Waiting

Some days you just could do without. Today is such a day. Not only has it been mizzling all day (as it sounds - a cross between drizzle and mist) but I had the dubious pleasure of spending 3 1/2 hours sitting in a car park. Waiting. If you know exactly when the relief is going to arrive it seems somehow easier; it's the not knowing that gets you down. What's more there was something in the local paper (out this morning) in the old tool line that I'd have liked to have enquired about further but I couldn't. I was waiting.

To ease the pain I'd looked ahead a little and equipped myself with music and reading matter to pass the hours, amongst the latter there being the latest issue of Woodworking Magazine which arrived yesterday. Is it me or has the presentation of the covers been really beautifully done on the last two issues? I've seen artists do a worse job of choosing a mount and frame than, presumably (?), the Art Director Ms Linda Watts has done recently for those covers. And yeah, I know the content is more important, but there's no reason why the cover and presentation can't be stylish too, is there? Heck, the contents was good, which is the important thing, giving plenty of beefy thoughts on the ubiquitous mortise and tenon.

It's at around this point that I start to get really angry about so many magazines. Let's be honest; there's only so much you can say about mortise and tenons and you're bound to end up with some stuff the reader already knows or has heard of and this was no exception. So how is it that I didn't think "oh no, not again?", that it was an actual pleasure reading every bit of it, that I don't feel I wasted my $$? Time and again the argument about disatisfaction with woodworking magazines is put down with "well you've just grown out of them, that's why". On paper I should have grown out of this one two, but I enjoyed it. It reads like it was written for grown-ups, with quotes dotted about the place, references given so you can go and look them up for yourself if you want, etc etc and I think that's the difference. Just as with reading material for teaching adult literacy, even though the target audience may be seeking instruction in that particular field that doesn't mean they've reverted to being 4 year olds. Plus I didn't get a headache trying to find where the text went next...

But more to the point, because I didn't groan "oh no" and toss the mag aside I managed to learn a few things. Maybe waiting isn't always a bad thing.