Do You Judge a Book by its Cover?

We all know that we shouldn't do it and yet we do.  We can't help it.   We judge books by their covers, and we judge people.

A Book from my shelves
beautifully tooled and with gilt decoration
(the smudges were on the camera lens, not the book)

Without revealing too much, I thought it would be fun to tell you a little about the group of people who meet once a month in Little Bunting's Village Hall.

We are a pretty ordinary group of people.   We don't dress smartly* and we don't constantly fidget with smart phones.   Most of us have silver/white hair and to the 'young' we have almost become invisible.

Yet in and among this group are several retired schoolteachers, a former editor of a highly regarded magazine, a self-made multi-millionaire, an artist, a former PA who worked in the aerospace industry, then for a Dubai Sheikh and later, for a Japanese Oil Executive,  another is the former resident of a large National Trust property, there are a couple of farmer's wives (who are as well used to catering for large dinner/shooting party as they are to providing a hot meal out in the fields during the long days of harvest) several exceptional gardeners who scoop up prizes at all the local shows, one woman who was widowed young yet managed her farm and young family single-handedly from then on,  the well-travelled wife of a retired sea-captain who also happens to be a skilled horsewoman...

...I could go further, but I'm sure I don't need to do so.

Our covers may be old and wrinkly, our ink faded, but we have lived and worked through good times and bad times, different times.   Perhaps in the ordinary scheme of things our paths would not have crossed.   We would all have missed out on something special.

*The hall is unheated until we arrive.   We put on the heaters and by the time we are ready to leave the worst of the chill has gone.    So we dress accordingly.   Fleeces, heavy coats and jackets.

In winter it is even worse.   ;)

Some of my favourite books.

These are some of the oldest, wrinkliest and best-loved books on my shelves.   I dip into them and read them very frequently.

The beautiful book at the top of the page is simply that.   Beautiful.   I occasionally pick it up and admire it, dust it, put it back down again, the content simply doesn't interest me.

xx