Welcome to justthoughtsnstuff

I started posting to jtns on 20 February 2010 with just one word, 'Mosaic'. This seemed an appropriate introduction to a blog that would juxtapose fragments of memoir and life-writing. Since 1996, I'd been coming to terms with the consequences of emotional and economic abuse that had begun in childhood, and which, amongst other things, had sought to stifle self-expression. While I'd explored some aspects of my life through fiction and, to a lesser extent, journalism, it was only in 2010 that I felt confident enough to write openly about myself. I believed this was an important part of the healing process. Yet within weeks, the final scenes of my family's fifty-year nightmare started to play themselves out and the purpose of the blog became one of survival through writing. Although some posts are about my family's suffering - most explicitly, Life-Writing Talk, with Reference to Trust: A family story - the majority are about happier subjects (including, Bampton in rural west Oxfordshire, where I live, Oxford, where I work, the seasons and the countryside, walking and cycling) and I hope that these, together with their accompanying photos, are enjoyable and positive. Note: In February 2020, on jtns' tenth birthday, I stopped posting to this blog. It is now a contained work of life-writing about ten years of my life. Frank, 21 February 2020.

New blog: morethoughtsnstuff.com.

Wednesday 22 February 2012

aclaiir, paddington
















Enjoyed attending the committee meeting of ACLAIIR (Advisory Council on Latin American and Iberian Information Resources) at the BL (British Library) today. Oh, you didn't realise that librarians liked acronyms.

A lovely journey up and a great meeting. Looking forward to the AGM in Oxford in the summer.

I liked catching trains to and from Paddington, which has been my London station all my life. I remember Dad and I on my first train journey when I must have been about 8 or 9, not long after the Badminton branch line had been axed, so we had to travel from Kemble station. The trip to Hamleys and seeing all the conjuring tricks they sold was amazing.

I was a little thrown by the fact that Swindon appeared on the list of stations on the train I was sitting on this evening but realised my mistake. The train would have got me home at one time in my life but not today.
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