On Friday I went out to check on The House. As I often do when circumstances allow, I got off the bus one or two stops early and took a roundabout walk down by the lake to get there. A still day with subtle autumn colours.
This post is linked to Straight Out Of the Camera Sunday
Normally I take part in Friday My Town Shoot Out from my Picture Book blog. Yesterday however was not a normal Friday. For one thing I was away from home most of the day; and for another I couldn’t think of Anything At All to do with The Letter A, which was the theme for this week’s Shoot Out…
But then today it was Open House at our Town Archives, which suddenly struck me as an acceptable A-word. So I decided to link to FMTSO from here even though it’s both the wrong day and the wrong blog. Daring, but I hope we shall all survive!
(I’m putting the post on this blog because my own private complicated archiving system tells me that’s the best place for it.)
The photo is from the Town Archives’ Research Hall, which is really just the Anteroom to the bigger labyrinth of the archives. Normally when you visit, you ask an archivist for the article you want, and it is they who will enter the Chamber of Secrets* or Department of Mysteries* to get it out for you.
Today at Open House however they also had guided tours into the Restricted Section* (the actual archives). For some reason though I forgot to take pictures in there. Maybe they cast some kind of memory spell* on you when you enter!
[* Sorry for all the Harry Potter references. I’ve been watching HP films seven nights in a row; still waiting for the eighth.]
One of the things I learned from the visit today is that our town was one of the first in the country to establish a Town Archive.
Besides records (and photos) of the development and decisions of the town, they also keep for example original copies of the local newspaper, and certain court records etc. They also provide archive space for non-profit organizations, societies and clubs. And even some ‘private’ collections.
One of the reasons why I wanted to take the opportunity to learn a bit more about this place was that I’m hoping they might also want to take in some of the local history research notes left by my granddad and dad. On an occasion like this I could of course only ask general questions, but I think it might be worth pursuing.
E-readers like the Kindle and iPad are sweeping the nation world … do you have one? Do you like it? Do you find it changes your reading/buying habits? If you don’t have one, do you plan to?
(And yes, e-readers and e-books do come up periodically, and yes, we’ve had similar questions in the past, but things change so quickly … it’s worth revisiting.)
The BTT questions come from Deb at Booking Through Thursday.
I take the liberty of changing “nation” to “world”, because in Sweden, they are not quite sweeping our nation yet. Which is probably also part of the answer to why I still don’t have one. I feel fairly certain that one day I shall, but I think I might wait another couple of years to decide what kind to buy.
There was an article about this in my local newspaper just a couple of weeks ago. The Market (this mysterious entity which is always spoken of as if it had an existence of its own) here in Sweden is still having difficulties settling on the best reader(s) for our language and literature. The publishers are also hesitating. While English is first language for 400 million people or so, and second language to like a billion or more, Swedish is spoken by approximately 10 million people. It cannot be denied: There is a considerable difference.
The prophet (or whatever his official title may be) interviewed in the article predicted that it will probably be another couple of years or so until e-readers really make their breakthrough here. So I think I might wait a while yet. When I do get one, it would be nice if the same one worked equally well with both languages.
Autumn darkness is upon us and I’m in movie mood. Over the last five days I’ve been (re)watching the first five films based on the Harry Potter books. Two more to review and then I hope to finally get the very last one (part 2 of The Deathly Hallows) on DVD next week when it is released. However, since I’ve ordered it from the same company that mixed up my last DVD order, I might just possibly end up with another copy of The Condemned instead. (See recent post Trick or Treat.) Ah well. What is life without a bit of risk-taking! (I only placed the order with them again because of a discount they gave me to compensate for previous mistakes…)
Anyway, not too surprising that the first Q-word which swooshed through my mind for the ABC Q-challenge was - Quidditch. However, I already wrote a post on that in the last ABC-round. Not on this blog but on my Harry Potter blog. (Follow the link if you want to read.) Just about the only sports game for which I know the rules… The main advantage from my point of view though is that since I can’t fly a broomstick, I can’t be expected to play!
Next to mind came Quills. As far as the use of those is concerned, I think I could have been accepted as a Hogwarts student. (Where no pens or pencils are used – only quills.)
