Yes, my first post on this 'ere blog was way back in November 2008 - a very different world in many ways. To celebrate this auspicious anniversary ( who am I kidding? ), I'm reproducing that original, pulse-pounding post below - with added comment from 2012 from my good friend and fellow blogger Tom Wiggins.
Also, for your delectation and delight, please enjoy these photos of some actual glass walking-sticks, snapped ( the photos, not the sticks ) in antique shops in Gloucester and Scarborough. I'm really spoiling you, Dear Reader, aren't I?
OK, first ever blog. Breathe deeply, focus etc. So, why The Glass Walking-Stick? ( Why the long face? ) I got the title from a collection of essays by G.K. Chesterton, that sadly-neglected ex-titan of English literature. A crusty old bugger who could, and did, write wittily and deeply on any subject under the sun, G.K. is responsible for one of my favourite novels, The Man Who Was Thursday. He rocks! Well, he did: he died in 1936.
In one of these essays, Chesterton bashes the rich for their snobbish attitudes and defends the poor: "The cultivated people go in for what is beautiful; but the un-cultivated for what is interesting.....One man had a walking-stick made of glass and filled with sweets. If there were children in the house, the preservation of that glass stick has something of the insane sublimity of a religion." It wouldn't last long in our house anyway.
Glass walking-stick equals something interesting but bonkers? pointless? fun? It could be a metaphor for blogging or I could be talking out of my a***e. ( That's a** if you're American. )
Anyway, the plan is to witter on about any old random rubbish, whenever I can get my act together. As you can see above. Endblog 1.
Soundtrack: Born In The USA, Bruce Springsteen. Go Obama!
In one of these essays, Chesterton bashes the rich for their snobbish attitudes and defends the poor: "The cultivated people go in for what is beautiful; but the un-cultivated for what is interesting.....One man had a walking-stick made of glass and filled with sweets. If there were children in the house, the preservation of that glass stick has something of the insane sublimity of a religion." It wouldn't last long in our house anyway.
Glass walking-stick equals something interesting but bonkers? pointless? fun? It could be a metaphor for blogging or I could be talking out of my a***e. ( That's a** if you're American. )
Anyway, the plan is to witter on about any old random rubbish, whenever I can get my act together. As you can see above. Endblog 1.
Soundtrack: Born In The USA, Bruce Springsteen. Go Obama!
1 comment:
After you posted news of your 200,000 views milestone, I thought I'd visit your very first post. I only started blogging in 2011, but have kept an online journal since 2003. You did once tell me the origin of "The Glass Walking-Stick", but had forgotten it. I will have to look this writer up!
May 2013 be a prosperous year of blogging for the both of us!