Genius Fan

Do you know what ‘stolen time’ is? It’s minutes or hours that you shouldn’t have, but manage to ‘half inch’ (pinch) or through a cancellation it ends up in your hands. In its unexpected nature, stolen time is rich in potential. And it has boundaries, a start and a finish, which means the end is in sight. Under those conditions a great deal is possible.

That’s always been my experience before going to bed. After the dogs have been walked, the dishes done, the downstairs shoogled and secured, all that remains is to head up the wooden hill to Bedfordshire. My wife will go up 45mins before me and I should follow her up. This is where the thieving happens. Instead of flicking the light switch and making for the staircase, I go to the bookcase, pick my book, move to the armchair, adjust the reading lamp and set to reading. I should be in bed. Sleeping. Freshening up for work tomorrow. But I’ve done some thinking and reckon I can steal an hour and still get up fresh tomorrow.

I look at the clock, 00:15. That’s the perfect time. The house is silent. The dogs are in their beds, legs and bellies up. There’s no traffic passing outslde. All other lights in the room and the house are off. Only the reading lamp above my head is at work. And I’ve made time to read this book, neglected among so many others that haven’t been opened since I bought them months and years ago. Tonight it’s Facts and Inventions: Selections From the Journalism of James Boswell.

Notes
Facts and Inventions: Selections From the Journalism of James Boswell, (ed) Paul Tankard (2014)