Wednesday, January 02, 2008

The Perils of the Charleston

It's January 2nd - and it seems Appleyard is still recovering from that New Year's Party (too much Charleston action - I' ve warned him before...). The poor fellow has not so much as noticed the turning of the year. His calendar stands still at December, the hungry sheep look up are are not fed...
'I think I shall go out for a walk, burbling and muttering to the amazement of all I pass...' That's Philip Larkin, writing on this day in 1943. I'd do the same, but am toiling thanklessly at Nige Corp again.
Writing on this day in 1886, Thomas Hardy notes that 'cold weather brings out upon the faces of the people the written marks of their habits, vices, passions and memories'. Worrying news, with a cold snap coming. But is it true? Bonus points for naming the book I took both those quotes from.

8 comments:

  1. Oxford Book of Quotations - or Nige's Book of Rough Estimates?

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  2. The Larkin quotation is from his letter To J. B. Sutton - 2 January 1943 Warwick, found in Selected Letters of Philip Larkin, edited by Anthony Thwaite (Faber, 1992)

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  3. Clue: They're both in the one recently published book, a rather good one that probably sold well as a stocking-filler...

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  4. I hope it's full blown siberian weather i'm dying for some snow.

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  5. "The Wrong Kind of Snow", perhaps? It's in my pile of bedside books and a rather enjoyable dipper-inner it is too.

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  6. That's the one, Neil - The Wrong Kind Of Snow, The Complete Daily Companion to the British Weather. A great dipper-inner indeed.

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