Falling in love over time

There was a time when stationery and other types of paper were my number one love. Whether it was the walk to the store after a hot day in school.  Merely a five minute stroll.  Moving from the bright sunlight of the streets where there were  cars honking their horns to alert school children, your ride is here, to the shady side of the park with the branches of the trees covering the sidewalk, providing welcomed  relief and a chance to walk slowly to bright sunlight again. Reaching the store seeing the rows of stationery in the  air conditioned room, the different types of paper!

Imagine what happened when I went  to work in a firm of chartered accountants, to see all the different sizes of paper, ruled differently depending on its intended use and if you thought everything that was white was intended for the same use,  the texture  told you of the use of the paper and God help you if you used bond paper for photocopying. I think there were other paper lovers in that office, ranging from the partner who was in charge of the office (supplies included), to the Managing Partner who monitored the profits.

Nowadays, I will head to the stationery section of any store, be tempted to buy at least one small pad, surreptiously touching the paper to tell how thin it is before buying, whenever there is something to celebrate or to think about.

In between the love of stationery were the books...... Story books from the Library in primary school, racing up the wooden stairs during a ten minute break to quickly select a book while juggling the urge to visit the canteen with other necessary needs to fill. After all the Library was only open during recess and if you missed getting a book, it meant that there would be nothing to read after school and during lunch. Finishing a book in a day was great, as there were many books to read and you were only limited by how quickly you could read. Famous Five and other stories by Enid Blyton opened up the imagination, if not the mind to other places, things which were different. Gradually primary school became secondary school with a biggger library, air conditioned mini areas, with even more books. Becoming a Library Aide in Form Four was an honor and a privilege, not because of the badge and the chance to show participation in an extra curricular  activity, but the chance to develop a skill, interact with others, and access to lots of books.

Books remained my great love with authors and types of stories changing from Robert Ludlum to John Le Carre to Nora Roberts, Kay Hooper and  Iris Johansen. Nowadays there are e books or books on loan for a fee or from an even bigger  Public library with floors dedicated to children, young adults and adults. 

Travelling  means a quick stop in a book store for a treat, a reason to purchase a novel. A visit to another country entails locating a library and running in to see what it is like or locating the reading room in a hotel. After all many buildings are similar and a library will be a library wherever you go.

Photography and boats are my current crushes. Photography is closer to being a love while boats are just a crush.

Copyright Jennifer Bailey