[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

I go out with friends, I spend time with family, I have a great job and help teach at school ...

Originally Posted by Encaitare

Nah, I have a healthy social life.

I did not mean to suggest that you didn't, and I had no one in particular in mind. I was just slightly concerned by some of the comments suggesting that people would far rather spend all day on the internet than go out socialising in the real world. As I see it, places like the Downs should be regarded as a supplement to, rather than a replacement for, real life interaction. That's certainly how I intend to approach it with my children when they become old enough to be interested in these kind of things.

Of course, I can talk. But then I'm a father of two young children, so I'm not supposed to have any kind of a social life.

As for teaching, I was completely put off it as a career choice when I saw how we treated our teachers at school aged 14 to 15.

I was actually introduced to The Hobbit at school, and I think that it makes ideal reading for 8 to 10 year olds as it provides great scope to exercise the imagination. I don't think that LotR was quite considered serious or "academic" enough at my school for serious study by older English students, although I would certainly consider it sufficiently so. As has been suggested, some of the discussions that go on here on the Downs can testify to that! And those of us who were into fantasy literature, Dungeons and Dragons, wargaming and the like did have a rather "dorky" reputation with the "cool brigade", so I doubt that LotR would have gone down too well with them. Then again, we did do some really good books for English literature at O-level and A-level (as the exams were called when I was at school, back when the world was young). 1984, Wuthering Heights and A Farewell to Arms were three books that I studied that I particularly enjoyed. And it seems to me that LotR offers as much, if not more, scope for serious study as these books. As for length, well I had to read Great Expectations for O-level, although I read the abridged version having left it to the final few days of the holiday. Then again, I would plead a natural allergy to Dickens (although I still got an A grade for my essay ).