It's a bittersweet moment when your child has a better grasp of business than you do and I felt a mixture of pride and shame (just like I did a few weeks ago, when my mother's poem was published in the Daily Mail).
I'm now working in partnership with someone who owns a company selling modern books. My stock is essentially a waste product of his business, so the arrangement suits both of us. It's too early to say how successful we will be, but it beats working for other people.
I miss the camaraderie of working with others, but when a friend told me that she recently had to attend a 'team building treasure hunt' and a course entitled 'From bolt-on to centre of gravity', the mud and cows suddenly seemed a lot more attractive.
I've been working through a large consigment of stock recently and every few boxes, I have found a photo that has been used as a bookmark. Here's a selection from the last couple of weeks:
The random photographs were a bit thin on the ground last year, but I shall be redoubling my efforts to rescue more gems from the skip of oblivion.
The one of the person asleep (passed out drunk?) on the sofa seems to me the hardest to understand, assuming a bookmark photograph is used not just to mark a place but also to remind you of a time you were happy or a wonderful day or something. Unless the person pictured only ever had a chance to sleep/pass out drunk that one time and spent the rest of their existence driven by obligations and responsibilities - but then they wouldn't need a bookmark because they'd have no time to read (or was it in a book about management?)
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year. It's always a delight to notice a new post is up on your blog.
Is it me or is the vacuum cleaner pic strangely erotic.
ReplyDeleteOk it's me.
Zoe - Happy New Year to you too. Re: the drunk, I like to think that he's an exhausted farmhand, relaxing after a hard afternoon's milking. Why else would he be wearing dungarees and a neckerchief (unless he's a children's television presenter)?
ReplyDeleteRog - Is your response a reaction to the shapely, tanned legs or the presence of a hoover? Or the combination of both? That's what I'd like to know ;)
Steerforth
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year. I hope that you, your family and business all flourish in 2013.
It's nice that the Victorians (?) in the final picture look positively happy and beaming, especially the ladies on the left. Quite different from the normal stony faces. (Perhaps a joke has just been shared at the gentleman's expense?)
Happy New Year David. I'm pretty sure that the photo is late Victorian, by which time it was easier to take snapshots without having to remain still for two minutes.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading a 1930s memoir of a Victorian childhood in which the author contrasted the stern-looking photos of her family without the reality of a laughter-filled household.
Perhaps it's the other way round these days.
I imagine that Victorian women had a great advantage over the men when it came to strip poker. Speaking personally, it's likely that I'd be down to my union suit before the first bustle hit the ground.
ReplyDeleteBelated best wishes for the New Year!
(Oh, and Reg, it's not just you.)
Brian - you too? Do men secretly (or openly) like seeing women do housework? I suppose my wife quite likes watching me putting up shelves, but probably not in that way.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, before I go off on a tangent, I'll wish you a very healthy and prosperous 2013.
Great band name, or title, that: "the skip of oblivion".
ReplyDelete