Moving through the night
Running from the grand ennui
(Cole Porter 1934, Michael Nesmith 1971)
The himalaya of ironing is behind closed doors, the spice jars are vibrating and chuntering with neglect, the soup pan is slumbering and the computer is consigned to the darkness for daring to suggest that I have writers’ block. Another wet and windy afternoon and I’m supine on the sofa surrounded by books. Fighting the grand ennui, overcome by melancholia? No, I am time traveling.
The children of time travelers begin their training at an early age, a gentle conditioning of songs, rhymes and stories. Slowly they are introduced to the symbols of the code so that they can interpret the manuals which will guide their future travels. At the tender age of 5, led by my guide and mentor, I was taken to one of the stations where the manuals are kept and the guardian gave me a small piece of stiff green cardboard – the key to my time machine. There was no health and safety briefing, no words of warning, no boundaries, I was free to explore and travel.
As an rebellious teenager I experimented briefly with extra-terrestrial journeys, but I soon outgrew this phase and preferred to stay at earthbound. I explored Africa first with Little Black Sambo and later in the more risqué company of Richard Burton and Henry Morton Stanley. Noggin the Nog introduced me to the Norse Sagas and I moved on through the land of myths into the Celtic Twilight with Yeates. I learned to sail with Swallows and Amazons and then I was ready to hunt whales with Captain Ahab, get stuck in arctic ice on the Fram with Nansen, and to explore the Pacific with Captain Cook to search for terra incognita. If Puck could put a girdle around the Earth in 40 minutes, rounding the Horn in an afternoon was nothing for even a young time traveler:
The gallant frigate, Amphitrite, she lay in Plymouth Sound,
Blue Peter at the foremast head for she was outward bound;
We were waiting there for orders to send us far from home;
Our orders came for Rio, and thence around Cape Horn.
At first the adrenalin rush of pure adventure was enough, but soon I wanted more and the time came when I was ready to travel in search of knowledge. Surveying with Darwin and Fitzroy on the Beagle soon became plant hunting with Douglas in the Americas. For relaxation I might pop into the Royal Society to see the latest experiments by Robert Boyle, drop into a coffee house to eavesdrop on the latest gossip about the nabobs and traders of Honourable East India Company or see who was taking the waters at the Pump Room in Beau Brummel’s Bath.
After half a century the excitement of time travel has not paled and I still enjoy taking tea with Gilbert White as much as looking forward to the promised excursion with a new companion. As a child I was given a great gift, an insignificant little cardboard key which opened the door to new worlds and allowed me to travel though time. My father taught me to read, introduced me to the public library and gave a little girl with insatiable curiosity and imagination permission to daydream. Sadly my father, guide and mentor died last year. My inheritance is a gift that will last me all my days and I while I can time travel I will never experience the grand ennui.
Albert Einstein was asked once how we could make our children intelligent “If you want your children to be intelligent,” he said, “read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”
That’s a great perspective on the power and pleasure of reading. However, no one need worry: I have never been so engrossed in a book that I’ve forgotten to get dressed.
You are right books have enormous power and give us the freedom to be totally liberated from everyday life. Even the most passionate reader is allowed to be modest; for no one can see what is happening inside the head
Beautifully done Christine, enjoy your travels. As I read this post I was transported to a similar point in my life when I asked a question of my father. His answer was to take me to the library where we proceeded to look it up together. A true and lasting gift that I have never forgotten.
Thank you Shirley. I don’t think there is a greater gift that being given the keys of knowledge. I still use my local library and believe them to be one of civilisations greatest institutions.
You are well travelled indeed – but when at home I hope you keep your door firmly barred in case an unexpected visitor catches you in a state of dishabille 😉
A lovely description of the magic of books. But I should get dressed if I were you, you’ll catch your death of cold.
Hello and welcome.I knew my naked reader would be too much of an attention grabber, but somehow she embodies the total abandonment of reading. We live in fleecy pajama and bed socks land and it is definitely asking for trouble to be without one’s vest!
I am not sure I ever recapture the sensation of being utterly transported, utterly “away”, which I had when I read as a child. I remember a sense of disorientation when I was forced to emerge from a book to have lunch or go shopping. I can’t imagine a world in which I could not read. Great image but she must live somewhere warmer than here.
Sorry Elizabeth, I’ve been away visiting the family. Although I read incessantly, when not gardening, it is difficult to be able to escape totally. In an ideal world we should all have a soundproof reading room with a time lock!
Oh dear, I am a bit late catching up but I just had to comment and agree with you wholeheartedly – and I hadn’t come across the Einstein story before; thank you for that. Of course I agree, being brought up on fairy tales by my own father (my Irish mother’s assessment: ‘Celtic bollocks’).
Not to worry, life is more important than blogging. Alas no time traveling for me this month I’ve been away on the mainland visiting family.