A lobster telephone fridge magnet needs no explanation…..does it??
Reading recent posts about Celia’s notebooks and Diane’s beautiful sketches got me thinking about where my writing day begins. It usually begins with my glazed eyes staring at my (none too clean) fridge as I wait for the kettle to boil and the bread to toast.And so the Dance to the Music of Time begins.
This painting by Nicholas Poussin inspired Anthony Powell to write twelve novels after all. I often view the original when I’m working at The Wallace Collection so this fridge magnet is a memory shorthand for me for that wonderful place.
The map of St Anthony Head in Cornwall reminds me of a wonderful holiday but also of a childhood dream to be a lighthouse keeper because ‘you get two weeks on and two weeks off.’ It seemed like a perfect combination to me – two weeks of solitude and two weeks back at home. This formula is still important to me - 50% solitude and 50% society.
I used to have a gym timetable on the fridge but I replaced it with Oscar Wilde. Laughing burns up calories and smiling firms up sagging jowls. Steve Bell raises a more sardonic smile which helps me cope with the dire economic and political situation. Harry Venning’s Claire in the Community is hilarious too.
This quote reminds me that I should be getting on with some writing and if Frugal Husband isn’t in there (systematically) working on his book I should be heading for the shed. It may not be as romantic or warm as Ian Fleming’s Jamaican retreat but it’s mine.
Finally I have a newspaper clipping that quotes the top five regrets of the dying as compiled by Bronnie Ware and I promise that today I will try to have the courage to live a life true to myself and not the life others expect of me.
Which brings me back to the Dance to the Music of Time and my pot of tea is brewed. Let the dance begin!
10 comments:
Brilliant! My fridge magnets are mostly just pretty pictures, except one which has a quote from Picasso: 'It took me all my life to draw like a child.'
I've cut this quote out of a newspaper and put it on my fridge:
"Isolation is crucial to writers, who, if blessed with a family, tend to hide in sheds in the garden"
But, sadly, the subtle approach has little success with my lot, and no shed has magically appeared.
I also have a fossil magnet. Now there's a metaphor, if you like!
Lovely to see your fridge magnets!I have lots and lots on my fridge too and buy them wherever I go. Latest from the exhibition called Vermeer's Women at the Fitzwilliam in Cambridge. And Dance to the music of time is one of the really GREAT sequences of novels. I love it, though it did take me three goes to get into it. I think you have to be middle- aged! Didn't work for me when I was younger...
Seeing what someone has stuck to their fridge door is as interesting as seeing what they've got on their bookshelves. Pride of place on mine: An acorn magnet given to me by a 5 year-old that says 'Teachers plant seeds of knowledge that will last forever'. Great post, Lynda! PS Oh yes, and a postcard which says: Ein ganzer Schrank voll nix zum Anziehn!
Like the fridge magnets!
Although my pre-work 'things to stare at' are stuck/hung from or nailed to the wall next to the computer. If they were on the fridge I fear I might be too tempted to open the door anhd rummage ...
What a lovely idea for a blog post, and what inspiring magnets. Mine range from a Winnie the Pooh magnet made for me by my daughter, a Dogs Trust magnet, a 'woolly jumper' sheep with real sheep's wool, and my fave, a chimp saying: "If all is not lost - where is it?" all of which make me smile at the beginning of my day!
Thank you all for sharing your fridge philosophy- you made my day.
I love Abi's chimp magnet!
A good of posting the the blog in this way.
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