About me

On the whole, life is pretty good at the moment. I don't have to go to work every day, and although I'm trying to get all sorts of jobs done at home it isn't the same as having to get up and do stuff for someone else for eight hours. The weather is still terrible, but not cold, just wet, which is a shame. Mr A is doing OK most of the time.

Things I love

Badminton

I love badminton. I love it so much I'm already sad to think that the day will come when some part of my body will give way and I won't be able to play any more. Anyway, in a month's time the club is moving to a brand new hall in a brand new school that has only just been built, and this means we are no longer limited to 8 people in the first hour and 12 in the second. Soon I will be able to turn up every week, instead of just filling in when other more long-standing players can't make it. I am looking forward to this immensely.

Reading

I'll read fiction, non-fiction, cookery books, newspapers, magazines, blogs. I'll read posters on the waiting room wall if I've forgotten to bring a book to an appointment. I'll read a knitting pattern if there's nothing else to read. Mr A's collection of war-related books doesn't appeal, but I could get into it. I don't much like is 'chick-lit', those books that portray women as shallow shoe-obsessed shoppers waiting for a man to make their life worthwhile, but I'll read them if necessary. I hate tabloid newspapers, but I'll read the first sentence of each paragraph before feeling repulsed and moving on to the next.

Listening

This is almost the same as reading, but not quite. There are times when reading isn't possible: while walking, cooking, shopping, driving, and at these times, aural reading comes into the picture. I subscribe to more than 20 podcasts, I don't think I could live without Radio 4, and Lola II started me off on ebooks when I started university, based on the fact that I used to subscribe to a cassette book library when I commuted between Manchester and Liverpool. On very rare occasions when listening to words is difficult (during revision, or while blogging, for example) I'll listen to music instead.

Things I don't love

Forced inactivity

This is epitomised by running out of reading material, or possibly at work when there's legitimately nothing to do but it's not acceptable to just get out a book or read the paper. Waiting rooms, traffic jams, hours between lectures, on a train or plane - these are all danger situations. I once had to resort to playing a stupid game on my phone when I was on a train that was seriously delayed. A job where there's not enough to do but you have to keep sitting there doing nothing is my idea of hell.


Obviously there are many more things that I do and don't love, and this post was going to be a great deal longer. The remaining items are waiting, and may emerge in the future.