July 27, 2009
"When Tutankhamon popped his clogs" is a good read...and I have just gone through the traumatic experience of disposing of my lately late parents belongings. But I had to travel a round trip distance of 800 miles, once a month for 5 months to complete the work of sorting through years and years of accumulation. My fathers collections were vast, from dignified art, lockers and a safe full of British and U.S. commemorative coins of princes, princesses, queens, and presidents, boating and marine equipment by the box loads that I remembered fondly from my youth, huge amounts of music by everybody who was anybody, and every subsequent invention to play it on, cameras and photography equipment, watches and jewelry by the score to the lowly campaign medals and Zippo lighters from his military days; collecting by my mother was more frugal, saving only in large amounts besides pretty blouses and highly raved about rings, those much despised "monuments to democratic capitalism" -- piles of cash.
Being originally from a part of Great Britain but having lived in the United States I am often intrigued by how some Brit writers compare our two countries--yours being the little corner of the tomb and ours being the great hall. Old Tut would have loved it here but I am sure that he would not have thought much about your place or state, having been a pampered and precocious teenager, accustomed to the best and a lot of it.
What a dilemma it was deciding what to take home, the things to share, and the chattel for the auction block. Needless to say, I brought from each trip memorabilia and mementos of every description, stuffing it away in every available and conceivable space that I could find, where I am sure upon my own demise it will be discovered by an inquisitive Howard Carter of the future. Good luck, old boy! If it hadn't been for the dedicated help of one of my best friends (with an occasional break for boating excursions) I would still be sorting through piles and piles of kimonos, photographs, ivory carvings, tools and whatnot.
Back to the comparisons--yes America has a lot of, again "monuments to democratic capitalism" but why should we not? We have to store away our stuff just as you do, not in a paltry 700 outside treasure houses but in over 57,000 and more are being built every day. Why, just think, the whole of Great Britain is only a little mouse of a nation that would fit comfortably inside the state of Michigan and still have room for a large family around the edges. At only 94,525 square miles to our 3,537,438 square miles that's not much to boast about. I can see why you wouldn't want to save too much stuff. So I suggest, being good neighbors, I will let you send some of it over to me for storage. I can still make room somewhere among all my books and this and that for whatever you can spare. I will be able to look at it nostalgically and think of my home away from home.
Good read, old boy. I did like all of your pop idioms and expressions such as impedimenta, popped his clogs, and flog it in the bazaar. How did you manage to collect such an extraordinary amount of words? All this time I was defining my status and myself by what I own, when I could have gone another route. It was a pleasure reading, Boris.
Giovanni
Posted in reply to Like the Pharaohs, we're getting buried by our own possessions by Boris Johnson, Telegraph.co.uk 26 July, 2009.
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London (elected May 2008). Educated at Oxford University, as well as being mayor of one of the world's largest cities, Boris is the author of several books, appears regularly on British TV, and is also a journalist and feature writer for The Daily Telegraph. It may be noted that besides family, Boris has a passion for cycling, painting and tennis.
"When Tutankhamon popped his clogs there really ought to have been someone in his entourage who harbored doubts, deep down, about what they did next. It was all very well to mummify the kid, but I wonder whether anyone stopped to ask whether he was really going to need all that clobber."
for the full text of this article, see the Telegraph.co.uk it is well worth reading.
Being originally from a part of Great Britain but having lived in the United States I am often intrigued by how some Brit writers compare our two countries--yours being the little corner of the tomb and ours being the great hall. Old Tut would have loved it here but I am sure that he would not have thought much about your place or state, having been a pampered and precocious teenager, accustomed to the best and a lot of it.
What a dilemma it was deciding what to take home, the things to share, and the chattel for the auction block. Needless to say, I brought from each trip memorabilia and mementos of every description, stuffing it away in every available and conceivable space that I could find, where I am sure upon my own demise it will be discovered by an inquisitive Howard Carter of the future. Good luck, old boy! If it hadn't been for the dedicated help of one of my best friends (with an occasional break for boating excursions) I would still be sorting through piles and piles of kimonos, photographs, ivory carvings, tools and whatnot.
Back to the comparisons--yes America has a lot of, again "monuments to democratic capitalism" but why should we not? We have to store away our stuff just as you do, not in a paltry 700 outside treasure houses but in over 57,000 and more are being built every day. Why, just think, the whole of Great Britain is only a little mouse of a nation that would fit comfortably inside the state of Michigan and still have room for a large family around the edges. At only 94,525 square miles to our 3,537,438 square miles that's not much to boast about. I can see why you wouldn't want to save too much stuff. So I suggest, being good neighbors, I will let you send some of it over to me for storage. I can still make room somewhere among all my books and this and that for whatever you can spare. I will be able to look at it nostalgically and think of my home away from home.
Good read, old boy. I did like all of your pop idioms and expressions such as impedimenta, popped his clogs, and flog it in the bazaar. How did you manage to collect such an extraordinary amount of words? All this time I was defining my status and myself by what I own, when I could have gone another route. It was a pleasure reading, Boris.
Giovanni
Posted in reply to Like the Pharaohs, we're getting buried by our own possessions by Boris Johnson, Telegraph.co.uk 26 July, 2009.
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London (elected May 2008). Educated at Oxford University, as well as being mayor of one of the world's largest cities, Boris is the author of several books, appears regularly on British TV, and is also a journalist and feature writer for The Daily Telegraph. It may be noted that besides family, Boris has a passion for cycling, painting and tennis.
"When Tutankhamon popped his clogs there really ought to have been someone in his entourage who harbored doubts, deep down, about what they did next. It was all very well to mummify the kid, but I wonder whether anyone stopped to ask whether he was really going to need all that clobber."
for the full text of this article, see the Telegraph.co.uk it is well worth reading.
