Do you ever get the feeling that your life is re-writing itself around you? That somewhere out there, things are re-shaping themselves, like you’re clay on a potter’s wheel? Change is slowly creeping up on you, you can’t see it but you can feel it. There’s excitement in the air.
That’s me at the moment. Maybe because I am ten days or so away from FINALLY opening my bookshop? Maybe because I feel stuck? Maybe because it’s summer and I’m thinking back to my school summer holidays, when I would often emerge a different person at the end of it than I was going into it? Maybe because change really is happening?
During times like these, I find myself thinking about Terry Pratchett and his concept of the Trousers of Time. This is from Guards Guards, one of my favourite Discworld novels. My absolute favourite, and indeed one of my favourite books of all time, is Night Watch. You may deduce from this that I only really like the Watch stories, and you would be right.
Time could bifurcate, like a pair of trousers. You could end up in the wrong leg, living a life that was actually happening in the other leg, talking to people who weren’t in your leg, walking into walls that weren’t there any more. Life could be horrible in the wrong trouser of Time.
The Trouser of Time are bifurcating. And I need to make sure I end up in the correct leg.
Ideally the leg that eventually involves me running a bookshop that doubles as a café and a wineshop.
I’ve always been very good at starting and planning projects, but when it comes to announcing them to the world, I’m a lot less skilled. Before someone starts talking about forcing me out of my comfort zone, chasing my dreams bla bla bla … I already have a few of those in my life. And I grateful to them.
Let’s see which leg I end up in this time.
The Story Cellar 