Saturday 26 February 2011

Z spends £121 (including postage)

I've just spent half an hour booking four return train tickets  - although that does represent three different journeys.  The cost varies considerably, depending on what time you travel, between £8 and £35 for a single journey.  So my solo visit will cost £16, the Sage's £52 and the two of us together is also £52. It's  worth booking ahead, they're all a lot cheaper than buying on the day.  They're all quite short visits for specific purposes, although I have kept 3 hours for myself on the afternoon of 10th March.  I'll have to see what's on.  The book launch is in a gallery near New Bond Street.  I've only ever read one of Lynn's poems, and I'm not sure what to expect, but I'm sure to order several copies.  I'm very pleased for her.  It's not the first time her name has been in print by any means; she's an artist and art historian, and an expert on picture frames, but I think it'll be her first published (in book form, that is) venture outside the world of non-fiction.  It'll all be way over my head of course - I''m a bit of an oik and I don't often read poetry nowadays.  I'm too impatient.  Poetry has to be read slowly and I'm a skimmer.  I have to read it aloud to slow myself down.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would buy myself a free ticket for a year first class and enjoy to be able to jump on a train any time just to visit an exhibition in a city like Hamburg or Berlin, even Munich.
I have difficulties with poetry to allow to touch myself.

Marion said...

Hi Z
It sounds like you had a lovely time with your friend and the zoo trip.

Dave said...

I think poetry is best read aloud (to oneself) anyway.

MOTB said...

If I read aloud my eyes and my mouth often seem to bypass my brain - so after I've finished I have no idea what was written. It's as if I go on autopilot. Mind you, I've only noticed that with children's poems.

Z said...

Mago, that is exactly what I mean to do, but don't do often enough.

I used to read poetry in my teens, maybe that's when you are most receptive to being touched by it. I agree with both MOTB and Dave - poetry is best read at a speaking pace, whether or not you utter the words, but if you're used to reading quickly it can be hard to concentrate. It could also be, of course, that a poem that doesn't lodge in the mind isn't a very good one, whether written for children or not.

It's been a good break from routine, Marion, thanks.

Blue Witch said...

No cheap train travel from here into London, no matter how far ahead you book. Boo.

It's daft that you can get in more cheaply from where you live than I can from less than half the distance, on the same line.

Z said...

It certainly is, BW. Maybe you could book from Norwich and just get on and off at your local station?

Eddie 2-Sox said...

Will you take my arm when we attend Barry Teeth's launch please?

Z said...

I will be proud to, dear heart.

Z said...

Oh, that is, assuming it's attached to the rest of you.

*hums Tom Lehrer song*