I admit to being a compulsive reader. I do not like to sit and contemplate. Maybe it is something to do with my upbringing - sit for more than a minute 'staring into space' and my mother would find a job for me to do (peel the potatoes for lunch, weed round the edge of the patio, take the next door's dog for a walk) - anything to stop me doing 'nothing'. Contemplation was not a word my mother understood.
Alright - on a nice, warm, sunny day (looks like being one such today) Priscilla, with me on her seat, and I might 'sit' on the patio and metaphorically replant my rockeries - knowing that it will never happen. But usually I read - The Times, Country Living Magazine, novels, poetry - anything to do with words. If there is nothing near at hand and I can't be bothered to get up, then even the list of ingredients on the side of the HP Sauce bottle is better than nothing. (as a child I read them so often - HP sauce used to be good on the cold meat and bubble and squeak Monday lunch). I used to know them off by heart.
I think of all the things I spend money on and The Times would be the last thing I would stop. Yes I skim over the News - however depressing it is at the moment - but what I like best are the 'articles' in Times 2, the obituaries in Times 1 - they are always so beautifully written (often they have been hanging about - now and then updated - for years waiting for said person to pop their clogs). I have my favourite writers - Matthew Parris writes a good comment article every Wednesday in Times 1 and Libby Purves too. Giles Coren is another chap good with words, and Robert Crampton. Jeremy Clarkson, who if I knew him personally I feel I might actively dislike, has a way with words which I admire. As for Times 2 it depends on which day of the week it is but I always read them.
Today Carol Midgley writes on The Coronation and her hatred of 'Street Parties' and I have to say I found her column condescending and quite unpleasant.
Whether or not you are a Royalist or would prefer there not to be a Royal Family at all I think to lambast street parties is quite unnecessary.
She writes that 7000 community events and street parties have been carefully planned up and down the country. I would hazard a guess that it is more than that. She says she personally doesn't know of a single one. I would like her to know that our road is having one, just as they did at the Jubilee. I have been invited - whether or not I go will depend on what I feel like on the day (next Monday) but thank you for inviting me and telling me that because of my age I am not expected to contribute any food. And the nearby village is having one in the village hall. Everyone will enjoy it and get to chat to neighbours who they have not seen all winter. Why not have it on Coronation Day? Because everyone wants to watch the Ceremony on Television.
And why not? The sight of immaculately turned out members of the armed forces, the military bands who have practised their contribution for hours, the horses - mostly so well=behaved and such a splendid sight; and the Abbey in all its architectural glory, gleaming to perfection, and the ancient artefacts - the orb, the sceptre, the crown jewels - all on display. The ceremony itself, unchanged and honed to perfection and the choir - those beautiful voices echoing throught the ancient building. You don't have to be a Royalist necessarily to admire and enjoy the sight.
I still remember the spectacle of HM Queen's coronation - perfectly timed to fit in with the mass arrival of TV sets in the corner of countless living rooms.
So yes, I shall watch it from the comfort of my arm chair, might even have a glass of wine or a sherry (and in a cut glass glass - must keep up the standards).
I shalln't drape the house in bunting or have a cut out of HM Charles III standing by the front door but I don't begrudge anyone who wishes to do that. Each to his own I say and I don't suppose Charles and Camilla are looking forward to it all that much. But like any other Royal event they will present a stiff upper lip and hope to get through it without a slip-up.
So whatever you choose to do on Saturday Carol - please don't knock all those (mostly) ladies who choose to spend all day Friday preparing for their street party.
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42 comments:
I am like you an insatiable reader-of anything. When I was a child we always had a bottle of Daddies sauce on the table. i can remember vividly the moment when I realised I could read the words on the label! I demonstrated to my parents who were suitably impressed! Soon after that I was taken to join the local library. You had to do a reading test before you could join-no baby books or picture books then. I set off reading at a furious pace, the Librarian stopped me almost immediately-'you really can read can't you?'she said. After that I didn't really go to the Library myself much. My Dad changed everyone's books-his, my mum's and mine on his way home from work on a Friday. He carried huge lists of what we had read so he didn't bring the same thing twice. Looking back it seems a but strange!
