Small things make such a difference to our lives. A while ago I made a promise to myself that I would write more, just for the sake of writing. It’s something I enjoy and it feeds my soul. Life gets in the way, and when time is short the promises we break are the ones we make to ourselves.
I look at the ‘To Do’ list every morning and think to myself ‘I’ll write later, I’ve got to get this lot done first’. Somehow I never get round to the fun writing, the writing that matters. A small thing has changed that.
Some of my friends laugh at me – I’m a geek, I work on the internet, one dear friend is convinced I’m chipped! They laugh because next to the keyring full of flash drives on my desk is a fountain pen, a pile of neatly sharpened pencils and a Moleskine Notebook.
The other day my daughter and I went off to a Car Boot Sale where I purchased an old pencil box which I’d seen a couple of weeks before. It was still there waiting for me, and more reasonably priced this time. It’s a very old fashioned, slide topped box with layers that swivel apart, just the sort I longed for when I was at school but was never allowed to have one that is quite so posh as this. It even has a layered top with blackboard paper for notes. It’s well used and battered (more so since I dropped it, but my dearly beloved fixed it), it’s ink stained and grubby, but I love it. My pencils and my pen are neatly placed inside, some leads for my propelling pencil and even the odd Post-It tab will fit in too.
I have my tools about me, the addition of a simple, tatty box has made them matter again. I am writing things like this just for the joy of it, for the feel of pencil on paper giving thoughts a physical presence. I am happy.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
As an Australian buddy of ours would say, “Good On Ya, mate!”
Whatever it is causing the insatiable need to write every day, I hope we never have to live without it. It’s interesting how something as simple as an old pencil box can fire up those urges in us.
I do envy you being able to write longhand. That ability left me when the arthritis moved in.
It’s also fascinating to read your writing. As someone who has spent their entire life in the USA, learning the terminologies from your country is wonderfully interesting. For example, I know what a “car boot” is — it’s the trunk of the car, right? Visualizing a “sale” from a “car boot” makes me chuckle.
Here we have garage sales — where we take the car out of the garage and park it elsewhere while we fill the entire garage and the driveway, plus the lawn, with all the items in our life that are no longer of any use.
Please keep writing. I look forward to seeing your posts.
Peace ….
Hi
And FYI in France they are called Vide-Greniers ie empty-your-loft
Dave