No, not money, I was kidding about eating cardboard. Just a reminder that if you go to the main cabinet site and click on the 'Museum Donations' bit at the bottom on the left hand side, it allows you to send in forgotten magical objects. The rules are they have to have been mentioned in a classic children's fantasy, and the object has to still be in existence at the end of the book (so no One RIngs, although a Narnian Silver Chairleg would be acceptable). Oddly enough the more mundane objects have a better chance of going in, as it's easier to put them in the narrative without disturbing the flow. Otherwise the book becomes a list o'lists, and it's quite dull to read.
Best ones so far have been the scorched blanket in which the Phoenix from Nesbitt's "The Phoenix and the Carpet" was wrapped*, and the Breakfast Bush* from one of the Oz books. It's handy if you can tell me exactly which book it came from (I should have put a page number thing in as well), but a series title will do just as well. I shouldn't be making you do all the work for me.
Can't guarantee these'll make it into the book, but I'll be updating the site at some point (with Matt standing over me, saying 'oh my god, what are you doing!, quite possibly), and I'll try and put as many new objects in as I can.
I'm just over a third of the way through now, so it's going to plan. Rosa just met the fabulous Witch Distraction Unit, and I've shifted the giant caterpillar bit to much further on in the book, so she's going to have to meet it all over again, which seems slightly unfair. Also I got an Asterix reference in, which I was pleased about. And next time I'm staying at PP's in Canterbury I may have to spend a day going through all his Tintin books, as I'd really like the Castafiore Diamond**** to make an appearance at some point.***
*Donated bySteve Dix
**Donated by Ursulaamy
*** Oh my god, I'm thirty two.
**** Emerald.
UPDATE:
Just wandered out to a very pleasant outdoor cafe in Falmouth, where I had a cooked breakfast, then sipped coffee while making notes on the Cabinet, occasionally staring out to sea in a thoughtful sort way before making more notes. This carried on for some time, until eventually I was shat on by a seagull, which serves me right.
15 comments:
Damn unemployed seagull! Why wasn't it at work out at sea where it belongs?
Now there's a challenge. Where to start?
Happy inverted birthday (belatedly)! Frankly from where I'm standing, 32 is on the upper slopes of the Elysian fields (if indeed they have slopes. I'll stop now)
Well, my birthday was in April, but every know and then the thirty-twoness of my existence is brought home to me. When I'm mucking about with stuffed toys and kids books for example.. Ah well.
I quite like being thirty two though. It's a nice age.
Ah, 'middle youth'. Isn't it great? I'm a little bit worried about where it ends, though, as my 35th birthday is rushing towards me a bit too fast for my liking.
YAAAYY!! It made it!!
Any Moomin stuff in there yet?
You betcha. Two items of Moominian origin thus far.
Seagulls, right, seagulls have a sense of comic timing to rival Ronnie Barker (says the woman who was shat upon by one once, just as she walked into a posh restaurant in Scotland).
32 is almost comforting, as age goes. I shall miss it. Do as-yet-childless people of our age start to think "Bring on the kiddies so I can carry on playing with toys with impunity!" Or does the lack of little ones not cause that kind of guilt? I used not to care, but maybe that old bio-clock is beginning to tick now. Bah.
Having kids so you can play with toys is over-rated. They won't share the good ones!!!!
Ah yes, the famous St. Ives seagulls. Normally they poo on your head and take the pasty right out of your hand (Patrick, the GW assistant producer still seems to have nightmares about an incident of this kind).
I'm convinced it's only a matter of time before a St. Ives seagull carries away a small child. Or a couple of old ladies taking tea at the Tate's rooftop cafe...
i have thus far managed to avoid seagulls. quite surprising really, as i live in Portsmouth and seagulls outnumber the more common types of vermin like pigeons and mice.
i do feel the need to point out that it is actually the Castafiore Emerald but part of me suspects that you knew that anyway and were attempting to hide your fan-boy knowledge of Tin-tin.
my excuse is im still only 18 and i dont think geekyness is anything to be ashamed of anyway...
[wanders off to play with some Bucky O'Hare action figures]
Ah, you gave me way too much credit there. Duly amended, ta.
Yes.
Totkat: speaking as a child-free 33-year-old, isn't that what your friends' kids are for? With a bit of timing you can even buy toys for them that you would secretly quite like for yourself and then go round and play with your own present.
I've heard it said that 50 is the new 30. If this is true and, as one who is approaching 42 rather than 32, I see no reason to doubt it, then you are about 12 James and therefore the perfect age for many of your leisure pursuits (webcomics, WoW etc). What's more you're positively precocious in other respects - I hadn't written ANY T.V comedy when I was 12! (Mind you, it was still a fairly recent invention back then!)
pashmina: my friends are all younger than me, mostly male and/or don't want to have children (yet). I don't know anyone who has any children (oh woe is me!). Of course, I blame my parents for not having any more kids. Dammit. At least I could have nieces and nephews or something. *mutter*
Me, I'll stick to Dark Age of Camelot (WoW is too easy ;o)) for now.
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