A Journey in Thought

It was Oscar Wilde who once wrote that a diary is simply someone’s record of their own thoughts and impressions, and consequently meant for publication. He went on to say that, when it appears in volume form, it was to be hoped for that the reader would order a copy (from The Importance of Being Earnest).

A public blog is a little bit like that. In addition, it feels like a somewhat crazy and certainly pretentious exercise. Pretentious, because it requires a certain level of narcissism to believe that anyone would be interested enough in one’s writings to justify the creation of said public blog; crazy, because – by its very nature – I have no idea what it is that I am going to write here … if it were a novel or something, I would have a clear idea of what it was that I would have wanted to say, how to say it, the structure, etc. . Here, none of that, of course.

So … why am I setting up a blog? and why now? Simply because I want to give it a go. To try to pontificate about things I know nothing about but wonder about a lot. To see whether I can articulate that which my heart feels. To see if there’s anything to pontificate about at all, and whether I will stick at it. What drives me on is that, at my current age, I seem to be suffering from a very mild middle age crisis (I jest, of course) … i.e. I am painfully aware that the date of my leaving this mortal coil is not getting any further away – and, therefore, that I’d better indulge my whimsies and wishes as soon as possible, before that date inexorably does arrive. And also because I see all sorts of people write all sorts of drivel, these days, and feel I can do a better job. Finally, because my Facebook friends are probably exhausted from reading my reflections on there, and I may well be in danger of losing them all, unless I start said blog, instead.

It was William Faulkner, I believe, who once wrote that candour is not a constant necessity. I tend to live by that when I write something online. By that meaning that I won’t share everything with you, just because this is a personal blog. There are some things that are, of course, private. However, within those boundaries, I will be as sincere as I can with you. It’s an experiment which interests me greatly, too – how sincere, how honest can (or dare) one be, online … with friends, but also with total strangers? Where does one draw the line? Shall we see … together? :–) Oh, and no apologies are forthcoming for using emojis … they are now, rather like some sort of modern hieroglyphics, part of everyday life now, too.

So here we go. All that (in essence, but hopefully necessary) waffle just to introduce you to my blog. Hopefully, this thing has a subscribe button, so you can somehow subscribe to my future ramblings. If not, please do come back and read, every now and then … there is a small but undeniable chance that you may enjoy that which I have to say. And (until I follow in Mr Wilde’s footsteps and make this blog for publication, that is) it’s free to read. What – besides your precious time, therefore – have you got to lose?