Traveller in An Antique Land

A Neglectful Author

That's me. I haven't updated in almost 4 months! Happily, this is because I've been busy living in the real world.

Winter has come and gone. Not surprisingly, I spent most of it inside. My plan for going to Germany fell through, so Christmas was spent quietly at home. I think it was very English--I had a roast, opened crackers, and watched the Doctor Who special on TV. On Boxing Day I saw Morris dancers for the first time and then spent the day at a friend's house. New Year's was spent quietly at home. The rest of the winter was also enjoyable. There was lots of snow, at least by Gloucestershire standards. It was all quite typical for me. Well, almost. Because England is so temperate, most of the snow had melted by the end of the day, so we ended up with more slush than anything else. There was enough snow for M to get out of school at least one day, though. We had lots of fun throwing snowballs and building snowmen.

In December, I also began volunteering at a nearby charity bookshop. The heavy presence of literature in Cheltenham is one of my favorite things about the city. There are some specialized shops, like Cooking: The Books, and some chains, like Waterstone's, and some independent booksellers, like Moss Books. There are also loads of charity bookshops, whose profits support various causes. I currently volunteer for the British Red Cross and Oxfam. The former is for convenience's sake, because it's just down the road. Oxfam, however, is an organization I've wanted to find a way to support for some time. It started as an organization dedicated to fighting world hunger but is now devoted to fighting poverty. Though I've never been to the third world, I've seen enough poverty to want to do something about it. Part of me wants to be very directly involved, but I quite like my position at the bookshop. I spend most of my time in the back, but quite like my fellow volunteers and the occasional shift on the till does provide opportunities to interact with random strangers. Always exciting!

So life goes on, more full of enjoyment than I have any right to. The sun has been shining extraordinarily often; the daffodils are blooming, and tulips are budding; my ears are full of music and my heart is full of peace. I could live this life for a while.

posted by Jennifer @ 12:26 PM