Monday, 23 November 2009

Bottom Drawer

Guildford high street was teeming over the week-end with every kind of Surrey resident and soon-to-be Christmas shopper. Molton Brown, River Island, Whistles of London, Jack Wills, Laura Ashley, Crew Clothing and Jaeger line the bustiling, cobbled street spilling over with both quiet and clip-clopping feet.
I can recognise a Boden outfit from a mile off and pick up the scent of Chanel Coco Mademoiselle - my absolute favourite - from any passer-by and at the speed of lightening.
This is life in Surrey, you see, don't you see?
The elevated high street lends itself to the most panoramic and picturesque views which are best seen from the top point of the high street and looking in reverse.

Beyond the High Street, what do you keep in your bottom drawer?
I used to keep a so called 'marriage chest' which I eventually emptied out and then I kept a deep drawer full of old manuscripts which I also threw out. I have read of authors who keep a secret manuscript in safe bottom-drawer storage which is too scandalous to let out. Today, I keep nothing in a bottom drawer, apart from sacred old sentimental items, in a trunk, from childhood and other. In a different kind of bottom drawer, kind of like a bottom-drawer-thought, I have some things... like re-invention for 2010. Not Bridget Jones style, oh no, this is more like sophistication, domestication, genuine writer and musician. It's all about becoming that thing and becoming the Dream. Instead of dreaming, you see, it's actually living it.
As in one of the books I really enjoyed, Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy, after a long, arduous journey he does reach his goal and fulfil his desire, in the end. And so it must be for all of us.

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