Issue 47 - Some lists to enjoy
December 2022
If someone writes on their dating profile 'avid list-maker', my advice would be to run a mile. I am one myself of course, but god help you if you consider this to be the most interesting thing to communicate about yourself.
I will say however, that I am fascinated by a good old list. When people draw the tick box alongside so they can check it when the job is done. When people leave their list clipped to the little board on the trolley in Tesco (didn’t realise anyone actually used them.) When people have such bad writing they genuinely can't read back what they wrote.
So this month, as children write to Santa with their requests, I am sharing a few of my favourite scrawled lists - from what to take on a first winter mountaineering expedition, to a weekend in Venice via the joys of Ryanair. Hope you like nosing through them as much as I do.
Nadolig Llawen!
Good things to click on
I have a limited number of Jolene's for sale
Went to two art galleries last month - here are some highlights of one. The other was the target of the biggest property theft in history - a compelling story, and the frames that used to contain the Rembrandts and the Vermeers now hang empty on the walls
Just one of the most beautiful shops there is
Tell a Christmas food love story in four words
'If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case.
Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.'
- Mary Oliver (who else?)
Photos this month are of lists made by people in my life. In order:
My late Grandparents' wedding present list in the 1950s, which I have framed in my bedroom
A list of Christmas presents that my mum bought one year in the 1990s
My friend's packing list that I saved from our weekend in Venice this summer
One of dad's very recent daily lists
A list from a housemate chef who did 'restaurant night' once a week for us throughout lockdown of 2020