Information Junkie

One of the many ways I describe myself is as an Information Junkie.
For as long as I can remember I have been unable to pass any text without reading it, and rereading it, and again, even if it is just the blurb on the cornflakes packet and milk carton. (This is not to say I retain all the information.) I always pick up leaflets, bits of paper in National Trust properties, the flyers they hand out at gigs, anything off a big display of pamphlets. Articles in magazines that I clip out and put in a folder. I want to know. I can't resist. I need to know. (Sometimes I eventually get round to recycling the leaflet.)
I don't remember when I first became a sharer. These days though whenever I read something I usually think of someone who might find the information useful - not so much with my cereal box I admit - and will email it to them or write it down for the next time I see them. Just recently I sent a friend a picture of an elephant ornament you can paint - she loves elephants - and for once I got a thank you. I think most people just assume I am bonkers. Perhaps they forget that once, 5 years ago, they mentioned that they wanted to find a wim wom for their mustard mill and now they don't know why I am sending them pictures of wim woms.
Some people find it a bit annoying - "stop filling my inbox up" - but it is never done with malice. I truly believe that I might one day find the key piece of information that will really make a difference to someone's life. Part of me even believes that I might eventually stumble across something that makes the difference to my own life. Perhaps one day I may make a really important connection - like sending a picture of a helix to Francis Crick, asking Shakespeare why people breed or telling Copernicus I feel dizzy when I look up at the sun.

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Thanks to Ma for the wonderful phrase 'a wim wom off a mustard mill' to describe a thingamajig.