OK so here, a bit late, is this week’s Friday Five …

1. Name one movie you wish everybody could watch.

• None of them. I dislike movies and wouldn’t cry if they sunk without trace. Doesn’t mean other people shouldn’t watch them, just don’t expect me to or to share your enthusiasm.

2. Name two books you wish everybody could read.

• Anthony Powell, A Dance to the Music of Time. Well it’s one novel in 12 volumes, so I’ll count it as one. Read it if only as a social history of England from 1914 to 1970. Oh come on, you expected me to say that, didn’t you?
• Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland (by which I mean the two works Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass). Read them and think about the logical conundrums presented; now apply them and change the way you look at the world!

3. Name three goals you wish everybody could achieve.

• True inner peace and happiness.
• Reconciliation and friendship with their parents.
• To always treat others as you would like to be treated yourself (it’s part of what the Dalai Lama calls “compassion”).

4. Name four people you wish everybody could know.
I am going to assume the people don’t have to be alive now, but could come from any era. So I’ll nominate:

• Richard Feynman; for his logic, his insights, his humour and his determination to overcome obstacles.
• Galileo Galilei; a profound scientist who wasn’t afraid of standing up and being counted.
• Leonardo da Vinci; another way out mind as well as a superb artist.
• The present Dalai Lama; for his profound thinking, his happiness and his compassion.

That was hard! Four people I wish I knew would be easy, but to translate that into something for everyone is much, much harder.

5. Name five places you wish everybody could visit.

• Rural England
• Japan
• A nudist community; to see just how it isn’t like everyone seems to think it is and to experience the freedom of life without clothes.
• A small town in medieval England (or Europe at least) to see just what life really was like 600+ years ago and how far we have come.
• Their special place. I believe we all have at least one place which is special and energises us (just as we have people who do this for us). It may be a town somewhere, or a country, or just a building (I know Stonehenge does it for some people, though not for me). Finding it is a whole different matter though.

[Brought to you courtesy of Friday Five.]