Hunting lost libraries

This evening I have been mainly appealing to my own sense of the ridiculous. I have been sighted several times in various locations with a large group of people looking at things which are no longer there. While being heavily rained on by the British Summertime.

We were on a walking tour of Lost Libraries.  

As a non-librarian friend queried: 'lost because they floated away?'. 

No, but given the dampness of the participants and the day, they could well have done. It may have been a good thing that in many of the cases there was little to see - perhaps a blue plaque with the legend "Bert Bloggs lived 'ere".  Our umbrellas were so crowded together that viewing was generally limited.  In fact the  visuals probably similar to those that the grass under a clump of toadstools manages to have.  

For anyone who looked at our merry band and wondered what we were doing, well,  we were obviously a tour group. Yet possibly not tourists though.  We took shortcuts,  dared to walk across the road at nondesignated crossing places... So definitely not tourists.  We were far too comfortable with the city.

What of these poor lost libraries anyway.  Were they even libraries?  Or merely massive book collections,  printed material hoarded by people rich enough to have this as a hobby? Such as the minister who was wealthy enough to create a theological library to house his texts and to had an architect friend design him a building to put it in (a chap you may have heard of called Wren).  

Only one woman had a library - Queen Caroline.  However she could probably afford it. 

Sadly most of the libraries were lost when the collectors died. Occasionally the libraries were bought by university libraries (in America or England) but more usually they were broken up and no-one knows where the books went. 

Unless you do?

Robin Williams

Woke early this morning to the shocking news that Robin Williams - comedian and actor - was dead, by his own hand.  Not sure what was the most shocking, the simple fact that he was dead, which I was finding hard enough to grasp, or that all the news said he had done it himself.  This wasn't like the other recent deaths of actors which had been accidental overdoses of hard or prescription drugs.  He had chosen this.  He had not seen another way out.

His alcohol addiction was well known.  Likewise his drug addiction.  He had attended rehab. Come out of rehab.  Been clean for years.  Apparently slipped back.  This addiction caused by the depression he had endured for years.

His brilliance was equally well known.  His mercurial wit.  The characters he created in the many films - I will always remember him in Mork and Mindy, and as the manic DJ in Good Morning Vietnam, but also the World According to Garp, Dead Poets Society, and Good Will Hunting.  He was such different people in so many films and was amazing.  As a standup comedian he was legendary.  As a friend (his friendship with Christopher Reeve for example) he was witty, kind and loving - look up the stories.  Watch the DVDs.  Look at the clips on YouTube.  I have been.

So why couldn't he see the way forward?  It's easy for us who aren't stuck.  Those of us who aren't depressed. 

What we need to do is be there for others.  Be supportive.  Even if someone looks strong and looks like they are coping, they might not be.  Don't make assumptions.  Ask how people are.  Listen to the answers.

..and if you want help, try contacting the Samaritans