What does it mean to be “cool”?
If your answer is “who cares?” then you might just make the grade…!
At 44, I’m finally free of the decision prison that “cool” imposes.
And to celebrate this liberation, I became the proud owner of a train set this weekend. It’s a humble beginning don’t get me wrong: one train, one track, and one big plank of wood that didn’t come with the set — I had to hustle home from B&Q with it strapped to the roof of my car earlier.
Relatedly, I felt mighty manly strapping timber to my car roof and driving it home on the M6. I’ve made woefully inadequate use of my roof rack since acquiring it, so I was quite pleased to deploy it for such an important mission.
Over the course of 2026, I will turn my simple, modest railway into an artistic masterpiece. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy my Mallard going around in small circles in my living room. It’s strangely therapeutic — and therapy is something I’ll almost certainly need over the next few months.
So manly! 🙂
Dr Martin James 