The catnap weather is strong today as so is the impulse to buy a fresh paperback. The two are correlated. Unfortunately, resisting one does not impede the other.
I made it all the way to the bookshop without napping after finishing work early. Just to look. I did it only to stave off the dull drowsiness because I still need to meet someone for dinner later “in town,” as Lammaites refer to Hong Kong Island.
The ferry schedule at this time of day makes a nap just out of reach: a 25-minute ferry ride, a 15-minute walk uphill, a 5-minute shower, a 45-minute nap, a 5-minute period of bewilderment (“Who am I? Did the nap actually help?”), an 8-minute walk downhill, and finally a 25-minute ferry ride back to town for dinner. Such predicaments keep people from moving to Lamma in the first place. A whole island isolated by naps.
I know exactly where the bookshop is. It’s in the mall in town right before the ferry. I could walk there with my eyes closed. I try it for the last 5 meters. I open my eyes. Instantly, I see three books on display that I am compelled to buy but have never seen nor considered buying before. Hearing the angry voices of the 30 unread books on my bedside table, I turn on my heels and run for the ferry and for my nap. Fidelity is not always pleasant, but it is powerful.