Snippets

My first port of call for news and information these days

is the internet.

I can hardly remember how I managed without Google.

I have developed an almost insatiable appetite for snippets

and nuggets of this and that,

one thing leading to another in a dizzy dance

as I land lightly in the world wide web following a whim or a fancy,

an idea or just a momentary curiosity.

Click, click, clicketty click.

So when I uncovered this little book, lying in a cupboard,

it stopped me in my tracks.

News worth keeping?

Is any of the information I glean, worth keeping?

Inside, the pastel coloured pages are helpfully tabbed into categories:

General news, historical, biographical, literary, sport, politics, fashions, special articles.

Each page is divided vertically into newspaper column widths

for you to stick your clippings into.

Stick, stick, sticketty stick.

Ah. But we no longer take a daily newspaper.

A paper to read at breakfast,

a paper to hide behind,

to reach round for the toast and marmalade,

to peer over,

to doze over,

to jab crossly,

to shake,

to fold,

to read aloud from,

to look over quizzically,

to harumph at,

to linger over,

to lounge with,

to have delivered.

And then to cut up carefully,

and stick into your scrapbook.

I'm going to try it.

Possibly with a hat on.