Books in the Hull

  Months ago my work was located in what we call an up and coming neighborhood. You could also call it gentrifying. I did benefit from the growing economy of restaurants and small stores, mostly I benefited from the library one block from my office door. It was easily the best part of my work day. It was truly a sanctuary from my day of forms and nagging computer responsibilities. I visited every day. If I was not inside the building reading I was there long enough to pick up and drop off my book as I went to the local park bench.

  Four months ago my office moved. No doubt it was influenced by the development in the neighborhood we left behind. The biggest problem with the new place is that the closest library branch is not an easy walk away, and there are no park benches anywhere in sight. Add to this picture the fact that the temperatures have been downright frigid. So I have been forced to become creative and lower my expectations of a comfortable place to read.

  This reminds me of my time spent on a Viking long boat with my uncles. You may have heard that long boats are very fast. Fast enough to outpace the boats carrying the poor saps from that little village on the inlet. There are several reasons for the quickness in our boats. One major contributor is the lack of any space you might call comfortable. Everything on the boat was designed with utility in mind. All the objects in the ship add to the practical matters of making a boat move swiftly through the surf.

  This makes finding a quiet place to read during our down time very difficult. I did find a few spots to get away. Generally that meant going up in the ropes (not particularly comfortable) or down in the hull (mostly too dark to read). It was difficult to finish a good read, but I managed.

  The people who designed our current office had a Viking mentality. There is very little here that does not aid in completing our job. There is a lunch room, but only enough space for about ¼ of the staff. There are bathrooms, but I have yet to take a book in there. And there is a conference room, however it is being used to store back files. So it leaves me one place to get away from my desk and read in relative quiet.

  My solution is to walk up the stairs from the third to the fourth and simply stop half way. I stop and find a seat when the stairwell turns 180 degrees. No one in my building walks down the stairs from the fourth floor, hasn’t happened in 3 months.

  There are two problems with this plan. Stairs are not really a place to lounge and relax, they are drastically practical. And in the current season the concrete gets cold and stays cold. No amount of newspaper can insulate the frigid seat. When I’m done reading it takes my backside a couple of minutes to regain the proper warmth.