What would you do if you had an enforced holiday at home – but were not able to walk? I’ve never wondered about it myself; but now I know. At the end of March I made a rapid and unplanned descent from our roof and broke bones in both legs. I was, of course, extremely lucky. A friend who is a nurse at the local ICU said that they have 2 or 3 similar accidents weekly, but that most are either paralysed or dead. Not good stats.
A 3 meter fall can precipitate some life questions and completely rearrange your schedule. In my case it meant more than a term off work so far. I teach Classical Studies (and some English) at high school and it enabled me to study Alexander the Great in more depth than I usually have time for. But I found that, in the first weeks home from hospital, the pain-management drugs kept me either asleep for much of the time or often re-reading passages to engage my brain. So sometimes not a lot was read. As they wore off, though, I began to enjoy the details of scholarly arguments that have eluded me until now. Some of these arguments seem to be based on the characters of the scholars themselves rather than the ‘facts’; I have acquired favourites and foes amongst them and I will comment on these in the future.
I now have a number of books and opinions that, I am sure, are as fundamentally flawed as anyones. Studying history seems to be like that. I have since gone on to studying the Middle Ages, which has always fascinated me, and, again, it’s great to have had the time. One of the things I would like to do is discuss areas of controversy and personal interest. Sometimes I will ask for your opinions and help, so please feel free to enlighten me or perhaps direct me to other material that will help me understand an issue.
One thing that I find a little trying is remembering all the names and dates, so I am creating a database and will post it soon. It is for my own use, but if it helps anyone, then that’s all good. I also intend to write critical commentaries on books that I found particularly helpful or that I have issues with.
