A Nice Pot Of Tea – Or Two

I have been maintaining lately* that I’m not really a collector of anything, but it seems I may have been mistaken. As from today, I have to admit myself a collector of shiny brown teapots. Not that I intend to add further to the collection, mind you! I hope two will be sufficient for a while…

The thing is, I wanted a new small “tea for two” teapot to replace an old one (of different kind) that recently got a crack in it.

Visiting my favourite tea shop today, I spied with my little eye a small pot high up on the top shelf, which looked like a miniature version of my bigger old brown one (which I’ve had for 35 years, if I’m not mistaken). And I thought: That might be nice, a big one and a small one of the same kind…

When I got the “little one” home I had to laugh though, because it was really hard to tell any difference between them. Looking at the picture above, which one do you think looks bigger? Actually the new one was bigger than it had seemed to me in the shop; while the old one was smaller than I remembered it. There is a slight difference in size, though. The new one holds three mugs of tea, the old one four! (The one closest to the camera is the new one! Perspective plays its part too, in the photo...)

Ah well. At least the new one fits on the low shelf in the cupboard (which the “big” one doesn’t, with the lid on).

* Friday My Town Shoot Out, Feb 4th – Collections

Linking to Weekend Reflections # 72

Booking Through Thursday: What’s The Use?

“How am I going to use this in real life?”

This week’s BTT question is suggested by Barbara H:

I am paraphrasing from a friend’s Facebook wall her question: “How would a teen-age boy who is going to work with his hands ever use Literature of England in his work?”

The age-old “How am I going to use this in real life?” question. How would you answer it?

This brings back memories from the first term of my very short teaching career (which can’t really be called a career at all). Much could be said about that first term (which was also to be the last at that school); but among the classes that were assigned to me was a couple of hours a week with a handful of 10-11 years old boys who needed special help with their English – or, just as likely, the other teachers just wanted out of their classrooms!

One question still sticks in my mind, asked by one of these boys: “What do I need English for? I’m going to take over my dad’s farm and I can already drive the tractor!”

My own education never prepared me for such questions. (Actually it was never my intention to teach 11-year-olds at all; I was all set on teaching the mysteries of language to older students who liked learning.)

I think I tried to suggest to the kid that as a young farmer he might some day find himself needing to, or even desiring to, go abroad to study international agriculture; but I suspect he just pfft’d that answer…!

I don’t even remember his name now, and have no idea what became of him. He’d be in his mid 30’s now. If he really did go into farming, I bet he now has to handle a computer as well. For all I know (farming is not really my field of expertise), some of the forms he has to fill in to get his EU agricultural subsidies might even be in English…!

Back then, in 1986, the Internet of today did not exist even in our imagination. (Possibly the idea had started growing in someone’s imagination, but not in that classroom.)

So much for language; but what’s the use of reading fiction – be it classics, contemporary novels, or science fiction trying to spy into the future? I would say it widens our mind, increases our imagination, makes us aware of the thoughts and feelings of other people. It gives us wider frames of reference than our own limited time and place in the life on this planet. Reading also gives us words and language to express ourselves; and it helps us create inner images.

We are getting a bit spoiled these days, with also getting most great stories (and some not so great!) visually interpreted for us on film. And in some ways that is good; it helps to spread our cultural heritage wider. But reading, or listening to a story being read, and creating your own images within your own head… I do believe it is important to keep that alive. I hope that in 100, 500 years – people will still be fascinated by discovering the depths hidden in words. I actually hope that people will still be saying: “Yes, it was a good film – but the book was better"!

The picture:
Strolling through town on Monday morning, before opening time, I look into the bookshop through the window of the café sharing the same premises. (Just then, neither was open; when both are open, the “net” between them is not there.) The bird silhouettes in the window look like they are frustrated at not being allowed to get inside. When I took the photo, I did not yet know what the BTT theme of the week was going to be. Now, it strikes me as the perfect illustration… What use are the books to me, if I cannot access them?

Alphabet and Language

The Swedish Alphabet

I’ve been doing a few ABC-memes lately – like my previous post today for ABC Wednesday. In connection with this I’ve noted that my brain seems to be finding this more of a challenge than the purely visual ones (themes like reflections, water, sky, a certain colour etc). Or, to be more precise – it seems that when presented with the task of finding things beginning with a certain letter, my brain automatically starts searching in Swedish (my first language); even though I know that I’ll be using English. 

If you look at the illustrations in the Swedish alphabet poster above (which I found on the internet), it will give you an idea, although “the other way round”. Some of the pictures will seem out of place to you, unless you know the Swedish words. (Why is there a duck for A? Because the Swedish word is “anka” – etc.)

When I write in English, I usually also think in English. I don’t go through a whole translation process in my head for every sentence. My guess is that our first experiences of learning the alphabet and learning to read – in our first language – are very deeply rooted in the brain. When I started learning English (at the age of 10) I had already been reading books in Swedish for years. Learning English was not interwoven with learning the alphabet, since we already knew that. So the approach to the second language is different, and less associated with “A for…”

What took me a bit by surprise now is that I can’t recall ever having thought about this before; not even during my university years or during the (few) years that I worked as a teacher.

Anyhow I’m sure it will be good practice for me to continue with the ABC challenges… ;)

ABC Wednesday - How Many C’s Do You See?

Cold and Cloudy morning in the City Centre:
The old Church with its Clock tower rises
high above the modern Concrete buildings
and the Cinema with its neon lights.

For ABC Wednesday - C

Quote of the Week–Internet

The Internet is becoming the town square
for the global village of tomorrow.
~ Bill Gates ~

♥ ♥ ♥

After my internet suddenly decided to come back “on” yesterday, I had no more trouble with it that day. It was also functioning as it should when I first turned on the computer this morning to read some blogs. Then suddenly at 9.45 it went “off” again. I had been nowhere near the modem or router; the computer is in another room. Looked out my window – we’re back to rain, and the thought of going into town (to pick up a test modem from the cable company) did not feel tempting. It struck me that there was one other thing I might try. What if the fault was not in the modem as such but in the cable between the modem and the router? I had noticed yesterday that I did have a spare cable of that kind. So I switched. And voilà… The internet came back “on”. Remains to be seen once more whether it will last…

Happened to come across the internet quote by Bill Gates yesterday. Isn’t it true! Here’s where people meet now…

Back in December, when we had the Christmas Market in our town square, I did run into a couple of friends there on some occasion. Otherwise I rarely seem to meet people I know in the town center (unless we have arranged to do so, of course). I guess partly it has to do with me being in early retirement, while most people my age are still working. I now try to avoid the weekday rush hours if I can – crowded busses especially. I also suppose most people with cars prefer the supermarkets and shopping malls on the outskirts rather than going into the town center.

Yesterday, going to my health care center for some more tests around 7.30, I was out unusually early for a winter morning. Went into town on a bus full of school kids. Being a cloudy, foggy kind of day, it was still half dark when I got out from the HCC. Most shops weren’t open yet (most of them open at 10 am). I walked through rather empty streets to a grocery store that does open early, before I took a bus home again. I had my camera with me, and did manage a few pictures that might fit this week’s photo themes.

My two worlds: The Town, and the Internet…!