A DAY OF INTELLECTUAL DISCOVERY. I have so many ideas... I have been trawling the library to pursue them... research... (I have to research this book that I'm determined to write down. Determined.) ... Languages of the world... there are so many countries I want to visit and so many different languages I've wanted to speak... I have an abiding interest in antiquity, especially the ancient Near East... My study of the Bible piqued an interest in this, particularly Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah (the Jewish exile) which were set in Babylon and the Medo-Persian empire... fascinating. I spent ages copying out the Hebrew alphabet but there weren't many good sourcebooks for studying that language (I think I'm going to have to seek out a specialist Jewish shop...) Then I got waylaid by showbusiness. Madonna. The library has barely anything about Elizabeth I and yet they have two volumes of Jordan's autobiography. Priorities, please! Also I got tired of the security guard prowling around like we readers were trespasssers on his private domain (and perish the thought that we might want to take a dreaded mobile phone call~ oo no that is too much) but the man who spent half an hour in the upstairs toilet with a queue of African exchange students rat-a-tatt-tatting ever more desperately on the door and then fled leaving it blocked with diarrhoea and the most gruesome pong rolling in an invisible putrid cloud past the Britannicas and into the maps reference section. Only when it reached the enquiry desk did loud exclamations arise and a large sign go up saying toilet out of order. Ooer I've got thoroughly waylaid now but it was a good day. Cheerio everybody. Till tomorrow!
VIDEO:
Bringing to life surrealist art, this supposedly cost $5 million (I don't believe that)... it is one of Madonna's best though...
I love libraries. They're really nice when there's no one inside them. It reminds me of church without all the religious over tones.
ReplyDeleteEven better than libraries are used book stores. I sweat that I could live in one.
So if you couldn't tell, I love books. = )
I love bookshops and I hate libraries. I hate being stared at by old women in tortoise shell glassses because I'm making too much noise turning over the pages.
ReplyDeleteHi Gleds ~~ Glad to see you looking up
ReplyDeletethings at the library and doing some research. I hope you can find what you are looking for. Thanks for your comments and
I am glad you got a laugh at the Bank
Robber joke. I am fine thank you, and I hope you are going OK also. Very Best Wishes, Merle.
Dear Gleds ~~ Yes - the Reason, Season and Lifetime was on my post and is the title of it. Maybe it didn't come through to you
ReplyDeleteI had 2 days last week when I couldn't open my own blog. Couldn't read blogs or comment, glad THAT is over Take care,
Regards, Merle.
Lucinda: I agree... but I wish I could find an old bookstore. There used to be loads of them... ones stocking books on all subjects e.g. if you wanted a 1930s dry-as-dust "grammar" on classical persian you could find one... yes there are some stalls selling paperback bestsellers and modern stuff... and there on Charing Cross road in central London there are still "antiquarian" booksellers... but so many of those want absolute top dollar for anything they know has any rarity value
ReplyDeleteaargh!!
Miss Understood: you're allowed to chat all you like: just NOT on a mobile phone. And what difference does THAT make? Nobody can tell...
Merle: (I never notice titles so THAT doesn't surprise me) but yes my glasses must have been mightily steamed up last night !!
Have you any idea what went wrong to stop you getting into your own blog? I have had similar problems using other people's computers... one in particular was just so slow it was impossible and every operation I tried to do just got gremlinified
I love the library too. We have actual policemen in ours but they stay up front.
ReplyDeleteThat is just g-ross!!!!! Ewww I realize the person probably couldn't help it but Geez!!!
I once spent hours upon hours exploring libraries. One of the reason I selected my undergraduate university was the size of its main library and collection of books and manuscripts. These days I spend my life in my own private library, surrounded by the 2000+ books I’ve amassed over the past 50 or so years. The only security guard I have here is my cat.
ReplyDeleteMonogram: Policemen in the library? Wow! Worst story I heard here was of library fines getting taken to a debt recovery "service" ~ surely not true!
ReplyDeleteAs for the pong: yeah that was epic!
Nick: did you know the local occult shop used to have crystal balls installed in the corners of their store with a large sign saying "shoplifters shall be cursed!"
I like the way the occult shop did that! Much more positive than hidden video cams to catch shop lifters.
ReplyDeleteok ok i admit that was a joke. but if I had run the local occult shop that's what I'd have done~!!
ReplyDeleteIf I ran an occult shop, I'd do it, too! After all, those who visit the shop probably believe in the power of those crystal balls!
ReplyDeleteThey believe in anything crystal that costs more than £9.99!!
ReplyDelete