Shelter Island – Day 5

Well it is raining cats and dogs here breaking the unbroken sunshine that we have experienced since we first arrived. We took the pragmatic route today and went shopping, not my favourite activity but great for Marion who likes some of the US clothing retailers. It had an added benefit in that we found an old fashioned diner on the way back to Shelter Island. It is great to come across these uniquely North American institutions; it is also appropriate that Marion is eating the quintessential Reuben’s sandwich inside.

They have a sort of timeless quality and conjure up countless Hollywood movies. The weather can be seen in the picture through the window.

Indeed when we continued our drive we came across a blizzard of blue flashing lights. At first we thought it was an accident, but actually a power cable had fallen over the road!! A diversion was called for.

Today has been exciting for me as for the first time I have had access to the virtual world of my university course. It is both thrilling and daunting as I face academic life for the first in almost forty years. I also have to change my mind set. Forty years ago you were given reading lists and you went to the library to borrow them or more often read them in situ. Now I am in a virtual world where texts are available almost instantly on-line.

Similarly no longer do I go down the pub with my fellow students, but I communicate in a virtual “Railway Tavern” by way of a blogging structure. It is also interesting to see the structure and rigour behind the course. As an old codger it has always been too easy to say that things were different and probably more exacting in my day, well this is changing my opinion, perhaps we were the ones who were less rigorous.

One question I still have is can I have a virtual hangover?