This is the book I bought for Prince Charming for Father's Day on Sunday. I got it in Glasgow the week before, hoping to blog about that soon too! It obviously forms part of this wave of nostalgia we have for the pictures of our childhood, overlaid with the cynicism of our adulthood. Poor Bruno Vincent doesn't even get a mention on the front cover, though he seems to be embracing
his role as "Enid Blyton's comedy representative" with great magnanimity.
PC and I will laugh until we cry over anything that takes personal experience and turns it into communal shared fact. This used to be my favourite definition of poetry, paraphrased from T. S. Eliot, but now it just sums up how any book full of tales of exhaustion is going to work for us! I think this is why we crawl outside like good pagans every Summer Solstice night and sit up until the last trace of light is gone from the sky- just to prove to ourselves that we can. Not that we will necessarily function well the next day!
When I started blogging it was all artful scenes of kitchen table and lots of small feet, and tales of wry domesticity. Yesterday I got a letter mug from the new M&S range, all fancy and gilt, to set me apart from the bold monochrome of men mugs. Now they drink tea from full-sized cups. Now they have broad shoulders that look sharp enough to slice the bread things they eat continually. Now I am often taken aback at how outrageously funny they are, or right, or wise.
And then other times it still feels like this! Which is why I think the Enid Blyton spin-offs are so successful just now. Personal pain made public! The book about The Meeting makes you realise that you are not the only person dealing with inanity at work. The Mindfulness one makes you take yourself just a little bit less seriously, and allows you to chuckle at excess. And that's just three out of the four titles I've bought this year- you'll have to ask Niqi about The Dog one!
Depending on how the Queen's speech goes today, I might think about putting this one on my Amazon wishlist. Presumably it's our jolly, old DUP who are holding up the proceedings on Mrs May's new government. See apology below! With politics, much like parenting, do we need someone to help us laugh as well as cry?
5 comments:
I like the letter mugs. Your mug is extra lovely!
Did you stay up until the sun went down? It's SO hot here in Colorado right now. I hope your summer continues to hold family fun and laughter. And lots of bread.
A succession of photos of personal/favourite mugs would define a life pretty unassumingly well. I like the personal experience/communal fact thing, like panning out to take in the wider view.
Love the illustrations on the cover of these books. And I wonder how any of my children survived let alone thrived with my parenting skills.
I've never thought of staying up till it gets dark on Summer Solstice but maybe it would be fun to see if I could do it sometime. Here in Washington state things stay light later than in southern states. Hope you have a nice weekend.
Staying up during Summer Solstice sounds very wonderful. I slept.
Isn't it cool when your children get all growed up and you're just amazed at what men they are becoming?
Over the last few years, we really have watched as you and your hubby go through all the parental growing pains of raising sons ... and eventually letting them go, which is the hardest part. You feel so, so proud of them. Enjoy these next years, girl!
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