Trying for a daily journal entry



(From http://www.mystudios.com/vermeer/12/vermeer-girl-interrupted.html

It occurs in almost every diary - A resolution to make an entry every day. It is rare that this happens and certainly not in my case. Also, The word "journalis a lot sexier than "diary". Of course "log" fits in this position much better but it has so many implications - it implies a technical list rather than a personal one. The Enterprise captains always distinguish between personal and ship's logs. The real problem with a daily diary entry is that most people don't have enough going on in their lives to warrant detailing unless of course they are Nicholson Baker. A journal implies thoughts as well as happenings, internal discussions about external happenings. It is a talent to be able to make your own internal ramblings into something interesting.

Anyway, the happenings and thoughts of the weekend are as follows :-

I managed to get a copy of "The Ladybird Book of the Weather" (£2) and the drawings were just as evocative as I remember. A sanitised and beautiful depiction of Britain in the late fifties - early sixties. A bit "Blue Peterish" but attractive nonetheless. I also bought "The Ladybird book of Trees" which is just a collection of beautifully drawn pictures of British Trees, all drawn with blossom which reminds me of the tree outside our house. I would never have imagined that any house I would live in would have such a beautiful picture visible through the fron window. The Apple tree in next door's garden has just shed the last of its blossom which is piling up around the drive looking off-pink and rather tired but it was glorious while it lasted on the tree, so vivid as if our front window was acting as a polarising filter. It's a pity it's gone but at least there are leaves on the tree now. I like the stark details of a winter tree but there is something sad about them. An early summer tree is so much --- well just plain happy.

We watched "Girl Interrupted" (I link to the better of the book and the film but this copy of the book has the film as its cover). I only read the book last year but Sunday was the first time I had seen the film. I think they over dramatised it; It didn't have the swimming-through-treacle feel of the books (or indeed that other great book set in the same building - "The Bell Jar". I know the images you get in your head after reading a book are very peculiar to you but the building just didn't fit with my images. I may be wrong but I think the building used in GI was the same one used in Rain man. Having said the book was better, the film was quite good with the obvious tension in the question of whether Susannah would become sane. And then there was the un-resolved tension at the end over whether Lisa would eventually get out. I did have the uneasy feeling that it is difficult to tell who is mad and who is sane. Borderline Personaility Disorder describes many of the people I know and I would not put them anywhere near an institution.

I took my daughter for a walk along the beach by the Coastguard station on Sunday morning. She build a sandcastle with a razor shell on the top as a flag. She then spent half an hour beaming at evrybody who walked by and telling them not to walk on her sandcastle. She also likes "writing" in the sand with a stick but as she can't quite write properly it turns out looking like the speech that emanates from Woodstock in Peanuts. Miles and miles of it there are on that beach; I don't think the tide comes up as far as where we were very often so it's probably still there. When we were on Honeymoon on Lewis, we found a huge spiral sandcastle which was modelled on the Pharos Lighthouse. My Dad would have loved it. It was built in a tiny deserted beach stuck between high cliffs and I suspect that we were the only people who saw this construction. We hadn't got any spades so we couldn't make our own version. We will be taking plenty of beach equipment on Holiday this year so watch out for big stuff on the Beaches of Britain.