OMG the HP sauce bottle took me back 60 years. I was also an avid reader as a child and always read my book while eating my lunch. That was in the days when you walked home from primary school every lunchtime. One day my mum took my book away and said no reading at the table. The next time she turned around I was reading the HP sauce bottle. She gave me my book back and never mentioned it again. I think because both my parents were big readers she understood.
A stout defence of the 'street party'. It seems to me that most villages have social events and barbeques when everyone gets together, and so it should be. Kate is to wear a coronet of flowers which is rather sweet and I think the king and queen will have a wearying day but as Queen Elizabeth before them will do their duties as can be expected. I love the list of Time's writers you mention, I do not have the paper now sadly.
I couldn't wait to learn to read as a child. My dad began to teach me to read before I started school at age 4 and a half so I was a reasonably good reader by then. My aunts and uncles always gave me books for Christmas and birthdays and Dad would play a word / spelling game with me using the dictionary, to help with my vocabulary and grammar.
I still love to read, but seem to have already worked my way through most of the suitable books in our local library. The charity shops may hold some gems possibly. I shall search them out.
What an exciting time for all of you in England. A new King. I certainly shall be watching from across the Atlantic. I found out that my ancestry is about half English so I do have some connections although it is very distant.
I, too, love to read. I had to wait after school each day to be picked up and so I read and read and read and then I'd check out tons of books to read at home. I've even written a novel myself (published 2014) I love words, expressions, descriptions, emotions.
I agree .. no need to knock street parties. Perhaps she will get an invitation or two after her article.
I'm an insatiable reader, too, and it's a never ending delight. I like novels and mysteries, but no 'thrillers' please.
I say Amen to your view that everyone should be free to celebrate (and live) they way they want to, and naysayers can please be quiet.
Hugs!
Gawd Pat, out of desperation I'm often guilty of reading the labels on things, normally the wine bottles from which I'm drinking. Also like you, I'm a life-long reader, though preferring to buy my books rather than use libraries.
Street parties, well I haven't heard of any round here and wouldn't go to one if invited but that's just the anti-social side of me.
While I'm no royalist, I shall watch it all just for the enjoyment of watching the bands and the pomp, I've loved bands ever since I was a child and love to watch and listen to them.
Your first paragraph made me laugh. My Mum was exactly the same, she used to find me jobs or to walk our poodle (as far as the chestnut tree down the lane)
My Granddaughter is picking her Mum up on route to our house on Saturday to watch the Coronation, so we will be having some party food, pink prosecco for us non drivers and sit and enjoy the spectacle.
I love reading too, have done since I was a child. I have a Kindle so can download books but enjoy actually holding an actual.book more.
Will think about you enjoying a glass of something to celebrate on Saturday.
My blogger name says all you need to know about me and my relationship with books! Like you, I used to read everything that was written on the milk carton, cereals box, sauce bottle or honey jar.
Street parties are great, and if I happened to be in England right now, I would definitely go to the nearest one. I know the cul de sac where my sister in law lives will be holding one.
Derek. Military Bands are the best - especially as on Saturday when they will be the best of the best. Mt first husband was a flautist in the East Surrey Regiment Band - he entered at 14 in 1938 and almost immediately was sent with the band to Shanghai. At the outbreak of the Japanese entering the war at Pearl Harbour they were moved to Malaya and eventually disbanded and 'every man for himself'. His brother - two years older - was clarinetist in the same band. They were both taken prisoner - spent six months in Changhi Jail in Shanghai and then was sent to the Death Railway. Both brothers survived. He was back in England for his 22nd birthday after spending 6 mnths in hospital in Bangalore. We had 39 years together until he died of kidney cancerwhich he always blamed on the terrible illnesses endured on the railway - and which had him invalided out of the army.
I remember at the pre-natal class the midwife telling us that talking was essential to our new born babies, even reading the ingredients from a tin of tomato soup anything as long as we were talking. I'll record the coronation, but I don't know if I'll watch it and that is because I dont agree with Camilla becoming Queen.
Couldn't agree more Pat, I love military bands, I was a bugler in the Sea Cadets when I was about 12.
