Day 7

Started on: Page 161

It’s officially been a week since I started tracking my relationship with reading, and I couldn’t have asked for a better reception from everyone who has kept up with my daily posts (I was worried they would be too much. Or too many).

As for my reading today, you’re not going to believe it.

I stuck to my plan.

My partner and I woke up at 8:50. I felt at liberty to be flexible with that one detail. As long as we left the house by 10, it didn’t really matter, I thought.

We drank coffee and watched the morning news.

The Pope took centre stage in Spanish media. The broadcasters repeated the figure: 1.2 million. Plaza de Cibeles filled the screen.

In Romania, there was a report on a Ukrainian drone in Constanța (south), followed by coverage of a Russian drone strike from a week earlier in the north.

In the UK and the US, the war with Iran reached its ninety-ninth day. Iran War: Day 99. That was the headline. Incredible.

Then we opened Connections.

We didn’t commute there the way that I had planned either. One hour versus twelve minutes won me over rather quickly.

When we arrived, silence.

In the four years that I have been going there, it has never been that empty. We sat down after laughing with the bartender about the weather being a factor.

The weather was said to be fine.

I had checked twice.

AccuWeather promised UV 8 by noon.

A grey wall sat over the water.

Our Uno cards started to spread across the sand, and later my face when I started to read. We didn’t care and continued to have a beautiful morning. Not much reading was done, though.

I read 18 pages, but I read them by the water, surrounded by trees, and sank my feet into the sand.

It didn’t enhance my reading experience because Lily King touches on heavy topics in the chapters that follow what I expected to be a dating narrative. It’s not picking up, and our protagonist has finally finished her manuscript, sent it to a friend for notes, and the theme of writing and its internal monologue is back.

Eighteen pages is hardly a personal record, but it might be one of the most enjoyable reading sessions I’ve had all month. And I was able to add balance to a day I am notoriously known for ruining with work and a strict schedule designed to protect Monday.

Started on: Page 161
Finished on: Page 179
Pages read: 18