Let’s talk about the idea of a busman’s holiday.
No, not the Granada game show of the same name from the 80s and 90s (this is becoming a theme!)
Just the leisure activities that you do which are not a million miles away from your day job.
You may be able to tell from my recent posts that I eat, sleep and breathe words. And I always knew that I wanted to work with words. If you can make your hobby your job, then you’re onto a winner.
Over the years, kids that have taught have speculated on what I do for fun when I am not in the classroom! ‘I bet you go home and read the dictionary,’ someone will usually chime.
Touche! I am that cliche. Though perhaps not a dictionary, but an etymology. The day I discovered that Google dictionary has the drop-down option to look at word origins – well, that sent me down an internet rabbit hole I’ve since disappeared to many a time.
I read books about language change, too. They’re always fascinating. I love Cumbria’s own Melvyn Bragg’s ‘The Adventures of English’ and Bill Bryson’s ‘Mother Tongue’.
Family holidays – usually in the UK – will always involve finding the local library. You can tell a lot about a community from its library. And it’s always a great place to go to avoid downpours!
Spoken-word events, open mic nights, the Brontë Parsonage museum, the John Rylands library – a busman’s holiday to one of these places always nourishes my enthusiasm for words.
Taken a busman’s holidays of your own recently?
Let me know.
CherryEdits 