Diary

This morning, some time between 4 and 5, I found this article on Leonardo da Vinci's notebook. The article goes on to talk about creativity, and how being able to let the reins loose brings about more ideas. Interesting.

This links in with something I was pondering the other day... diaries. The diary I have at school is more of a to-do list. Not quite as exciting as Leonardo's one. As I cycle to school most days, and that involves a long uphill climb home, I keep the diary at school most days. Trust me, the few grammes saved make a difference. In the past, my diaries have included more personal notes. When reading a book, I would find a quote and jot it down for future reference. If I saw something of interest, that would be recorded. Recipes that I saw on TV were written down throughout the diary. My bookshelf has diaries going back over the years. I cannot throw them out, even though I hardly ever refer to them. Throwing away a diary seems like throwing away your past. That could be a good thing.

My daily emails to Don now record some of my daily activities. You can read more about Don here. There are 1105 of those mails now. So, the computer could be a good place to keep a diary. There are many choices of software. A simple text programme would do fine, but then you do not get the calendar. Day One is a nice looking application for the Mac computer. I thought about getting that. I thought some more, and realised that I like having a book that I can carry with me. Something that you do not have to plug in to recharge. A thing that looks like a diary. Joe and Jenny gave me a beautiful leather bound book that looks just like the image of Leonardo's diary. That was a year ago, and the book has hardly been touched.

Next week, I am going over to Kuenga High, in Paro, to do invigilation duty. That means watching students sit their exams. Three hours of enforced meditation. I will be staying there without internet access for a couple of weeks. There won't be the daily mails to Don. It is going to be a change not having the internet. When I first came to Bhutan, one of the things I liked was not having the comforts of home. No phone to interrupt. No electrical appliances to fail on you, just when you needed them. No washing machine .... well, I did miss that. And no TV. There was time to sit and read again.

And write notes in a diary.