Thursday, March 22, 2012

two years on catkins nice


Posted by Picasa A couple of years ago I photographed the same peeling wall and  the remains of  an advertisement beneath one layer of plaster. This photograph differs only in the extent of the peeling process which must have occurred  in the interim

On the train to Hastings you realise that it is pussy willow day. The furry catkins seen from  the window glow in the sun, silvery green spheres, hazy at the edges.  You only notice the slanting green rain of  long, thin hazel catkins as your eyes adjust.

"You look so nice drinking your wine in the sun," says an elderly lady hugging a cushion as she passes. We are outside our favourite restaurant on the front at St Leonard's  for the first time this year. "I just had to tell you," she says as she walks on.

3 comments:

Roderick Robinson said...

There's lot in the final para: a "favourite" restaurant, being outside in March (though I know why), hugging the cushion, the remark itself, the admitted compulsion - plus the assumption that it's white rather than red wine.

It occurs to me that the hat you were wearing may have had something to do with the elderly lady's impulsiveness. And there's another, by the way: the occasions when "elderly" is appropriate. I never used the adjective until I was quite definitely old. Now it arrives via all sorts of qualification.

Lucy said...

I've long meant to go hunting those 'ghost' advertisements on walls with the camera. I often see them but in times and places where it's difficult to stop and snap them. There's one I pass somewhere for 'votre bleu de travail' - those ubiquitous overalls which are such a part of the French artisan's identity.

But what does this one say? It seems to be for 'wether mutton', (which has an echo in your post for today about the shoulder of lamb, and evokes images of flocks of Romney Marsh sheep led by bell wethers...) Odd to think that a trader might proudly proclaim this commodity which would not now be considered very desirable at all,if anyone even knew what it was. Also that it should be publicised in such a permanent way, which reminds me of something I was reading, I think about somewhere in the Basque country, where the prices of some staple like flour or bread, a long time ago, were literally carved in stone above the door, and are still there. The confidence in the lack of fluctuation in value, availability and demand is surprising and rather touching in the present world of uncertainty!

I like to think of you drinking your wine in the sunshine too.

Unknown said...

L d P The thing about "elderly" is that it is I think a euphemism for "old".

Lucy I think I must do some research but the the high turnover of traders nowadays seems to remove the possibility of any of them or indeed their customers remembering what was advertised.