cafe reading -- Sunday May 22

reading more of Eileen Myles "Not Me" -- just as he's going out with wife small child & her friend he asks what I'm reading -- no conversation seems likely so I say just a book I found in the library -- young woman I've seen before there  busy writing in an A5 notebook, a couple of pages -- she tells me she can only get time to write about what's going on for a short while at weekends -- I show her what I'm reading & tell her something about the book & the writer -- she has a degree she works at a much visited tourist attraction looking after some of the exhibits -- originally wild creatures but these have been bred in captivity for 3 or 4 generations -- I guess she gets minimum wage -- a bit above she tells me but she loves the work -- she has a uni degree -- her husband works in a part of the medical service run by a charity -- I bet he has good educational qualification loves his work & gets poorly paid -- but I don't ask -- but talk with her about what she can do if she wants to get her writing out of her notebook & into a public space -- where she could read it & how to get it onto the internet -- lit mag or mainstream publishing is no longer the 1st option -- she talks enthusiastically about the work with the animals -- she doesn't write about that