Thursday 29 September 2016

Runfold Palace and the Towers of Jocasta


This title was inspired by The Forests of Was, as imagined by a fellow blogger's spelling correction  - or lack of. It puts me in mind of Doctor Who and the Thyme Lawns. Old-timers here will remember that it is actually a misreading of some house signs spotted by me from a passing bus near Farnham, almost 50 years ago.

The signs actually read, 'Runfold Place', 'The Towers', and 'Jocasta', but we did not know this until an expedition party had been sent out to explore the exotic location.

I had been in a dream when flying past on the bus, and this was an everyday occurrence when I was young. Sometimes I would in such a deep one, that I would watch the bus pull up, other people get on, then watch it pull away again before realising that I should have got on it as well.

If you look at my avatar here (it is a cropped photo of me when I was five years old) you will actually see the propensity to dream in my eyes. I was a dreamy kid.

These days I do most of my dreaming at home. It's safer. Our home does not have a name which will give you an idea of what we aspire to dream about. It is a number against a street name.

How many 'Dunroamin's are there in the leafy suburbs of G.B.? How many 'Lindisfarne's? How many 'Shangi-La's?

I thought that 'Jocasta' was a game played with a rubber ball which is tethered to a wooden block - in fact I know it is. I stopped myself from buying an old set for sentimental reasons the other day.

So I sit here at home, dreaming, whilst I wait for a delivery of specialised adhesive to arrive from Germany which will send me back out into the harsh, real world again.

You have to remember that cooking has become a chore for me, so I find no escape in recipes. I must try to change my attitude - take pleasure in the small, day to day things. I must grow older if I find the time.

23 comments:

  1. Our house is called ' The Laurels ' { there are two Laurel bushes in the front garden }. next door is ' The Briars ' { lots of roses in their front garden } and there was another one the other side of us called ' The Ivies ' but that was knocked down before we moved here 30 years ago. I don't really know why I'm telling you this !!
    What are you dreaming about while you wait for your delivery Tom ? XXXX

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  2. I guessed that was you but had no idea if was called an Avatar. Isn't blogging wonderful - you learn something new every day. Incidentally, as regards cooking - take a leaf out of Cro's book; he seems to be able to rustle up delicious looking meals in next to no time.

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  3. PS We once lived next door to a house called 'Emoclew' (welcome backwards if you haven't got it).

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  4. Perhaps that was how they spelt their surname. ffockuf sounds ffrightfully posh!

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  5. Two French favourites. 'Mon Rêve' and 'Jamais fini'.

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  6. That isn't done much these days in the US, but I went down a country road once and saw a sign at the gate - El Rancho Starvo. It made me laugh.

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    1. We have some one acre smallholdings here called, 'The Ponderosa'.

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  7. Tom, google has informed me that today is Ladislao Jose Biro's birthday. There is a cute little animation on the home page. When I saw this I thought you might also wish to see it.

    Best wishes.

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    1. Yes, I could not help but see it. I thought about alerting Rachel - the Biro is her favourite pen - but then I thought she must have seen it as well. It is one of the few moving graphics from Google which I do not find annoying.

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    2. I am currently too pissed to nitcice anything and even to work out the fucking time on your comment but I have just used the biro to draw on my entire arm and Peter said "are you going to work like that?" and went for his bath. I dont give a fuck about anything rtonight

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    3. I find it difficult to nitcice anything rtonight as well.

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    4. You had a bit of fun without me last night, then.

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