Today has been a junk sort of day. I write something, then I junk it. I write something more, then I junk it. It’s like one of the days where, no matter what you do, you keep getting a knot in your shoelace.
I want to keep Wednesdays as a sort of chat day, about what I’m writing (I’m stuck and using harsh language), what gives me ideas (everything gives me ideas – I’m not safe to be let out) and life in general. I woke up today feeling flatter than week old cola, and the writing shows it. I was stuck looking at my emails, and that shows how desperate I am. And that is how I was reminded that today is National Old Stuff Day.
Apparently there are a number of different ways to celebrate this. You can look at different ways to do things and reject the ‘same old same old’ feeling. That would have been fine yesterday when I cleaned some windows with hand sanitiser and it worked! As I have a low boredom threshold with the attention span of a concussed kitten, there aren’t many ‘same old same old’ routines. I could perhaps do with a few, but that’s another post.
Another way to celebrate is to look out some old things and cherish them. I have a few things that I adore, and I thought I would share one. It’s the book above, the atlas of my grandfather’s aunt who, by all accounts, was something of a character.
She was a ‘pupil teacher‘ which was a system where pupils learned how to be teachers at school as a sort of apprentice. I think she used this book as part of that. She also was the village Postmistress for a while.
It’s an amazing book, with historical maps, like that of the Roman Empire
As well as a nineteenth century map of the New England States.
I dipped into it while I was writing Out of the London Mist and Under the Bright Saharan Sky.
And now I am going back to something old and new – the new and hopefully stunning sequel to King’s Silver set in a medieval world.
Hugs and good health to all.
