2004 I joined a start up film club. For the first film - ‘Les quattre coup’ - about nine of us were there. One retired up to bed, sick. Six fell asleep. Two of us, me included, watched the film. No discussion; everyone wanted to go home and sleep. The organiser so dispirited, she did not want to do any more.
2005 I joined a book club. I loved the book, ‘Lucia Joyce: To dance in the wake.’ I just didn’t fit in with the profile of the group and didn’t really want to go forward with it.
So, here I am - un-stimulated; at home; alone. OK, I know we are all different and what suits me may be very different from what suits you but I need interaction. I need to be challenged in my thinking, have my boundaries pushed, see other perspectives, get outside of my own head.
The problem is that the OU is by far the biggest provider of online tuition in the UK…and I hate them! All my friends are too busy or too tired to commit to, or need, intellectual stimulation. I cannot get out of the house independently to get to tutorials, debates or face to face courses. So far, my search for external intellectual stimulus has failed. Where now?
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