Sunday 12 February 2017

The benefit of foresight


An early photo of the shop floor of the Crockett and Jones shoe making factory in Northampton. C & J are indisputabley the best makers of hand-made shoes in England (forget Loake or Churches), and I'll fight anyone who says different. You may wince when you part with almost £500 for one pair of boots, but you will only wince once. Actually, there may be a little wince further down the line when you have to pay almost £200 to get them repaired. Repairing means rebuilding.

Changing the subject, have you read Thomas Mann's 'The Holy Sinner'? There are so many tragic events and unfortunate life-changing coincidences in the plot of this book that their accumulative effect is to make you (or me at least) laugh out loud. I won't spoil the main one by telling you about it, but it is amazing to what lengths schadenfreude can be taken to. 

When I first saw the film 'Pulp Fiction', it was very difficult to explain to others how or why  the whole cinema audience burst into spontaneous laughter when someone accidentally gets his brains blown out in the cramped confines of a moving car. You have to have seen it to find it funny. Same with The Holy Sinner.

In Pulp Fiction, the shooting event was sudden and unexpected, but in The Holy Sinner the innevitable tradgedy can be seen coming for miles, like a train on the horizon approaching a stationary one inexorably, watched by a group of helpless spectators.

I think this is what they mean when they say that God laughs at out plans.

15 comments:

  1. God has a billion galaxies to look after. But he still finds time to have a laugh with us now and then. There is no humour allowed in certain religions and not many jokes in their texts. God must find that amusing too.

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  2. You can still enjoy the ride though.

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    1. Even if you do have to get hosed down at the end of it.

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  3. Eight weeks to make a pair of C & J shoes: exclusive design and excellent leather, a well known brand for the soles - I think, and if one can afford them, they're truly worth the price.
    Greetings Maria x

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    1. The (composite) soles are the best I have ever come across. I am wearing a different pair of hand made boots right now (made for a clothes designer, probably in Northampton) and they have the same excellent soles.

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  4. Just had some sad news. H.I.'s sister died last night.

    She was a lot older than H.I. (86) and had Altzheimer's. She was a widow and being looked after at home by her son, so it coud have been much worse.

    Her last coherent words were, 'Jacqueline' (H.I.'s name) and '33'. Turns out that this was the bus they caught when Edwina escorted Jackie over town to somewhere.

    Sad, but 86 was not bad.

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  5. Oh Tom ..... I'm so sorry to hear your sad news .... sending H.I condolences and hope she's OK. Even when a relative or friend reaches a good age it doesn't make it any easier. Thinking of you all. XXXX

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  6. Edwina is a beautiful name. What a tangled web the brain is and how interesting (and beautiful for H.I.?) her last thoughts were. My condolences.

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  7. My condolences to Jacqueline and yourself.

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  8. Please add my condolences to the rest for Jacqueline and the family. How sweet that her last words were about her sister.

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  9. Please add my condolences also....Alzheimers is a cruel condition.

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  10. Dear Tom, I send my deep condolences to Jacqueline, yourself, and the rest of your loved ones.

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