Maps

Maps have always held a fascination for me. To me, an Ordnance Survey one inch to the mile map was just like a picture: reading the map showed me what the countryside looked like just as if I was reading a guide book. My ambition, as a teenager, was to become a navigating officer in the Royal Navy, an ambition which was, unfortunately, never to be. If by some mischance I have finished a book and have nothing else I want to read, I will often pick up an atlas and browse through the pages. Last night was just such an occasion. Now, I have known for a good many years that Brighton is further north than New York, but it dawned on me only yesterday that all of England is further north than the whole of the USA, with the exception of Alaska. Indeed, even Winnipeg is further south than Brighton!

I suppose to most people that observation will make me seem something of an atlas anorak. So be it. I just like looking at maps.