My trivial thinking

Waterland is Graham Swift’s third novel, published in 1983. Although his Last Orders won the 1996 Booker Prize, many readers consider Waterland to be his finest work. The narrator, Tom Crick, is a fifty‑two‑year‑old history teacher whose wife has been arrested for abducting a baby. Living in Greenwich — the place where world time begins — he is being quietly pushed into retirement. He turns to his students and begins, “Children…,” launching a strange and unsettling series of history lessons. Tom speaks about the history of the Fens where he was born and raised, the story of his mother’s family, his youthful sexual experiences with Mary, his intellectually disabled brother Dick, the death of Freddie Parr, the French Revolution, the life cycle of eels, incest, abortion, madness, ghosts… Through this fragmented narrative, Swift explores the question of what history is , using a distinctly postmodern approach. The Fens of East Anglia were once a vast waterland. It was the Atkinson fami...

I usually go jogging in the morning, and sometimes in the late afternoon on weekends, because I have to work on weekdays. As a result, I’ve gained a little weight recently due to lack of exercise. Last week, I started jogging at night every day. I can go out anytime between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. This turned out to be a good idea for me, since I have solar photosensitivity and I’m busy on weekdays. It’s also nice that I can take a bath right after jogging. Of course, I have to watch out for traffic and for obstacles on the street that could make me twist my ankle. A few days ago, even though it was raining, I went jogging at night. According to the High‑resolution Precipitation Nowcasts from the Japan Meteorological Agency, the rain was supposed to stop for a while. But as soon as I started running, it began to rain harder. I ended up getting completely soaked that night.