Here and there

      

     "The real pleasure of the place .... is that walking up the steps and pushing open the door is like entering the wardrobe into Narnia. Behind the rational 18th-century exterior is a vortex that spreads, sprawls and expands, rising up into the clouds, spiralling down into the bowels, edging back to the beyond."   

     Had I been able to go to London today, I'd have been in the place described above, attending a reception. You can read the rest of the article from which that passage comes and discover the mystery location by looking here.

     From that engagement, had it been feasible, I'd have hotfooted it across town to take a seat in the audience at this wonderful event. Combining the two would have made for a perfect evening.

    But being pretty well rooted to my little patch of Edinburgh earth, I am here at home doing the things I usually do. I'm not often affected by wanderlust, but sometimes I wish I were elsewhere. How about you?

Comments

[Margaret Powling]

You are rooted to Edinburgh and we are rooted to Torbay! It takes a lot to winkle us out these days and we think we're blessed living in the west country with so much beautiful scenery. OK, Dartmoor can't compare with the Highlands, but we have such a choice of different scenery, from the white cliffs of Beer in East Devon to the rolling hills of the South Hams in West Devon to the rugged coast of North Devon and lots of villages, towns and three cities thrown in for good measure - Exeter, Plymouth and Truro. And what prettier cathedral than Exeter, a splendid vision of Decorated Gothic! Small but perfectly formed!

[Harriet]

All my life, or a good deal of it, I have meant to join the London Library. This article makes me long to desperately but at this price I fear I never shall. How sad. Frances Wilson tells a story about someone's romance starting there with the gift of a red rose -- 'It could only happen in the London Library', she says. Well, I can't resist noting that, though a red rose did not figure, a romance of mine began in a similarly romantic fashion in the Bodleian Library in Oxford.

[Barbara MacLeod]

Yes, being rooted at home can sometimes mean a rather long day. However, I have found one solution: I uproot myself by bunding the grandchild into the pushchair and head off to our local library. Perfect. The sectioned-off children's area has a big couch where we settle cosily with some board books until it is time to go home. Very user-friendly and I never cease to be impressed by the variety and selection of books for little people.

[Nan]

You may have read this quote on my blog a while back, Karen. It seems to suit a lot of us.

Traveling is all very well if you can get home at night. I would be willing to go around the world if I came back in time to light the candles and set the table for supper.
Gladys Taber

[Deirdre]

As Francis Wilson (author of the referenced article) quotes: " ... Noel Annan once said about being lazy in libraries: 'Not of course idle: idleness means day-dreaming. Laziness means reading the books one ought not to be reading, and following the trails along which they lead you.' This has to be a wonderful antidote our desires of wanderlust!

[Peter the flautist]

Cats like wandering, and I sometimes feel (quite selfishly) frustrated that I cannot do it as much as I would like. I don't think wanderlust needs an antidote at all, to take issue with Deirdre, as I believe that it is an healthy emotional response to stasis and lack of adventure. You don't have to actually wander all that often however.

Romance and libraries seems to be a bit of a theme, I did once have a girlfriend (Cornflower may recall her), an anthropology student, who once said to me in the Edinburgh University Library "You are a physicist, why can't these fluorescent lights be made more quiet?" If only the buzzing of lights distrubed the peace these days!

I am really sorry you cannot be down in London tonight, especially because of the Ashkenazy as I have very fond memories of him playing Beethoven in Edinburgh sometime in the mid 1970's.

Dark Puss

[Lindsay]

It was a pleasant evening at the London Library, and Cornflower (and Mr C) are welcome to visit it at any time. It's a truly wonderful library, full of all sorts of treasures, and its all on open access and all borrowable. At less than a pound a day, its a bargain (I spend more on newspapers in a year). I would be delighted to show Harriet round if she's not visited the Library - entirely without any obligation to join, of course.