What it Says on the Tin
Here’s Mark Twain’s account of Tom Sawyer and the fence:
Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He surveyed the fence and all gladness left him, a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit. Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high. Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden. Sighing, he dipped his brush and passed it along the topmost plank; repeated the operation; did again; compared the insignificant whitewashed streak with the far-reaching continent of unwhitewashed fence, and sat down on a tree-box discouraged.
It’s a while since I read Tom Sawyer but this reminds me of what an excellent writer Mark Twain was – Huckleberry Finn is a fine novel too, which well deserves its status as a classic.
Our Tom Sawyer was a willing volunteer in the form of Gareth. With a cheery smile he went off to Bodge it Quick and chose a subtle shade with the peaceful name of Autumn Gold, very appropriate for the weather.
He opened the tin and reeled back in surprise, as did most of the population of North Leeds. Autumn Gold was in fact VERY BRIGHT ORANGE of a shade more often seen in advertising for mobile phones and cut-price airlines. “Okay, Stelios, I’ve finished this plane and we’ve got a couple of cans of paint left over. Let’s flog it to Bodge it Quick.”
Gareth was a bit concerned. “Daphne, look, it’s Fluorescent Orange.”
“Never mind, slap it on, it’ll fade in time.”
As Gareth painted the fence, the bits that were done looked, well, bright, in comparison to the bits that hadn’t been done.
Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He surveyed the fence and all gladness left him, a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit. Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high. Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden. Sighing, he dipped his brush and passed it along the topmost plank; repeated the operation; did again; compared the insignificant whitewashed streak with the far-reaching continent of unwhitewashed fence, and sat down on a tree-box discouraged.
It’s a while since I read Tom Sawyer but this reminds me of what an excellent writer Mark Twain was – Huckleberry Finn is a fine novel too, which well deserves its status as a classic.
Our Tom Sawyer was a willing volunteer in the form of Gareth. With a cheery smile he went off to Bodge it Quick and chose a subtle shade with the peaceful name of Autumn Gold, very appropriate for the weather.
He opened the tin and reeled back in surprise, as did most of the population of North Leeds. Autumn Gold was in fact VERY BRIGHT ORANGE of a shade more often seen in advertising for mobile phones and cut-price airlines. “Okay, Stelios, I’ve finished this plane and we’ve got a couple of cans of paint left over. Let’s flog it to Bodge it Quick.”
Gareth was a bit concerned. “Daphne, look, it’s Fluorescent Orange.”
“Never mind, slap it on, it’ll fade in time.”
As Gareth painted the fence, the bits that were done looked, well, bright, in comparison to the bits that hadn’t been done.
But, strangely, when the whole length was done it didn’t look quite so bright, your eyes kind of got used to it, as long as you kept the dark glasses on and only looked at it at night.
He’s done all the outside now and only has the inside to do. I’m really rather getting to like it. And if you come to Leeds, our house is very easy to find.
posted by Daphne at 7:13 pm
1 Comments:
And sure enough as I rumbled along Lidgett Lane on the bus, from a hard day at University (running up and down stairs trying to take the right bit of paper to the right person in the wrong room at a time somewhere between their cigarette break and the time they go home) I peer through the condensation and graffiti on the window the flourecent orange glow of the fence pierces the back of my eyes and I knew that I was home.
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