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On being a pretty building. A few quotes. And doing what you love.


... for now I am in a holiday humor 
W Shakespeare


Family holidays. Or six go travelling while two go to prison/canine-holiday-camp aka. kennels.

The two-legged, travelling members of the family pose for a shadow pic - shadows lengthened by the evening sun have lengthened anyway with passing years (... mine, though, appears to have broadened). And I wonder how many more of these shadow pictures there will be and if we shall ever pose just six of us, again. Or if the breadth generally of our shadow profile will extend to include partners and children and when and who they will be. And dreaming of wider shadows and little hands and little arms reaching across the gaps, I define and re-define family. As generations have before. Poignant. And joyous. And wonderful.




What is a holiday if not a time for sentimental dreaming?

Holiday - noun - defn: an extended period away from work or school; often spent away from home or travelling and during which one is free to pass time in pursuit of rest and relaxation or seeking enjoyment and fun. From old English halig-daeg meaning holy-day. 

How do you define a good holiday? I guess it depends on who you are. On where you live. On the level of you expectations. On how much time and money you can afford to commit to the holiday. And on whether you choose to holiday alone or with others.

What do you throw into your own personal holiday pot? What mixture of delights?

A highly reviewed book ...




... even if, though excellent, chilling and haunting in its characterisation and its setting stark and bleakly brushed like an abstract expressionist painting and its poetic voice a mind-popping firework display of words, it ultimately disappoints because I struggled to find a character that I could like.


Monumental scenery ...




... even if, though built to commemorate those lost at sea, it was commissioned by Mussolini one of the butchers of twentieth century Europe.


Children ...




... even when they want a bit of alone time. To watch the crab eating the weed growing on the wharf wall.


Children ...




... even when their friends have all come on holiday too. Apparently.


Pretty buildings ...




... even if middle daughter, on critiquing the local architecture, expands her observation to declare that her mother is indeed a pretty building, too. And her brother adds later that their mother is not just a pretty building, but is a magnificent ... or was it monumental? ... pretty building. I think I prefer magnificence. Less heavy. Less solid. Less suggesting of something fixed and immoveable like a beached whale. Which is not a good image. Particularly for a mother daring to wear the bikini she bought in a sale two years ago and has never worn. Until now. Please ... no, not a whale! A magnificent pretty building - I'll take that. Smiling.


More, actual, pretty buildings -





A quick search for quotes about holidays revealed these (among many many others) -



'A good holiday is one spent among people whose notions of time are vaguer than yours.'
J B Priestly

Which is oh so true - no-one needs to be hurried on holiday; no clock-watching; no time-table; no rush. Find your holiday pace and stick to it. Breathe. Relax. Sleep a lot. Switch off. 
But not so much that you miss the flight home.




'After all, the best part of a holiday is perhaps not so much to be resting yourself, as to see all the other fellows busy working.'
Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows

I hope that was Mr Toad speaking. Thinking he was busy in charge of his new caravan. Ordering Ratty and Mole. Observing the other fellows busy working. 




'No man needs a holiday so much as the man who has just had one.'
E Hubbard

Surely, a universal experience felt on that first morning back at work. I think every holiday needs a day for packing pre-travel and at least a day, post-travel, for washing, shopping and recovering from the journey.

Searching for holiday quotes also found one by Billie Holiday -

 'If I'm going to sing like someone else, then I don't need to sing at all'

 Which to all my creative friends means find your own voice, believe in it and stick with it. Don't be bullied into being like someone else. If you have an original idea make it your own. Don't be someone else. There is no dignity in complying and in fitting-in with general expectation, only a slow withering of ambition and a narrowing of self-belief and confidence. 

In the same vein, there is this magnificent quote from the actor who was the original, wonderful Willy Wonka -

 'Success is a terrible thing and a wonderful thing ... Just do what you love'
Gene Wilder.

 RIP - remembered with a smile.


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