MY BUMMEL

 This week I think Jane is starting to “like” Mr. Rochester, as in maybe love him.  I still don’t like him even though she her perspective about him is changing.  I am really enjoying reading on my kindle, especially since I bought an overpriced cover and am now not so worried about dropping it. 

What I really want to talk about is a book called, “Three Men on the Bummel,” by Jerome K. Jerome.  But let me start somewhere else…last night my husband and I went to my parents’ house for dinner to catch up on the Tour de France.  (If you don’t already know the Tour de France is a bike tour across France with rides, called stages, almost every day over a variety of terrains with an average of 100 miles per stage.  It’s exciting to watch the cyclist get up to 60mph going down sharp switch backs and there are the most beautiful helicopter aerial views of France’s beautiful mountains, country-side, castles, churches and chateaus.  It’s the only sport I know that you get the thrill of competition as well as a feeling of being cultured simultaneously.)  Anyway after we finished our tour talk, my parents said they were excited to tell me about something.  They said they were listening to this book on CD called, “Three Men on the Bummel.”  First, a bummel, is a journey without an end my parents explained.   It’s about three British men who are biking across parts of Europe during the early 1900’s, with one man on a single bike and the other two on a tandem bike, taking turns.  The reader has a British accent and my parents said they’re not sure if the story would have the same effect if they had just read the book.  They described the book so well and with such enthusiasm that Zach and I were ready to start listening to it right then.  In the book the author describes how human intention always surpasses what humans actually do.  For example, the evening before riding the men discuss how they want to rise at five in the morning, eat breakfast and ride before the heat of the day.  However, when five am arrives, temptation leads one man to sleep to six and dally until seven for breakfast.  My father noted that when he biked across Kansas last year, every night they would state their intentions and the next morning someone would sleep in so they would end up riding in the heat of the day.  “You battle the same biking problems in 1900 as you do today, over 100 years later,” my dad humorously, half seriously noted.  So I went home and bought the book and got the auto, so I can compare.  It starts off a bit slow, but it’s worth the detail to hear the joke.  Sorry, for all the tour talk I just wanted to illustrate what a fun evening it was with lots of colorful discussion.