What book are you reading right now?
There is no time of the year quite like Christmas. Those of us who celebrate it have our traditions, both personal and cultural, which mark the festive season. I have CDs I play, DVDs I watch and, books I read every year. My current book is always the one I start Christmas reading with in early or mid November. I first read it in 2010 so this is the 16th time I have read it. So what makes it such an integral part of my Christmas build up?
A Week in December by Sebastian Faulks
As the title suggests it is a novel set across one week from Sunday December 16 to Saturday December 22. It follows seven characters from a range of backgrounds whose lives intersect in a variety of ways. The subjects that the book covers include finance, the book industry, football, mental health and religious beliefs. Whatever the subject, Sebastian Faulks has a way of writing about it that gives it both a universal and a personal angle. The humour throughout the book frequently makes me smile and occasionally laugh out loud. The anger with human nature and the way that the world works is palpable and occasionally breathtaking in its intensity. Often the two combine to brilliant effect. However flawed the character is, Faulks has a sympathy for them and explains the situation that has led to their behaviour. The one exception to this is the greedy and ruthless John Veals who runs a hedge fund that is part of the financial system that, a year or so before this book was published, completely upended the world and plunged us into a situation that is still affecting us financially, politically and personally to this day. He is the epitome of everything that is bad in the world and the fact that he and his kind are in charge is something that Faulks reflects and bemoans.
Every year I read this I find a new appreciation for it. The satire is always current because human nature never changes and the institutions that controlled us then still control us now and make our lives worse. The sympathy for the characters reminds even someone like me that we are often victims of circumstance doing our best in life. The way that the writing moves apparently effortlessly from religion to finance to online games via law, psychology and genetics is quite incredible.
My favourite strand is the connection between Jenni Fortune, the tube driver and Gabriel Northwood the solicitor who is handling the case in which she is involved. In many ways I see Gabriel as the narrator of the novel as much as he is one of the main characters. He has a very good appreciation of the influences working on us all and explains them to Jenni as their relationship deepens.
If you have never read this, I can only recommend that you find a copy. You may not take to it, but if you do I really think it could become a favourite novel of yours as well.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I have always loved Australia and always will. It is a country I have been lucky enough to have lived in for a couple of years in total. For that reason I know what the good and bad elements of living there are.
The lifestyle is amazing, with the weather allowing you to be outside, generally on the beach for about 9 months a year, and the opportunities available to children in terms of sports and other pastimes are better than they are in the UK.
On the other side of the equation is the very high cost of living with food costing a lot more overall than it does in the UK. Supermarkets have much higher prices and the smaller shops like greengrocers are very pricey even by those standards. To make things worse, unless you have a high level job the wages don’t pay enough for you to find a place to live comfortably, although that’s the same over here and in any other country of course.
So, what would I do if I lived over there after retirement? Well, I could only go over if one of my children go over and settle, so I would have a support system. I would be going to as much sport as possible, as that is way cheaper than the UK.
I love the WBBL and Women’s sports in general and I would love to follow them live rather than on TV. I also support the Baggy Greens, yes even in the Ashes, and have done since the late 80s. My wife is a bigger sports fan than I am so she would be very happy about that.
I am not a beach lover but I enjoy walking along the coast and I would let my wife lie on the beach while I do that, as I always have! Ordinarily I don’t enjoy fireworks but I absolutely love the New Year’s Eve fireworks over Sydney and was lucky enough to see them from a boat on the harbour as 2024 ticked over to 2025.
So there you have it. Will I ever get there permanently? Almost certainly not. Will I go there again for an extended holiday? I really hope so.
What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever found (and kept)?
I wouldn’t say that anything I have found has been inherently cool, but one item I found in Amsterdam was definitely considered cool by my oldest daughter.
