You don’t need anyone’s permission to get obsessed with birds, bugs or old cars. Curiosity is free.

Interest requires no justification, no audience and no prospect of ever becoming useful. The instinct to check whether an enthusiasm is acceptable usually comes from somewhere old and has very little to do with the thing itself. Nobody is issuing permits for what you find fascinating. The only genuine cost is your own time, and you are allowed to spend some of it on something that leads nowhere.

Follow the odd interest properly this week instead of apologising for it. Read the strange book, watch the long video, learn the names. Curiosity feeds on being taken seriously.