Reading Matters ♡

From the Pillion

Pillion, grumpometer = 0

One of the prevailing images my friends and family have of me is being ensconced somewhere with a cup of tea or coffee and a book or the papers. When I visit a friend, even just for a long weekend, I take three or four books with me, not quite sure which one might take my fancy.

Some of my friends do the same, you never know when you’ll run out of conversation or fall out. 😂

Often, on those visits, the books stay in a corner because we talk too much, but reading matters are my comfort blanket.

So it comes as no surprise that the thought of travelling for a year with not much space for stuff, let alone a stack of books, sent me into a mild panic.

My kids came to the rescue and bought me a Kindle, upgraded to 4G, so that I can download to my heart’s delight.

I still prefer the feel and smell of a book, but for this trip, or any trip, the Kindle is great.

I can also read in the dark (with increased font!) without disturbing the Pilot and we can read to each other without the need for a proper bedside reading lamp. (I used to grade places we stayed in accorance with the reading lamps provided and some didn’t have any!)

Where the Kindle falls short is leafing through travel guides. You can’t hop and skip about the Lonely Planet as in a book, there’s no colour for emphasis and the Googlemap interface needs sorting out.

Considering that the day never felt complete for me without the papers and several online checks about what’s going on in the world, I find it strangely liberating to spend my time immersed in local history, unaware of the pyjama tweets of those terrible blondes on either side of the pond.

What's your guess?

Completely changing the subject, it’s been interesting figuring out all the different washing machines along the way.

Why do they all have fifty programs when you only want two?

One machine in Finland presented a particular challenge. In the end we decided to fix the waste pipe to the toilet bowl, assuming the Airbnb host didn’t want his bathroom flooded. Then again, he had one of those Nordic bidets, so might be quite used to wet floors!

We are now in week nine, the grumpometer goes off-piste now and then, but we’re getting better at recognising the explosive mix of tiredness and hunger.