Benefit Street, Brighton.

I've started to write this particular blog four (4!) times already. Each time I did so the very clear plan in my head for what I intended to say was clear.  But somewhere in the pathway from mind to fingers something went seriously awry.  With vague astonishment I discovered I had found it necessary to give a two page amusing account of walking in to my first room full of students in a Chinese University in Draft No. 1.  Draft No. 2 became a bit of a re-cap of the state of my mental health which began at the age of 12.  I'd only got to about the year 2000 after 1,500 words. I was sure I'd got it pegged by the time I began the 3rd draft and cunningly stopped after the first two sentences to see that my fingers were getting the message and doing as bidden. Well, at least this time they'd started off obediently - they were indeed typing about Twitter, and Followers, and  Positivity. It was only after the need to pee had desperately stifled all thought ...

Since I've been on Twitter I've rather let this side of me languish. The Dark Half. (Cue Dexter theme tune). Because I keep both my Follower & Following numbers down I've been able to tailor my Twitter-feed down the paths of all the things which give me the deepest pleasure and interest in life. I was once told by a colleague that my Twitter page was a "mish-mash" of non-associated subjects; it was "all over the place" and "really boring stuff". (A trait a follower once referred to wryly as my being a "polymath".) But the main point about why I've swung more over to that side of me than this side is because it's exhilarating. Every single time I click on I'm confronted by stuff I didn't know before; or things I'd often pondered over, looking for a 'why'. Or beautiful art. Or a horrible - but-funny -pun. And the thing is - I can talk to people about it all and they can respond knowing just what I...