These days, time off for me is rare. Pace and load of work, both professional and personal has increased a lot. This has reduced the amount of free time I have and whatever I do get, I try and spend either close to concerns that require attention (mainly home) or relaxing with my family doing various things.

However, recently, my wife and I decided to spend some time away from our concerns of day to day work and with each other relaxing. We didn’t know what we wanted to do, just that we wanted to relax away from work and life and spend with each other.

We hadn’t been to the main Melbourne CBD in a while so decided to wander that way. The last time either of us had been there in more than a passing way was probably in 2020-21. Since then it has changed beyond our imagination. I could barely recognise any landmarks and even my alma mater, RMIT University, looked so changed.

However, after all our wandering, we ended up inside the State Library of Victoria. The last time I had gone in there was probably in 2017. And that was for an art exhibition only.

This time we decided to spend a decent amount of time there reading books that we would normally not read. I was struck by how peaceful a library is. Probably one of the last few places left on earth where you can exist and not be expected to spend any money. And that library is glorious.

There were so many books to read that I had never seen before. I didn’t know that the library has copies of the deliberations from the state parliament as well.

Books by erstwhile prime ministers and governor generals were also an interesting read.

But the book I chose to read was “The women were there” by Nance Donkin. It was an amazingly pleasant read that I didn’t know even existed. I read it front to back in about 2 hours. And enjoyed every second of it. Had I never been to the library, I would never have even known that this book existed and never known about the lives of the 19 women on those convict ships. Such poignant tales and so well told.

It was such a pleasant day to spend in the library with my lovely wife, sitting next to each other and enjoying each others company while perusing volumes that were rare and peering back into history at lives lived in the past. I can think of no better way to spend my taxes than to build cathedral sized libraries for everyone.

I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! — When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library.

Jane Austen, Pride and Pejudice.