Reading

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=3 height=100 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="04300640egdysm.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#CC0000" FACE="Elephant" ><B>Welcome To My Den</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><B>    |  </B><B>  </B><FONT SIZE="2" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Welcome To My Den"><U><B>home</B></U></A></FONT></div> <div> <A HREF="id17.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="About Me"><U><B>About Me</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id183.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Search Site"><U><B>Search Site</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id19.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Interests"><U><B>My Interests</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id130.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Software"><U><B>My Software</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id30.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Jokes"><U><B>Jokes</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id347.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Links"><U><B>Links</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id177.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" Guest Book"><U><B> Guest Book</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id149.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="My Column"><U><B>My Column</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id116.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Diary"><U><B>Diary</B></U></A><B>   |   </B><A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Me"><U><B>Contact Me</B></U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" rowspan="2" width=140 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="id84.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Tropical Fish"><U><B>Tropical Fish</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id87.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Gardening"><U><B>Gardening</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id101.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Walking"><U><B>Walking</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id27.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mice 1"><U><B>Mice 1</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id115.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mice 2"><U><B>Mice 2</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id75.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Cats"><U><B>Cats</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id293.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Stamps"><U><B>Stamps</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id291.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Model Railways"><U><B>Model Railways</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id362.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Music"><U><B>Music</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>Reading</B></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=355 colspan=2 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="1c654483.gif"> <div> <I>Reading</I></div> <div> <I><B>Arabian Nights, Winnie the pooh, Rupert the bear, Just William, Comics with athlete </B></I></div> <div> <I><B>First book I can remember was a gift from an Aunt on a coach as we travelled down from Birmingham as an evacuee, I was between five and six years old. Arabian Nights was the book and a whole new world was opened up. Days before TV. Ali Baba, magic carpets, mysterious east imagination run riot. dad bought me an encyclopedia which I kept for years. Then came Just William, Winnie the Pooh, Rupert the Bear. Every birthday and Christmas I had the Annual editions of my favourite comics, the Adventure and .</B></I></div> <div> <I><B>Eventually I was old enough to join the public library and I will never forget the smell of old leather as I enrolled for the first time in our local one. Rank after rank of books and all mine for the taking. Each one a treasure trove of new places, ideas, people and events. Needless to say there must have been much that I didn't understand although new words never threw me as I gained a great deal of pleasure from being able to use a dictionary.</B></I></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=25 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <A HREF="id364_m.htm" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="Reading"><U><B>Back to Top</B></U></A></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>