Waiting at airports isn’t really included in this particular line of musings, as one usually has a pretty good idea of how long the wait will be. I’m thinking about waiting rooms where you don’t know when your name will be called. At a clinic, for example, you may know that there are at keast 15 people before you, but they are waiting for different staff members and are destined to enter  different rooms, or at the post office another worker may arrive and the line will suddenly progress at a surprising pace.

I tried using a Kindle in one such waiting room this week (I had it on loan for two days, long story). Although it is comforatble enough to read on, its not so convenient in such a situation. Perhaps because it wasn’t mine I was being extra careful, but I had to go back to HOME, turn off, take all four corners out of the protective cover-holder and then put it back inside, closing the zipper. THEN the Kindle went into my backpack.

Too slow when your turn suddenly arrives.

Now magazines are great for instant stuffing into a backpack. No big deal if they get a bit creased. The question is, what do you want the content of the magazine to be in these situations? If you have long waits with other people, its nice to have one with tidbits of information to share (“Really”?! Did you know that?! Isn’t that odd?). On the other hand, sometimes its good to have engrossing ones so that you can forget about where you are. A small paperback is good but a heavy large one may lead to back pains.

I guess the ideal thing is to take a magazine and a paperback book, or two different kinds of magazines!

What do you do?