Your post today resonated my mother and my reading as a child, she told everyone ‘that girl would read a bus timetable if she ran out of books’. I still laugh about this with my sister who was never a reader. Thank you for a wonderful and insightful blog. Jan
My older brother and I were inveterate readers, both having been taught by our parents before starting primary school. As a consequence I now have a seriously large collection of books, most of which have been read more than once, and I am loathe to part with.
I can just about remember Queen Elizabeth II coronation on TV - one of our neighbours bought a TV especially for it, and invited all their neighbours round to watch on the tiny screen. I doubt that I will watch Charles' coronation, except for the highlights. From what I've read his idea of a slimmed down and shortened ceremony I think was a mistake - this is exactly the kind of ceremonial spectacle that this country does so well, and it would have been priceless publicity.
Joan I'm sorry you feel like that about Camilla. I am just pleased to see him happy. There was an interesting article by Jonathan Dimbleby in Times 2 earlier this week - he has been a personal friend of the King for many years - he says what a kind and thoughtful man he is and how he will try hard to modernise the Monarchy.
I am with you on reading. I always have at least one book on the go. For me a day without reading is a wasted day.
My mother told me that you couldn’t read in the car as it would make you feel nauseous. I took that as gospel until my early 20s. Then, after map reading, I thought I’d try a book. I realized that my mother meant it made her nauseous but I can, and do, happily read in a car.
There are so many wonderful books to read.
I wish your writing could be published, and you paid to do it. You are an excellent writer, and I am always interested in your topics.
My Mum also 'cracked the whip' at the family as she saw it, doing nothing. We saw it as simply trying to relax.
Her relaxation was sewing or knitting, sitting down but doing SOMETHING.
I guess the concept of meditation would be greeted by 'who has the time' by such people who see busy-ness as a great virtue.
Unfortunately Mum was not a great fan of reading herself but mercifully encouraged Dad to take my brother and I to the library each Saturday morning. Guess it stopped him from doing nothing Weave!
Isn't it funny under present circumstances, to reflect on the saying "Who died and made YOU King' uttered when people fight back against others insistence of following their rules or instructions. Wouldn't have dared utter that at home though.
Not long now to see all the pomp and pageantry unfold. I am quite looking forward to it, - Pam, Aust.
- Pam, Aust.
I wonder if Carol Midgley has ever been to a street party? If not she's hardly qualified to comment on them, and much less criticise other people's choices. One of the great things about working with the disabled youngsters was that I got to go to all sorts of events which I'd not have attended out of choice (the film "Paddington", watching the filming of Dancing On Ice, a day at the Millennium Dome, a parade by Gurkha soldiers etc etc) and found a way of enjoying all of them. As for the Coronation, I shan't be watching it as I have no TV and Charles has forgotten to invite me.
Another bookworm here...at age 8 I used to sit in the book cupboard of the top class in junior school and read..the headmaster taught that class and he was ok with that!
I remember sitting outside reading at break time in grammar school...and didn't notice everyone going in...just kept on reading!
You do inspire me pat , every day x
Weaver, I believe Charles would have been happy earlier if Camilla hadn't dragged her heels about becoming a Royal when they were younger.
I am a devoted reader too and began as a child, even reading cereal boxes at breakfast. Love reading and writing and chose a good career for me, librarian. I think you and I share an admiration for the poetry of Mary Oliver. I got goose bumps when I read your words about why to watch the coronation, the horses are a big draw for me, and I admire your royal family. How great so many street parties are planned.
Thank you everyone of you for joining in. You inspire me every day to think of a topic to discuss with you.
Books and learning were always encouraged in my family. I could not live without my books. Words, expression and expanding my vocabulary will always be of greet interest to me. Carol Midgley seems anti-royal and a bit of a sourpuss. I hope you are able to go to your Coronation party.
Our coverage begins at six. I don't believe that I will watch it, but I know that Britain magazine will have a wonderful edition on it. Enjoy everyone!
Reading kept me sane during childhood in a fairly dreadful boarding school. Lost in the world of the book I could escape. But, unfortunately it also gave me an over honed awareness of correct spelling and the correct use of apostrophes!
