Sunday, February 04, 2007

Blabla Bullets

I've repainted all of the doors downstairs. Since we moved into this house eight years ago, they've been a deep and jarring red. Now they're a colour that I've known I wanted for months. I have described it to various people who know about these things as "mole-colour", "the colour of a weimeranar dog", and "pebble". Now that all of my doors are coated in it, I realise that it's really just the colour of mud (but very chic and understated mud, I think).

Yesterday we I shopped for the paint with the crowds at Castorama, E. asked, "Maman, qui a fait naƮtre tous ces gens?" (Mummy, who brought all of these people into existence?). I mumbled something about the great mystery that is life.
(Update. On re-reading, I realise that this is not a very good translation. It makes E. sound like a 4-year-old Malcolm Muggeridge. But I still can't think of anything better.)

This week I've been working on an article for an academic journal and out of sheer, unbearable boredom I ran it through the tagcloud machine. Now I'm thinking about just submitting the cloud, it's much prettier and pithier than the article itself.
created at TagCrowd.com


5 comments:

y.Wendy.y said...

I asked a male student this morning about Castorama - he said there's mega new store thats recently opened near Mulhouse and he was very impressed with their range of arty farty stuff...so I'll pop in there sometime.

Gosh but that work you do does sound ultra-boring! How do you stay awake?

Anonymous said...

Would that be Melvin ? (konner).

Not easy to come up with a snappy answer while prowling round Castorama. What is that quote about nature abhores a vacuum or something. Then there is Malthus for E's future studies. I always liked Malcolm Muggeridge by the way, maybe before he converted, so before your time. He used to pontificate on television and had a nice battered face like Auden, who was born 100 years ago this month ... love to digress.

There is just something irresistible about those DIY shops. I always fancied 'eau de nil' for the name, or periwinkle. Don't know how you managed to paint without the children 'helping'! Or maybe they did.

Lesley said...

Wendz: It's like lots of other projects; exciting to begin with and then it gets tedious.

Deborah: Yes, Melvin Konner. It's an article about ethnographic accounts of the linguistic appreticeship of drs.
My paint colour is "lichen".

Anonymous said...

Among his books is one called 'Why the Reckless survive and Other Secrets of Human nature'. Isn't the word reckless as satisfying as lichen ... interesting because I conjure up a grey for that word (and think I mispronounce it as Lich 'N' as opposed to Lie Ken)?

According to the colour charts your understated mud is pale taupe, mole doesn't get a look-in. And mole skin (shades of Chatwin and his note books), is dark brown, isn't it? Now the Wind in the willows and Little grey rabbit and on and on ...

and a few more colurs for the words: indigo, cerulean, cobalt ... not to mention ochre and burnt sienna. Chartreuse and sage for taste.

But moss is best! For the smell.

Anonymous said...

I like that cloud thing!

I've got a new blog, by the way.

Confinement

Being confined indoors most of the day, just the four of us, is reminding me of the days when my children were wee and most of our weekends ...