From the editor: Right here, right now

There’s a stack of good books by my bed, waiting to be read. I know they’re good because they’ve been recommended. I’ve even read the backs of all of them and thought – I can’t wait to get stuck into that! And like a stack of Easter chocolate they present themselves as such a treat I don’t know where to start, and a pleasure starts to morph into a list of which goes first and what time will I baggsy to devote myself to it. Something to be savoured, anticipated, and so I begin to hoard anticipation.

I have good films stored up in my mind to be watched for the first time, just when I will appreciate them most. I even have a pair of brand new brushed cotton pyjama bottoms in their plastic bag in the back of my wardrobe, saved for just such a time as when I really need newness and comfy softness against my skin. I am the queen of anticipated gratification.

Which was why I was surprised when, upon taking the Gatwick Express back from a weekend in London, I had a really delicious urge to get off the train at the airport and just pick a random destination for a few days away. I even had my passport – very handy – as it was the ID I’d brought to prove I was me when I picked up the theatre tickets earlier. (Booked months earlier so as to be anticipated).

I didn’t fly. But I am looking at my stack of books in a new light. Perhaps they should be put away, save for the one I’m reading. That airport twinge reminded me – it might be lovely to have lots of treats planned out ahead, but there is also something to be said for the unfettered impulse. Who knows – I might just end up in Casablanca next weekend. On a whim’s pursuit of a piano bar. At the very least, I’ll definitely have a clearer bedside table.

Victoria Nangle
editorial@thelatest.co.uk