Brown, James, doing the splits (and anyone else)
Brown, James, doing the splits (and anyone else)
An index of modern delights
Welcome to the sixth issue of the Lists of Note newsletter: each Sunday, a new (old) list. And should that not be enough for you, become a paid subscriber and I’ll send you a couple more each month.
In 2009, Modern Delight was published: a heartening collection of essays in which various people described the things in their lives that cause them delight. Inspired by Delight, a 1949 book by J. B. Priestley in which he did the same—but all on his own—this homage featured contributions from the likes of Michael Palin (he chose his grandson), Sue Townsend (she chose, amongst other things, ‘sitting down to dinner with slightly drunken friends’), Nick Hornby (he chose Bexhill-on-Sea, his holiday destination of choice), and dozens of others. It’s a lovely, refreshingly positive book. My favourite part, however, is its index, compiled by Charles Boyle and reprinted below, which serves as an instantly uplifting list of reminders of life’s many, uhh, delights. Enjoy.
INDEX
air-writing, 110-12
alcohol, 28, 102-3; see also beer at noon; vinho verde; vodka and
tonic; whisky
bass guitar, 51-2
beekeeping, 37-8
beer at noon, 14-15
Bexhill-on-Sea, 77-8
birdsong in a wood, 169
blossom, 113
blues music, 51-2
books, 151, 163; see also second-hand bookshops
Bond, James, 39, 45, 122
boxing, 152
Brown, James, doing the splits (and anyone else), 113
bulbs poking up, 5
cabinet-making, 95
cartoons, 171-3
cats, 167-8
Chambers English dictionary, 135-6
Chanel suit, 169
charity shops, 93-4
Chelsea Bridge pie stall, 113
chickens, 161-2; see also ducklings
children, 12-13, 55-6, 79, 98, 124-5; see also grandchildren
Citizen Kane, 170
colours, 102
conversation, ISI
countryside, 35, 104; see also frost
craftsmanship, 95-6
cycling downhill, 33-4
dancing, 79-80, 98
day of delights, 104
day of undelight, 165
days to oneself, 50, 165-6
deaths of near-contemporaries, 31-2
defying expectations, 177
dinner parties, 132-3, 169
dissent, 164
dogs, 81-3, 106-7; see also drying a wet dog; walking the dog
dreaming, 59-60
drying a wet dog, 68-9
ducklings, 63-4
errata, 142-3
escape from routine, 67-8
fishing, 154-5
food, 5, 18; see also dinner parties, Indian curries, roast potatoes,
toast
footballers, various, 113
French films, 65-6
frogspawn, 120-1
frost, 16-17
gardening, 3-4, 152
gentlemen’s clubs, 144-5
ghosts of oneself, 73-4
Girls Aloud, 47-8
Goldfinger, 39-40
grandchildren, 116-17, 169
guitars, 51, 137-9
Hammershøi, Vilhelm, 61, 113
Hampstead Heath, 25
hand-feeding giraffes, 169
handwritten letters, 169
Hopkins, Gerard Manley, 75
hotel soaps, 152
hunger defeated, s
indexes, 185-6
Indian curries, 114-15
lamp-lit, tree-lined squares, 113
leaving the cinema, 134
London parks, 53-4; see also Hampstead Heath
memories, 18, 27, 65, 73, 163
Michelle Obama high-fiving a North London schoolgirl, 113
modest renunciation, 103
Modesty Blaise, 122-3
motorbikes, 20-1
motorway service stations, 7-8
mowing the lawn, 140-1
music: John Adams, 169; Bach, 100, 170; Chopin, 4; Leonard
Cohen, 170; Bob Dylan, 100; Mozart, 104; Rachmaninov, 4;
Stevie Wonder, 113; see also blues music, piano sonatina
opening a horse chestnut, 169
outdated restaurant guides, 149
overheard conversations, 185
overnight snow, 169
Paris, 18-19
peeling chickpeas, 174-5
pencils: 4B, 100; Lakeland, 169
piano sonatina, 12-13
pied wagtails, 41-2
piercing coffee-jar membranes, 75-6
polishing cutlery, s
prescription shades, 113
Priestley, J. B., 134, 146-8
Private Eye, 142, 170
quietness, 49
rain, 113
reading, 99
red toenails, 126-7
regional accents, 128-9
re-reading, 122, 169
roast potatoes (the last one), 158-9
rolling down a hill in spring, 86-7
running, 90-2
running out of cigarettes and finding a forgotten packet, 169
second-hand bookshops, 84
self-control, 102-3
shopping, 25-6; see also charity shops, second-hand bookshops
slapstick, 29
snails, 100-1, 117
splashing in puddles, 79, 169
sudoku, 43-4
sun, shade and memory, 27-8
Sunday mornings at home, 118-19
sunlight through leaves, 186
taking off and landing, 169
things going right, 156-7
Thurber, James, 171
toast, 9-10
Tobago, 169
touch, 135-6
toying with telephone salespersons, 70-2
train journeys, 61-2, 113
Twitter, 88-9
unwrapping a Kit Kat, 169
vinho verde, 169
vodka and tonic, 45-6
waiting for an Americano, 113
walking barefoot on an oriental carpet, 169
walking the dog, 108-9
walking, talking, smiling, laughing, 55-6
watching children dance, 79-80
watching clouds, 169
watching footage of Aneurin Bevan, 169
watching the street, 113
Waterloo Bridge after opening night, 113
wearing red, 126
weeds, 100
well-being, 27
Westerns (films), 130-1
whisky, 5
Wodehouse, P. G., 58
woman without handbag, 113
Zip firelighters, 169
Zoos, 22-3