In The Order of the Phoenix (which I watched yesterday), there is a nasty Quill in use (as punishment) which does not need dipping in ink because it uses your own blood instead…
… Somehow through the twists and turns of my thoughts, I was reminded that back in my childhood or teens (long before Harry Potter first popped up in J.K. Rowling’s mind), there was a bottle of red ink in a drawer in my grandfather’s old desk. I used to pick feathers outside (frequently scattered about by the crows fighting over the left-over potatoes that my grandmother used to put out for them to feast on), sharpen them into quill pens, dip them into that bottle of red ink, and practice my quill-writing…
Another famous quill from the Harry Potter books and films is the Quick Quotes Quill used by reporter Rita Skeeter in The Goblet of Fire. This is a magical quill that automatically twists whatever you say into sensational newspaper stuff. I’m not so sure those aren’t secretly used by Muggle reporters as well!
A bit early yet for Christmas, you think? Actually in the supermarkets and shopping malls it’s already been going on for a while. The photo above is from two weeks ago.
But the Christmas decorations are not the reason why I claim that Christmas Starts Here. No, my reasons for an early Christmas this year are more personal: This Monday was my last time in the rehab pool for this period; and I’m in for a three months “break” again.
These breaks keep falling at a different time each year, since each training period (for which I need my doctor’s referral) is six months; followed by three months break (= going back on the waiting list); and if July falls within the training period, that month does not count because then the pool is closed.
I’ve had the privilege of keeping up the training in the pool for ten years now. While I was floating around relaxing during my last 15 minutes there today I was trying to figure out (by counting backwards) when it was they introduced the system with the 3 months interruptions. I kept getting distracted though so I’m not sure I got it right. But I think it must have been 3-4 years ago.
Since it does not really help much to just mope about it, I keep trying to come up with ways to be positive instead. But since the ‘breaks’ keep moving, I have to think of different motivations each time. It’s been going something like this:
When the break falls in the autumn, that’s good, because a beautiful autumn day is really my favourite time for a walk, and that way I get exercise anyway. (Let’s not focus too much on the rainy days.) And then I get to go to pool all winter; which is good, because it gets me out of the house, and provides exercise even in cold weather.
When the break falls in the summer that’s good too, because then the weather is (presumably!) warm anyway.
When the break falls in the spring, that’s good because… Well, actually it’s really hard to come up with a positive attitude for the month of March either way, but it gets easier a bit further along…
Last winter I had my break from January through March, and since that was a rather horribly cold and snowy and icy time, it was honestly a relief not to have to go out on some days.
This time the break will be from NOW until mid February or so. So I’ve decided to just see it as the longest Christmas holiday ever. Since summer did not get to be much of a holiday (with my dad’s death in mid June), I really think I can use one.
Actually there is no end to the things I imagine myself to be able to get out of the “extra” two mornings (six hours) a week ahead. Mind you, I know it’s mostly in my imagination… In reality I know shall have to spend much of the time just finding other ways to compensate for the exercise and relaxation that the time in the pool (2x45 min) otherwise provides.
However – what I shall not miss is all the extra getting in and out of multiple layers of winter clothes; or the crowded locker room and shower room; or waiting for busses in cold weather; or walking those endless hospital corridors...
And what I shall enjoy is the knowledge that if I wake up in the morning and find a snow storm outside my window, I’ll just be able slip back into bed, without having to make phone calls to excuse myself to anyone. Actually, I may not even have to bother about setting my alarm clock at all for the next three months!
Now I think I’ve better stop before I start to imagine that I won’t have to go out at all; which of course I shall both have to (for food and such) and probably also want to (for photos and such).
Besides, so far we’re having an unusually mild and dry November, and not really too unpleasant to go out into at all. Most of the leaves may have fallen off the trees, but the lawns are still green.
Tonight, however, I’m celebrating ‘Christmas Eve’. The plan is to light candles, curl up, drink tea, eat chocolate, watch a film plus a favourite TV series, then read a good book in bed before sleep… Hm, I’m not even sure that leaves any more time for blogs today!
~ Season’s Greetings! ~
