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TTFN
by George Ivanoff - April 5th, 2012
Ciao folks! I’m off on holiday to Singapore for ten days… which means no posts while I’m away. But I thought you all deserved a few parting words before I abandoned you.
This is a family holiday with two kids, the youngest being only three, so I’m not anticipating all that much lazing about time. This means that I probably won’t be doing much reading. [Sigh!] I am, however, hopeful that the kids might sleep on the plane (at least part of the way) and give me at an hour or two to read. So I am taking a book. Just one. Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles.
It’s a battered old copy I’ve had lying about for a very long time. I’ve been meaning to read it for years, but just haven’t got around to it. Last year, I watched the old 1980s mini-series based on this book, and decided that I really should read it. So I put the book on my must-read-soon pile. When it came time to choose a book to take with me on holiday, I chose it… primarily because it is a battered old copy and I won’t mind it being shoved unceremoniously down the bottom of my backpack, with lots of other stuff, where it will be knocked about and possibly rained on whilst walking the damp Singaporean city streets. But even battered old books, rained upon or not, deserve to be read.
As a writer, I am, of course, also taking a notebook and pen with me… because you never know when inspiration may strike. It has certainly happened on past trips, when a particular bit of sight-seeing has inspired a little bout of writing. I remember visiting St Katherine’s monastery at the foot of Mt Sinai in Egypt, and then starting a short story, (“The Last Monk”, recently republished in an anthology called Monk Punk), on the bus trip back to the hotel.
Normally, when I go overseas, I take one or two guide books. In fact, my wife has already acquired a copy of Lonely Planet’s Bali and Lombok guidebook for her trip later this year. But we’re not taking any guide books with us on this trip. Why? We are staying with friends (who have kids about the same age as ours) and they’ve planned out our itinerary, and are acting as tour guides. All we have to do is tag along and have fun. Luxury!
Anyway… time for me to go. I’ve got a plane to catch. Try not to get too bored without me. 
TTFN, George
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