As to Carol Midgley’s opinions of street parties, it seems to me that speaks of her lack of appreciation for something that is quite uniquely British - the willingness to share with neighbours and to rub along together … which enabled the Brits to survive the WW2 bombings, for example. Silly woman!
I’m not a rabid monarchist, but neither would I vote for New Zealand to become a republic. If that happens over here, I’ll bet there’ll be shrieking from all the Interest Groups about it being “their turn” to have a Head of State . . . A woman, a Disabled person, a Maori, a recent Immigrant . . . We’ve been so fortunate in our recent GG’s, they’ve come from most of those categories, but been people of huge stature (Mana is the Maori word used here) without their being chosen to placate any group. Leave well alone I say.
I love to read too and have been an avid reader all of my life. I am lucky to have always had a good library in the town or city I lived in.
Hope the Coronation goes smoothly and you enjoy it.
Another lifelong bookworm here. I read the cereal boxes in the morning.
I am excited for the coming coronation. I want to see and re-see everything.
I was always read to as a small child, so as soon as I could go to the library by myself, I could pick out what I wanted to read. I remember going through the whole section on sailing across oceans, scaring myself silly..then I read all about travelling to far away countries.. then I grew up and had the opportunity to have my own catamaran and did both. I also read anything I get my hands on. Yachties always have a bag of books on the boat to trade with other boats. We always liked English boats best…better books! Our coverage of the coronation starts at 3:00 am so I will be up and watching. Enjoy the day Weave. GG
I'm of a different generation than you, a Gen-Xer, but our experience with 'just sitting' sounds similar. If we kids were seen being idle, then we'd be given chores to do or told to 'go play' outside. I imagine that children nowadays are not only not being told to go outside unsupervised, but they are not just sitting on contemplating as they have devices with which to occupy their time.
Midgley's husband is an ardent anti-Royalist. I guess it runs in the family. He is anti street parties, needless to say, dyed in the wool Labour Party member, writes for the Mirror. I bet their house is a bundle of fun come deadlines.
I have just started re-reading Clarkson's 'Diddly Squat' book. I loved it first time, and am finding it equally funny this time. As a farmer's wife, I think you'd love it. He does over-do the similies.
As a child I would read everything printed that came into the house, even the pages of newspaper the vegetable man wrapped his goods in, and of course all the ingredient lists on the few boxes and bottles we used to buy. I do this even now in the shops when I see some interesting looking food, and then I usually decide not to buy it!
Of course I will watch the coronation. NObody does those ancient rituals better than the British, with all the wonderful uniforms, horses, buildings, and I think HM Charles III will be a worthy successor to the throne.
Hilde in Germany
Yes ! Very proud of our military forces ! You said that very well indeed !
I can remember reading labels on sauce bottles and anything else in sight. I also recall asking what emergency meant, pronouncing it with a hard 'g', having read it on a sign in the bus my mother and I were in. Reading is wonderful for those times when one has not a scrap on energy to do anything else.
We had our Coronation tea party yesterday out in the garden, though most of us were wearing jackets or warm cardigans as there was a spiteful little breeze and paper plates and serviettes had to be held tightly!
The last street party I went to was in 1953! I have a photo of it. We have lived on a main road for the last 45 years so no hope of there ever being one here.
I am british but live in Italy and I would like to say how right you are. I hardly ever comment on blogs but do like reading them. I totally agree with everything you say, what a wise woman you are. As you say "everyone to his own". The coronation with all its pomp and ceremony is a spectacle worth watching and England does it so well. I wish you a happy coronation day ~ keep well, safe and enjoy. Ro (N.W. Italy)
Thank you all. It has been another of those posts where I want us all, with a drink in our hands, sitting around in my sitting room for a jolly good discussion.
Thanks Cro - might buy that after I have written today's post.
The length of your blog posts are commendable Pat.
"One can never be lonely if one has a book to read" - a favorite quote of mine.
Books are wonderful.
I'll be hanging my large Union Jack on the front porch come early Sat. morning - my American neighbors can share, haha! Will be up a 5AM ready to watch the TV presentation. Will be homesick for England, proud to be British . . . . . .and wishing I had a street party to attend!
Mary in North Carolina
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