Something to oppose

This is Malvern in a very strange guise.




Safety in Intifada

I wrote a poem called this once. It was during the Gulf War when we thought we were all going to be called up or that the war would spread and it would be like the blitz all over again (I don't think I really thought this but plenty of people did.) I longed for the routine of the Intifada which we could dismiss as some little, local difficulty. Of course, post September 11, it is obvious that this can never be true. Before I was married and a father, there was a sort of safety in even the most extreme happenings becaue they did not happen to me. I was safe whatever. The end of the Cold War made this feeling even stronger. I find enourmous solace in the weather. We don't have much extreme weather here and so most of it is quite comforting to me. There is a picture in The Ladybird book of the weather which shows a steady rain falling over a rural-type village green; you know the quality of light you get in Summer thunder storm. I must have a pluvial character because this sort of weather is my favourite. I can even remember as far back as when I was 5 and we still lived in Nottingham. I was in our front room when a Thunder storm started. At first I was frightened but after a while the lure of the strange light drew me to the window to look at the rain and the lightning. From then on I have wanted to sit out on the doorstep to watch storms. Now I am trying to find that Ladybird book and this guy has the same feelings about it that I do.

And here you are. I have found a picture of the front cover at least.



From Daddymonts books

I particularly like the "found object" quality given to this picture by the inch marks down the side.

All this has just reminded me of something really wonderful. Do you remember The Observer's books? - little hardback books about everything from the weather (aha - I see your link) to flags via military aircraft and butterflies. I think they are still going. Well there is actually an "Observer's book of Observer's books". Isn't that a wonderful idea? It's like all the self-referential annecdotes about libraries - should the index for the library be included in the index and should the index of the indexes include the index of the Indexes. As there are several editions of the Observer's Book of Observer' books, there could eventually be "The Observer's Book of Observer's books of Observer's books" and so on. It's like a window on the workings of the Universe, a fault line where reality breaks down and we see the works or the program behind everything.

For a list of Observer's Books - a sort of online version of the tortured mess I describe above, (including of course, "TOBOOB"), go here.

Isn't the world wonderful and strange. I must get a copy of "TOBOOB" for my Found Objects Cupboard - which I still need to attach to the wall. It has been in the garage since we moved. My father has a proper free standing Found Object Cupboard which allows him a lot more leeway about what he can include. It has all sorts of models and strange objects such as loom shuttles and obscure boxes. I can only say that my medicine cabinet sized cupboard has a slightly more amateur feel to it.

I cannot find the phrase "Found Object Cupboard" using my usual search engines but "Found Objects" comes up with many. A Blog is like a "Found Thoughts Cupboard"

Back to self-reference so time to refer back to what I was doing before I started this today.