Tuesday 29 December 2015

Glitter


I've just been leafing through our Christmas cards, and think that my favourite is the chintziest, depicting a badly drawn exterior scene including a church with warmly lit windows, a group of choir boys standing just outside a kissing-gate, a large decorated Christmas tree with men, women and children in hats and scarves approaching in the snow - the whole liberally sprinkled with glitter dust which sparkles alluringly.

Why does this one take the edge over all the others, the beautiful script of Jack@'s, the carefully chosen tasteful ones, the scenes of the Peak District covered in snow, the 400 year-old nativity scenes by old masters, etc? Because it throws me back to childhood. Dickens said that Christmas was the time when we could all be excused when we revert back to the delusions of childhood. The word 'delusions' is very apt right now, when we need this sort of escapism more than any other time in at least my memory.

I am still trying to work out who sent the Irish one headed, 'Greetings from Mountmellick'. Any ideas?

There used to be a shop here called 'The Fairy Shop', and it corresponded to my oldest grand-daughter's brief flirtation with everything pink. It was run by a very camp, very large, gay man, and I am not sure if he opened the shop for any reason other than he saw a gap in the market in which he could make quite a bit of money by supplying pre-pubescent girls with wands, wings, lacy little dresses and all the other requisites needed by female fairies. It didn't last long, but at least I bought something there.

I asked for a pair of wings and he asked how old the little girl was, so I told him. He went out the back and returned with a tiny little pair of butterfly ones, and I immediately said that they were far too small. My grand-daughter was extremely large for her age.

He came back with another set, and they too were too small. I asked him to bring the largest in stock, and he produced a giant pair which he insisted were far too big, but I said that they would be perfect. I really think that he suspected that I was buying them for myself, but didn't bother to correct him.

I paid for them and he put them in a large, pink carrier bag then before I could stop him, he dipped his hand into a bowl next to the till which I hadn't previously noticed, and  - with a theatrical flourish - chucked a great handful of glitter-dust over the whole lot before I could stop him.

For the next year or two, I kept seeing little bits of sparkle catching the light in various parts of the room where she first took the wings out of the bag.

28 comments:

  1. You are among the glitterati yourself now that you are receiving anonymous Christmas cards. Surely cheques from admirers will follow.

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    1. Set a precedent please, Mise. I need the money.

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  2. I fear that Christmas cards will soon be a thing of the past ....... I went through a stage where I would put stars and glitter in friend's Christmas and Birthday cards ..... I'm lucky that they are still my friends !!
    .... anything Dickensian says Christmas somehow !
    Maybe Heron sent you the card !!!!! XXXX

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    1. Yes, it could be Heron, but since I barred him and I don't look at my fake emails, I do not know. In any case, how would he have got my postal address? If you're reading this, Melvyn, then I will unblock you on the advice of wiser people than me.

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    2. I said the advice, not orders.

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  3. The Fairy shopkeeper wasn't called Gary, by any chance?

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    1. I restrained myself from this joke, but to no avail. I almost called it 'Up the Glitter'.

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  4. Later on Christmas morning after we had opened our small array of presents I noticed glitter all around us. I loved it more than anything we had unwrapped.

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    1. Even dogs and children ignore the glitter in favour of the paper and boxes. Life in Norfolk must be grimmer than I thought.

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  5. I remember that shop, I took my daughter there.

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  6. My granddaughters are much older than the tot you put in wings, and I still see the sparkle of glitter around the house. Right now there is one minute bit settled in the grout of the bathroom floor. The morning sunlight catches it.

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  7. I am a softie for glitter too Tom - love to see it - well - glittering in the firelight. Trouble is it is hard to hoover up and we will be seeing it on the carpet throughout the year I expect.

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    1. Yes, I reluctantly like the way I see a little sparkle on my cheek, 48 hours after I have kissed a young party-goer.

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  8. This may surprise you, me being an old poof and all, but I do not like glitter at all

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    1. No surprise to me at all. I never thought that old poofs liked glitter as much as me.

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  9. A few years ago I had a little bottle of glittery hand lotion. It was very subtle, so that no one was quite sure what to make of it. Had I been playing with glitter? And of course, if I touched my face, it too would sparkle. Fun!

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  10. I brought my daughters up to believe that there were fairies at the bottom of the garden. It was quite easy for my first one to believe, as our house then had an enchanted, over grown garden with a little grotto full of carvings. It took greater imagination for the other two, living in suburban Philadelphia with a driveway out the back. Still we managed. Occasionally, fairy dust would appear under their pillows. It looked rather like glitter.

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    1. Shawn ..... you have me a little confused. You say that you brought your daughters up to believe that there were fairies at the bottom of the garden but, as we all know, they DO live at the bottom of the garden !!!!! We are always finding trails of fairy glitter in our house and garden. I'm now a little worried that there is some doubt about their existance. XXXX

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    2. I share your confusion, Jacqueline. But there is probably some rational explanation. I will go back and reread Shawn's comment. Could she be employing irony, I wonder?

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    3. I think that must be it Mise ..... I can't think of any other explanation.
      Oh, and many happy returns of the day Mise.
      ... and can I take this opportunity to correct my spelling mistake in my previous comment ...... Existence !!!! XXXX

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    4. Yes Jackie, I was quite shocked.

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    5. I'm staying out of this. I have disabused too many children in the past already. Still, that's better than abusing them, eh?

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  11. My son-in-law made the mistake of telling us that he hates glitter, especially cards with it on. I love it however.

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    1. So I hope you punish him by sprinkling it everywhere as he deserves.

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