Journal Entries
Dear Girl.
Posted Jan 12, 2004
Spent yesterday researching. Ha! Reading a rather entertaining book in bed with a box of turkish delight to hand.
Useful stuff too. The book is:
Thompson T. (Ed), Dear Girl, The Women's Press, London, 1987.
Subtitled, um, unfortunately 'The diaries and letters of two working women 1897 - 1917'. Nothing to do with that type of 'working' woman I'm afraid.
I've read most of the first half, which is Ruth's diaries and some letters particularly concentrating on the 1907 - 1910 stuff. Useful in a few ways. There have been some notable phrases that I hadn't considered using, some useful referances and a whole other view on the women's movement.
Notes.
Ruth: 'I am looking forward to it with some dread.' Interesting language shift there I think. Today I think most people would be slightly surprised or confused by that usage. 'Looking forward to' being an exclusively positive phrase. Putting 'with some dread' or another tag on the end makes it interestingly 'period'.
Ruth always calls work 'business'. Has strongly euphemistic and prim overtones. Don't think I shall be duplicating that with A. for one thing it would sould deeply suspicious and strange to a modern reader. But the type of language use that it is I might reproduce in some way. Not sure how yet.
'Grandma has turned all queer again.' Statements like that - using the old meanings of gay and queer were rather common. I just can't bring myself to use them though. A is rather imbued with me and I can't divorce them from their modern meanings so I can't have her say them with a straight face, especially considering the character's sexuality. Pity.
Ruth tends to seriously overuse inverted commas, so does Eva. Don't know if that is perculiar to them, to London or to the time. Anyway I don't really like it so I think I will ignore it!
Ruth quotes speech quite naturally and convincingly so that helps tip the 'speech in diaries' debate the way I want it to go!
'cried myself sily' - nice to know that this phrase was being used in 1908.
Bycycle riding refered to as 'scorching' (Bill Bryson comments on 'scorching as 'energetic' bycycling in made in America.)
Ruth says: 'Have you been out 'scorching' again lately? At last I have mastered my cycle - I can now get on it, ride, and get off alone! On Saturday I went to the library on it, but I generally dismount whenever I see a large cart or small hill - my courage not beiing equal to either'
July of 1908 was rather damp and December had 'the worst snow for 28 years'
Should research 'The Woman Worker'
Isadora Duncan danced at the Duke of York's Theatre on Saturday 11 July 1908. Useful description too. I have A and her father going up to 'town' to visit with the dragon lady. I did mention that they go to the theatre this might be a better reference if I can rearrange the dates to make it fit. What would A make of Isadora's dancing?
Eva was making 26/- per week. I'm sure there were other financial comments. Can't find them now. Will look later.
I'll carry on with this in a bit. Have to make dinner. Oh apologies to anyone who is unfortunate enough to have me on their friends list. Didn't I mention that I have to keep a writer's journal for the writing course?
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Latest reply: Jan 12, 2004
Here comes the sun.
Posted Jan 9, 2004
Do try this at home.
Normally I would not reccomend cds over vinyl. In fact I would sooner poke out my eyes with pinecones. But for this experiment I'm afraid you must have a cd player and a copy of Abbey Road on CD.
Place the cd of Abbey Road into the cd player.
Turn the volume up. I don't mean I can hear it and the neighbours can hear it up either. What you should be aiming for is levels of volume almost certainly damaging to your hearing.
Tell your cd player to start playing track 6.
Listen. Listen with your whole being. Stand or sit it's up to you but close your eyes. Turn the lights off even. And listen.
The white noise of 'I want you (she's so heavy)' should be melting your brain and making you vibrate by now. Then into silence and out the other side. You should be hearing the greatest pulsing gasp for air silence that the human body can tolerate.
Into this moment filled with the resounding abcence of sound the sun rises. Those first few notes have the purity of a benediction. If your soul doesn't weep you haven't got one.
Now try it on a bus over headphones. I dare you.
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Latest reply: Jan 9, 2004
Ho bloody ho
Posted Dec 16, 2003
Work are ar**ing us about. We offered to work the bank holidays and have other days off instead. So they put us down for the bank holidays and didn't give us any days off. I am not working 23rd to 28th without a day off. 
Also our cooker is broken. It won't stop heating up. Yesterday, in only half an hour from first turning it on, it got so hot it warped a baking sheet (food burned to a crisp as well).
Well Christmas should be everything I imagined. Working every day and no hot food.
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Latest reply: Dec 16, 2003
romantic sole
Posted Dec 1, 2003
'Love letters: it ought to be possible to draw them, paint them, shout them.'
to the next five years 
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: Dec 1, 2003
impressions of the day.
Posted Nov 12, 2003
1) On a small tarnished plaque abandoned on a cash machine:
Patch
1975 - 1993
2) A field looking very autumnal. A small pile of spilled earth and a little distance away an empty wheelbarrow on its side.
3) An old fashioned brick bus stop. Two girls, around thirteen or fourteen laying on their stomachs on the roof, hanging over the front edge a little, looking down at the street, kicking their legs. They looked very happy.
4) last night, talking in bed with G. She told me about Ham manor. It was gutted by fire in the 40s. Turned into a caravan park, old people live there in static caravans now. As a child she would go walking there with her grandmother. There is a coy pond. Surrounded by old brick arches and stone benches. As a child there were fish in the pond. She's been back since and there aren't any anymore.
I have a solid plot for the last one, it got into my head when she told me about it and I mulled it over as I was going to sleep and then woke up this morning still thinking about it. It's a great set for a short story and I think the ideas I've got to go with it will work very well. Now I'm going to have a brain itch about it till it gets written.
1-3 are things I noticed on the way into work today. Don't know if I'll do anything with them but I found them interesting and wanted to record them.
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Latest reply: Nov 12, 2003
nadia
Researcher U226818
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