Andy and Lance, DetectoristsA lovely week and one where I’m beginning to think being a nerd sounds so attractive. Would be, if I were a nerd. In other news, those creepy mannequins have been giving me even more creepy moments and I’m feeling slightly nervous about my debut as the chair of a local charity. I’ve also been running on my own.
I know a few nerdy people. They’re all men and are interested in things like vintage cars, bicycles, drones, computers, art and musical instruments. They seem so happy in their nerdy hobbies. Me? Perhaps I’m more of a Jack-of-all-trades and master-of-none.
This was recently highlighted when Rachel and I recently discovered the Detectorists comedy on the Beeb. It is a gentle comedy, about Andy and his friend Lance who are metal detector blokes, or “detectorists” as they call themselves. They long for the big discovery when the hit gold as they spend all their spare time waving their metal detectors over their local fields. Lance is super-nerdy and socially awkward, talking about the different detector models as he builds up his collection of exciting aluminium tin-pulls. Andy is a bit of a dreamer, seems to have fell into the hobby and goes with the flow in their various adventures. I can identify with Andy.
So I wonder if I should develop some kind of nerdy obsession? What could it be? Certainly not vintage cars as they are guaranteed to be a money pit. Metal detecting? Photography, cameras and all that? Definitely not – but I do want to get into taking more and more GOOD photographs but without the hassle of the expensive camera equipment, or the inevitable Photoshop subscriptions, expensive printers with all their consumables.
Although I have a snazzy Panasonic Lumix camera, I don’t feel “at one” with it. Sure it’s very good, on paper, but I’m not a “natural” with it. I make up all kinds of excuses why some photos don’t come out the way I hoped for but try to resist the temptation of solving those short comings by investing in more gear. Having said that, I might but for a different reason, tell you more another time.
Aren’t those obsessive hobbies and money-pits meant to be an integral part of early retirement? Of course they are! At least if you’re a man they are. If I were to develop a nerdy hobby, it would have to be with other people, other blokie blokes in the village. I look around at the people I know here and there’s potential.
Do I want to? To have a nerdy hobby, that it. Yes part of me wants to, especially if it involves the company of other nerdy chums. We can pop around each other’s houses and talk about widgets and all kinds of nerdy things.
Then I think of my endless lists of all the DIY tasks lying ahead. I say “lists” as in the plural – I have a list on my phone and a gigantically fluid list in my head. When I complain about my time being pulled in different directions, Rachel always reminds me of two things:
- Do housework, DIY etc in the morning and then the afternoon is for playing with other things
- If it is still too difficult, hard, beyond me etc, well it’s simple. We pay someone to come and do it for us.
Then I protest. “The cost!” I protest somewhat desperately. Rachel then rationalises everything out and I know she’s right. One of the many reasons why I love her so much is that she sees things like that, although secretly I always like to be right but in this case I probably am wrong. Completely wrong.
So in the meantime I am making stands for the creepy mannequins which will be clothed in knitted garments for the village church’s 800 year celebrations later this year. I have quite enjoyed hiding in the cellar, my wood working den. Once things start to go well and the radio is on and I have a perpetual supply of tea, I quite enjoy it.
Could that kind of thing become some kind of nerdy hobby? Well, my friend Dudley has a wood workshop where he makes all kinds of wonderful woody things. Well, it’s not quite me. For a specific task that needs to be done, sure, but an absorbing nerdy hobby? Well, maybe but unlikely because it doesn’t involve much interaction with others. Plus I think it could become expensive.
Latest run thoughts
On Monday evening I went for a run, having driven over to the woods near Woburn.
Loved it. Although only 3 miles, I found it quite hard, especially at for the first mile. Ironic that I used to enjoy running uphill but now I find it so difficult – my medication is keeping my blood pressure too low and the oxygen just isn’t sufficiently getting to my leg muscles to meet the demands. When I’m running on the flat, that’s fine but inclines are very challenging for me.
The surroundings were simply beautiful and there was an unmistakeable smell of pine wafting around. So sweet, so nice.
I realised this was the first time I’d run alone for such a long time. I had almost forgotten how nice that can be. To set off for a run and let your thoughts drift onto all kinds of things, to be on some kind of autopilot as the miles drift by. Well, as for ‘miles driving by’ that was hardly the case on such a short run but I do remember that when I used to run for 8+ miles in an evening after work.
My main barrier is my injured foot. It has become painful again. I am confident that if I resume the exercises (wobbling around on one foot, plus massaging) I can be reasonably pain-free once again. Onwards and upwards!
The charity
Somehow – and I don’t quite know how I let it happen – I have found myself being the chair of a local charity. I didn’t set out to achieve that, I was approached and my arm was twisted by someone with a very charismatic smile and big eyes.
Having agreed to do this role, I now find I am at the AGM this evening with the expectation I deliver my report, verbally, which covers the intervening period since the last AGM. Gosh I feel nervous. Why did I let myself get talked into doing this?
Sometimes being a nerdy nerd seems such an appealing thing.