Friday November 30, 2007
Beautifully bright and sunny for much of the day yesterday and I revelled in it. As with all truly beautiful things there is a terror to it, too, for at this low point of the year the sun stays close to the horizon, shining full into the eyes. Most people wear sunglasses against the glare.
Winter Europeans are pallid, worm-like creatures, though, tending to short tempers and sullen expressions. H.G. Wells thought that something of that would typify our descendents in the far, far future. Morlocks, he named them, and placed them in vasty underground warrens, far from the sun.
Morlocks is not a bad name for many folks I see about me so it may be that Wells had the right of it and the evolution is manifest already. Is it me being sour or would devolution be a better term?
It wasn’t so very bad in Taunton, though. For some unaccountable reason the town was sparsely populated with people, and not a lot of shopping was going on. We were there at my suggestion, having just picked up the car from Taunton Ford, and I’d been ready to encounter massed shoppers and have something to grumble about.
Couldn’t do it. It was actually rather pleasant. Graham has, by dint of careful wheedling and gentle persuasion, encouraged me to accept Starbucks as a necessary evil, part of High Street life. Well, yes, necessary perhaps in a Morlockian sense.
We took our coffee in a strangely quiet environment. I had a small black coffee and a toasted cheese-and-ham sandwich. Both of them mediocre in presentation and in taste, and neither of them for a moment warranting the high-falutin’ foreign names that Starbucks like to bandy about. My cheese-and-ham sandwich, while pleasant enough in a bland kind of way, was about as far as you can get from Croque Monsieur as you’ll find anywhere this side of the Rocky Mountains. Have a look here if you want to see a real Croque Monsieur. Starbucks can call it a panini all they like but their product is nothing like the real thing.
The good part was that we were able to sit in the window and so I could contemplate the roof scapes of old Taunton, the one above and somewhat askew in a time-travel sense from the sad commercial shop fronts beneath them.
Taunton roofscape
I had only one simple errand to carry out, Graham had several, so we separated and went our different ways, meeting back at the car. Then, home, a completely innocent snack of sliced tomato in unbuttered olive bread rolls, and a late siesta after a short session at the desks.
My new desk, plain and simple, is an attractive workplace, not intrusive, just there. That’s a quality I admire. I try to be much the same myself though it is difficult when dealing with so many Morlocks.
The author, webmaster, and minder of the cat
17 responses so far ↓
Peter Cooper // November 30, 2007 at 9:15 am
Do you have another desk for writing at, or do you push the keyboard aside? Or.. horror of horrors (I’m only joking, of course!), do you do it all on the computer?
While I’ve had a computer desk for more years than I care to imagine, I’m definitely starting to long for a regular “study” type desk.. you know, the heavy wooden sort of desk that’s at least 8 feet wide, 4 feet deep, loaded up with papers..
Kate & Jim // November 30, 2007 at 11:59 am
Oh my - that’s so neat and tidy, John. (I know you’re planing your move and all…) but I could come over and bring a few piles of papers and clutter…catalogs and unread pieces of mail, and that bare wall by the window is just screaming for some little posty notes to tack up everywhere!
Alison P // November 30, 2007 at 12:15 pm
That looks a very restful, calm little corner. I feel the need to tidy up here!
Maureen // November 30, 2007 at 12:23 pm
My computer looks so untidy compared to yours.It also sits in a recess by a window.Now I’m going to have to tidy it up!
Brigitte // November 30, 2007 at 12:44 pm
John, you make us all really go and tidy up our desks! That’s a good thing.
But you do have also drawers somewhere, don’t you, with stuff inside? Like Alison said, it does look restful and calm, comforting too. Perhaps it’s the colour of the walls which makes it so nice… I like this warm colour, matching the lamp and the light of the lamp, just right for these dark days! You don’t have an idea, John, how inspiring you are! 
bonnie // November 30, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Have to agree with everyone. Nice area, and to think I dared show a corner of my computer desk. You must of just shaken your head in dis-belief.
Where oh where would I put my 5 cd racks if not on the top shelf?
John Matthew // November 30, 2007 at 12:49 pm
Good article, well written, the roofscape and your work desk are fantastic to look at.
Do visit my blog (Writer poet blogger John P Matthew’s blog): http://johnpmathew.blogspot.com/2007/11/web-20-sleep-of-reason-digital-maoism.html Do have a look.
Jim // November 30, 2007 at 12:51 pm
It is fascinating to me that at least half of the place names you mention in your entries have at least one namesake over here. (Yes, I know, it’s only logical since most of the colonists came from your island.)
There is a city of Taunton in Massachusetts. (That Taunton is only a touch more than thirty-five miles away in a straight line, but a bit more by road since Narragansett Bay is in the way.) And a number of towns in that side of R.I. have Taunton Avenues, etc. Oh, and there is a Taunton River as well.
gary // November 30, 2007 at 1:04 pm
If a person is a good cook, as you are John, it is hard to spend money on a lunch that is only so-so. Sometimes you wonder how something can be so pricey but so ordinary.
Maggie // November 30, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Loved your bit on Morlocks John!
Morlocks: they are seldom noticed until one reaches a peaceful internal oasis.
Of course, if one were to see them while actively engaged in the rat race… a Morlock would confront you each morning in the mirror.
From my perspective, despite the enforced Morlockism of the population, there is hope for the species.
mageb // November 30, 2007 at 2:44 pm
I’m still holding my breath about the surprise. Yes, too neat and tidy.
Mine looks a little like that but then makes a turn and goes six feet more to the right. With stuff. We are such slobs here and you are so neat.
Niki // November 30, 2007 at 2:45 pm
The photo is wonderful….the amber cocoon of your nook contrasts so beautifully with the sharp angles of the window and the roof tops outside.
oldgreypoet // November 30, 2007 at 2:53 pm
I’ll do a photo of the other side of the room for tomorrow…
Don’t fret about the neat! We’re getting into gear for the house sale and practising our neat all over again.
“Don’t make a mess!” I’ve been told.
“Fine. I can do that. What will my reward be, other than the obvious?”
“What would you like?”
“Permission to make a real mess in my study when we’re settled. I’d like to set a world-class example in messy.”
“Well. If anyone can do it, you can.”
“Thanks. I think.”
Billy Shears // November 30, 2007 at 3:06 pm
If you’re still contemplating a move back to the dry side of the country, does Graham know that Tesco Boston now has an in-store Starbucks?
And there always seems to be a fair gathering of customers sitting outside the town centre Costa, albeit with their collars turned up against the Formula One draughts which whip through the shopping mall.
GordoTheGeek // December 1, 2007 at 2:46 am
That’s a shockingly clean workspace, John. But, I suppose moving pressure can be quite useful in that respect.
Now that I’ve seen a croque-monsieur, I’m going to have to try one. I like my coffee with flavour and not hot enough to melt my tongue, so Starbuck’s is out of the question. Thankfully.
wayne // December 1, 2007 at 4:38 am
After all these years of Francophobia I discover I am eating a French Sandwich. As a young by (8) I used my mother’s iron to toast and melt the cheese on my ham sandwich. Croque Monsieur is good.
Maggie // December 1, 2007 at 8:10 pm
John said: “Have you met the Morlock from Porlock by any chance?”
Why John, I do believe I saw him over at the local Starbucks, with a milk-of-paradise on the rocks in his hand. I followed my old motto though, “don’t make eye contact, whatever you do don’t make eye contact.”
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