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Being able to sit down and just read sometimes seems harder then it actually is. For instance, right now I should be reading The First Man in Rome by Colleen McCullough not sitting here writing a blog post, or being distracted by Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads. Where did all these social media websites suddenly come from?

So where do you go to find peace and quiet? For me it is not always peace and quiet I like - my favourite reading spots are in cafés, over a nice cup of tea or a latte, or on buses and trains. It is these busy places, with the noise and chaos of other people's lives I find the most peaceful place to read. Sometimes, if it is too quiet I find myself distracting myself.

Often though, during the summer I like going to Haslar Naval Cemetery which holds the dead of the Navy from the mid nineteenth century to modern times. It was built sometime in the nineteenth century as the grounds of the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar becoming rather overflown with the dead from wars going back as far as Trafalgar. The hospital was opened in 1762 and only closed late last year after 247 years as a working hospital - first for the Royal Navy and then for the public as well. It is to become a place for veterans and dementia suffers apparently but I will hold judgement on that until I see it happening.

It isn't the most lively of places for certain, being a graveyard containing the dead from over a century ago but it is certainly a lovely place be - beautiful, peaceful and somewhere where you can hear yourself think. Only, after a little while of reading I always feel the urge to have a look around and read the names on the gravestones.

I am well aware this might sound a little strange to some, probably utterly boring to many - it is not a fascination with death I have, but rather with the lives of the people who once were, their experiences, their history and past lives.

The trouble is, I do find myself so easily distracted, so finding the right place to read is important. Where does everyone else like to read? Your comfy arm chair, on the loo, in the garden?

4 comments:

I have a special comfy chair in the corner of my bedroom with a little side table for my cuppa and a quilt and I'm set. But now I have books on my iPhone, I read just about everywhere.
I love the graveyard!

11 April 2010 at 22:31  

I have a few good reading spots. At home I read in the recliner with my dogs by my feet or proppep up in bed. I take the bus back and forth to work, and that is a wonderful place to get some reading done. Oh yeah, in the car as well. If my husband and I are off on a long drive somewhere, I always take a book along for the drive.

12 April 2010 at 06:49  

I'm kind of a weirdo in that I find graveyards really pleasant, generally. They're always so serene and generally have a good place to sit and rest. They're never people-noisy, but they've got nice nature background noise. I'd say it's a perfect place to read, so I'm with you on that one.

12 April 2010 at 20:25  

I am glad I'm not on my own then. I love grave yards - not the ones which are jut a sea of gravestones and nothing much else - I like ones with old graves, trees, nature.

12 April 2010 at 22:01  

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