We were on holiday in Amsterdam and walking along the bank of the Amstel River. We came across this bedraggled looking teddy bear that had been put on top of a wall. My daughter immediately felt sorry for it because it was abandoned and wanted to take it with us. My wife said no, but I had felt the same as my daughter so we hung back slightly and I went back to pick it up! I had to make sure that my wife didn’t find it or it would have been thrown out, but luckily we got it back to England without detection.
The teddy bear was put in with the washing from the trip and it turned out to be a rather lovely looking pink bear which my daughter named Amstel. As she and her sister had such a large collection of cuddlies only my daughter and I knew that he was that bedraggled item we saw in Amsterdam. At the moment he is in our loft, but when my daughter gets properly settled I am sure he will once again take his rightful place in her home.
What part of your routine do you always try to skip if you can?
I have a morning routine of sorts, but it’s the nighttime routine that is the most important. It’s what has given me the opportunity to relax and get a better quality of sleep. I listen to the Calm App, specifically the Daily Jay every night unless I have a trip to a play or a concert. When I listen, one of two things happen. Either I take the three centering breaths and go straight to sleep or I listen to Jay Shetty’s reflection on the subject of the day and often get a lot out of it.
Can I skip it? Well, yes I can if I have to as I said, but it isn’t ideal. I use the Daily Jay to prompt me to take my cholesterol tablet each night so it has a twofold effect. If I don’t have the Daily Jay I have to really concentrate on the tablet when I get home. I am off to see Wet Leg at the Royal Albert Hall with my daughter tomorrow so I will not have my Daily Jay then. Mind you, it’s going to be worth it, that’s for sure.
Who is the most famous or infamous person you have ever met?
There was a time when I was an avid autograph hunter. I was pretty successful at it as well, collecting about 200 over the years, mostly by writing letters to the celebrities and sports people I wanted to add to my collection. Now, it’s more difficult as a letter is much less likely to result in a signed photo. As a result, you often have to go to the conventions in order to secure the signed photos you want. However, in the course of my hobby I have met 5 people who will be instantly recognisable to any fans of Doctor Who – the UNIT family.
I started at the very top with the Third Doctor himself, Jon Pertwee, who I met backstage at the revival of Scrooge The Musical in 1992. I took a poster along featuring a print of the artwork from the Radio Times cover for Day of the Daleks. Jon signed it and I genuinely thought no more about it. Then I found out that Nicholas Courtney was signing in London in 1995 when I was in the vicinity so I went to a very small convention – they weren’t as well publicised back then – and met him. He was an absolute pleasure to talk to and he too signed my poster. It was then I decided that I wanted all five of the regular cast of the time to sign it.
Fast forward to 2005 and I was at the Stamp Centre on The Strand which used to have regular signing sessions. First of all I met the lovely John Levene who played Corporal Benton (later promoted to Sergeant) and was the loveliest person to talk to. A few months later, Richard Franklin who played Captain Yates signed there and I had four out of five. The only one missing was the lovely Katy Manning who played Jo Grant. I, along with many others, had a king sized crush on her as a child!
I found out that she was signing on a day in 2007 where I had a two hour window of time between teaching lessons. I sped to the Strand and was faced with a huge queue which was moving very slowly indeed! As time ticked on I realised that I was almost certain to miss my chance. I explained my predicament to the person who was giving updates to the queue and showed him the poster. He asked me to give him 5 minutes, which was about as long as I had before I needed to be leaving. A couple of minutes later he said that Katy had asked if I could queue jump so I was whisked in. She was so lovely and I was so completely overwhelmed to finally be meeting her that I am sure I was babbling away like an idiot! When she saw the poster she was really excited and she put the finishing touch to it with a huge smile and a flourish of her signature. My thanks were heartfelt and very quick as I needed to be back in the classroom, but I was walking on air for the journey back to the centre.
My wife had the poster framed and it has had pride of place in our lounge ever since. Every time I look at it I smile with the memories of five lovely people who helped me complete my very unlikely quest.
David Pearce - Popular Culture and Personal Passions 