10 pientä iloa, 1-5
10 simple pleasures, part 1
Palaamme asiaan: 10 pientä, simppeliä mielihyvän aihetta, osat 1-5. Via Neiti Kotka.
1) Säästä puhuminen. Eräs tuntemani ihminen halveksui kerran ääneen säästä puhujia. Mutta säästä puhuminenhan on sitä todellista kuulumisten vaihtoa, ilmapiirin, tunnelman ja yhteisen kokemuksen aistimista. Tapahtumatonkin elämä ammentaa yllin kyllin draamaa ja vaihtelua säätilasta.
2) Kaljalla käyminen siskon kanssa. Tästä mielihyvästä on tullut vähemmän yksinkertainen, kun operaatioon sisältyy lähemmäs 30 tunnin lentomatka.
3) Kirjekokoelmat. Kirjekokoelmien lukeminen vie suoraan vieraiden ihmisten, historiallisten henkilöiden, taiteilijoiden, kulttuuripersoonien ja kirjailijoiden arkielämään. Suosikkini jo monen vuoden takaa on SKS:n julkaisema Yhdeksän mustaa joutsenta (Swanin sisarusten kirjeitä, osa 1). Yöpöydällä odottavat Brontën sisarusten kirjeet.
4) Kuivatut tatit. Tähän sisältyy se, että sienimetsään pääsemisestä on niinikään tullut vähemmän simppeli mielihyvä. Onneksi kuivattuja tatteja saa järkyttävään kilohintaan herkkukaupasta.
5) Puhkituttujen elokuvien katsominen. Suosikkini on BBC:n 1990-luvun filmatisointi Jane Austenin romaanista Persuasion. Suomeksi? Samaan sarjaan kuuluu riekaleille luettujen Anna- ja Runotyttö -kirjojen lukeminen keskimäärin kerran kahdessa vuodessa (sairasvuoteessa, kesämökillä tai muuten vain kun tulee alakuloinen mieli).
Jatkuu.
***
10 simple pleasures, part 1 (1-5). Via Miss Eagle.
1) Speaking about weather. I know someone who once said (with quite a lot of contempt) that he did not understand people who talked about weather. I bet he has grown up since. Speaking of weather is so much more than just comparing notes regarding weather. It is about sensing the atmosphere, finding out about the mood of the other person, sharing experiences... Weather is the one true experience we can rely on, every day, and it is always different (however slightly).
2) Having a beer in a pub with one's sister. This simple pleasure has actually got quite a bit more complicated since moving to Australia. This seems to be in tune with Miss Eagle's Simple Pleasure nr. 1.
3) Collections of letters. Reading about other people's (artists', cultural personalities', writers', other strangers') lives through their letters is a wonderful way to find out about history and the everyday of other people. A dignified way of being a voyeur. (On the bedside table at the moment: the Brontë letters.)
4) Dried porcini mushrooms. Buying expensive, dried porcinis (packed in Italy, probably picked in Finland) is a substitute for the simple pleasure of picking one's own mushrooms, which has also got far too complicated since moving to Australia.
5) Watching films that one knows by heart. My favourite is the BBC 1990s production of Jane Austen's Persuasion. A similar pleasure is reading all the L. M. Montgomery classics once in about 2 years (when sick, holidaying or just miserable).
To be continued.
Comments - Kommentit
I love the letters. I have a little collection of letters written during World War II by my aunt, Bina, to her sister, Molly. Molly was a well-known Australian script-writer and playwright. Bina was a ballet-loving, art-loving, Marxist telephonist. Her letters are about fashion and dressmaking, interior decoration and attending Communist Party meetings. I am not sure what to do with them. Perhaps a blog of the letters - about a dozen or so?
Posted by: Miss Eagle | May 1, 2006 08:43 PM
Oh and by the way, talking about the weather is well and good, Anni, but there has to be weather to talk about. Now that I live in Melbourne, like all the other inhabitants I talk about the weather. But that's because there is quite a lot to talk about and one has to decide what to wear each time one ventures outside the front door. I am a girl from the tropics and we don't talk about the weather anywhere near as much. The most discussion about the weather takes place when there is a low off the coast. Prior to the arrival of The Wet there is commiseration about the heat and, if living in Darwin, much whinging about "the build up". If The Wet is late there may be some discussion about that. But none of that compares to Melbourne's discussion of the weather - except for when the cyclone is headed in your direction.
Posted by: Miss Eagle | May 1, 2006 08:48 PM
You are quite right - if the weather does not change, there is no drama!
Blogging the letters sounds like a good idea - unless of course there is enough for a whole collection of letters, in print!
Posted by: Anni | May 1, 2006 10:46 PM
Familiar books and films are even better than comfort food (those like Chocolat, which combine both, are priceless). The Anne books, Little Women, and yes, Jane Austen (BBC Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice, the Sense and Sensibility with Alan Rickman in it) all come in for a good deal of wear at Chez Davis.
I haven't read about the Brontes since year 9, when a novelised account of their lives was on the reading list and I spent most of the term wanting to clonk their brother or father over the head with something. But letters and diaries are lovely things... Joseph Conrad's letters are apparently very good, though I've never found a copy:
I have told you that they sky in all its zones is mortal. Let me reemphasise the extreme looseness of the structure of all objects.
Posted by: Angharad | May 2, 2006 12:24 AM
For me it's long due to read again Anne books and the like... I should find them from storage somewhere, get mildly sick and read them all! Sounds like a plan... ;-)
Posted by: Ansku | May 2, 2006 08:21 AM
Viisasteleva sydän. Kyllä, se on ihana filmi. Pidän muutenkin Austen filmatisoinneista. Tässä on vähemmän tunnetut näyttelijät, mikä on aina plussaa. Itselläni on filmi nauhoitettuna ja katselen sen tasaisin väliajoin. Taannoin tapitin kaikki JA leffat yhteen pötköön. Tuo valokuvasi sopii hyvin tunnelmaan. :)
Posted by: Myy | May 2, 2006 06:18 PM
I know Angharad - even the Brontë sisters are a bit infuriating at times.
Ansku, maybe during a summer holiday, on a rainy day?
Myy, niinhän se onkin, Viisasteleva sydän.
Posted by: Anni | May 3, 2006 02:17 PM