First Post

Okay, so I was thinking - perhaps my first ever blog should be something momentous...and then I thought...since when does momentous happen in Wisbech!

Actually, I did then think of something else. I'm reading "The Polyphonic Spree" by Nick Hornby (again, I tend to re-read books I like ad infinitum...) and I came across his idea that our books are "the fullest expression of self we have at our disposal" with the thought that "our libraries are more and more able to articulate who we are". In Hornby's eyes his music and art tastes cannot define him - he has a narrow band of taste for music, and walls to small to show an art collection. Personally, whilst I agree with the library section (and have to think that people I want to know, and like knowing, on the whole are book fans), I also think that the other two categories apply as well. So you have a limited taste in music? Hornby is a fan of pop (not, it has to be said, the mindless drivel that Simon Cowell et al are insistent on force feeding the masses), personally I can take it or leave it. Surely though, that establishes some ground rules, some info, a part of the whole that we are. I'm a rock fan - rock at it's broadest church from folk rock like Mostly Autumn up to the likes of Slipknot...and a lot of places in between. Instantly, from that info, I've created a part of the definition of me, a definition that i'll then obscure by saying I also enjoy classical (but not really opera), the blues, folk, Irish music...and have a soft spot for delicate female vocalists/singer-songwriters...and that's just the start of a definition I'm sure will be expanded in future blogs.
Surely our taste in art is the same - I have limited wallspace (and even more limited funds as it happens), but this doesn't stop me viewing art, appreciating art, reading about art....and what I view and read about and appreciate also becomes a defining part of me...as the art I create defines me also. (If you want to see that side of me www.naturalbritain.co.uk is part of who I am)

Anyway, let me know your thoughts on the ideas...and what defines you...