Ostrich Weekly Forecast: Feb 10
Lessons from a friendship between two writers.
Remember that writer guy who was like, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair?"
Do you ever wonder why he wrote those words? I know why. It was because of Hans Christian Andersen.
Hans Christian Andersen met that guy at a party once, and started writing letters to him, a habit that continued for years. The guy, trying to put Andersen off gently, suggested that maybe they didn't need to exchange so many letters, but if Hans was ever in England, he was welcome to stay with the family. A bad gambit if ever there was one. Andersen promptly showed up in England, pleading to stay with the guy for "no more than a fortnight." After which he stayed in the guy's house, demanding to be shaved by the children, throwing tantrums on the lawn, wrecking the guy's theatrical debut, embarrassing important people by stringing daisy chains on their hats, for nearly two months.
When Andersen finally left, beginning to sense that he'd overstayed his welcome, the guy went into the guest room and wrote, in ink on the mirror, "Hans Christian Andersen slept in this room for five weeks—which seemed to the family AGES!"
Anyway, our weatherman says it's a good week for making your mark on the world, so go do that.
