you can do as one person. The total number of things that can be done when you are not working, DIY/O-ing, cooking, eating, housekeeping, sleeping and travelling to the places where you do all these necessary things is small. So to do more of what you love or to do what you love in a bigger or more ambitious way, you probably need more people.
In the last few months I have met many new and quite excellent people who are passionate about books and reading and art and literacy and literature, all parts of a whole that is other than their sum. And I connected with some good people who do good things that have nothing to do with books and everything to do with people (more on that another day). Lots of new connections and interconnections. I don’t know if it’s because we no longer live in The Big City or if it was true there too but I feel like I suddenly have a lot of extra friends in my life who are curious about the same things that I am. Which is great, for me – I feel like I’m going further and learning more and with more energy because I’m inspired and helped by the good people I’ve met.
The other thing that I’ve noticed is that doing things with a broader group of clever humans has made me less impatient. Things come to completion in a different way and with a different pace when a lot of people are involved, and I’m okay with that. There’s enough to keep me occupied along the way.
What a ramble. Thanks for listening, friends. Until next time.
Yours faithfully,
Paul