Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Survivors

The back is less stiff and there is a greater range of movement in the neck and right arm but there is still work to be done, and I still need to limit computer time. Working on muscle trigger points - as many as I can locate. Still having physio. Going forward I've been advised build up some supportive muscle, so I wander over to the local authority gym. At 5.30pm it is packed. People pounding the running machines. Serious. No smiles. Hmm.

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I work in the old part of the city. Walking distance from the cathedral and its green. Walking distance from pretty much everything: the bookshop, the library, M&S, the bank, Boots, the chiropractor and the gym.




A local architectural salvage firm had a temporary display in the tourist office just beyond the cathedral green. A favourite lunchtime haunt of mine for the duration, situated as it was en route to the Best Sandwich Shop in Town. A mishmash of rescued objects: statuery; horse brasses; coloured pharmacy bottles, dark green and brown, thick, uneven glass; small carved cows; steam engine plates; even a green man or two. I yearned after some of them. The cherub, or is it a satyr? - check out that unnervingly louche expression - with his shield and whatever it is he is holding in his left hand. The LNER plate. The antique tiles.

Part of the pleasure lay in the incongruity. A motley bunch. All survivors of small cataclysms of refurb and rebuild.

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The rust-speckled white angel and his close companion were particular favourites. Better if you enlarge the photo and I couldn't get rid of the reflection from the street. But still, there's something about that face, blank and watchful, the protective curve of the arms. Those wings. Kitsch perhaps, sentimental possibly, but that's too harsh. I find it lovely.

Maybe an angel should only be seen half hidden among the reflections of the physical world. So you are never quite sure if he is actually present or simply a trick of the light.

14 comments:

Zhoen said...

I think you have caught that very interesting thing about angels.

Keep feeling better, it's much the same allure for writers.

Bunty's Mum said...

Oh YES!
I may have to nip over and buy that angel. I could do with one or two around.

Dale said...

What a wonderful post!

My hands are itching to work on your trigger points :-)

& I too love the angel, through a glass darkly --

Sky said...

the shop sounds like just the place i would enjoy being lost in for a while. so much fun discovering little treasures.

glad you are better and hope the progress continues. glad you are limiting the computer work. i must do the same thing for similar reasons.

leslee said...

Glad to hear you're doing better. I'm sure regular walking beats the running machines. Although some weight training is probably good - my physical therapist showed me some strengthening exercises to do with very light freeweights. Alas, I usually feel too tired at night to do them. Should probably try morning...

Love the protective angel - and you are right about the ghostly quality of maybe he's there. Maybe like the angels in Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders movie).

herhimnbryn said...

Glad you are almost there with the feeling better.
That is a wonderful display of salvage items. What you write about angels reminds me of' Miss Garnet's Angel', have you read it? I think you would like it, if you don't already.

mm said...

Thanks all!

Zhoen: It strikes me quite a few people have intuitions about angels.

Bunty's Mum: Alas, the display has been taken down.

Dale: Sigh. If only Portland were nearer. ....

Sky: So hard, limiting the computer. Necessary though.

Leslee: I may be converted to resistance training as my upper back is weak. So I've started using the weights for the upper back and shoulders. Loved Wings of Desire - the original, not the remake.

HHB: Miss Garnet's Angel is sitting in my bookcase. Maybe it needs a re-read.

Dick said...

My kind of shop. I'd have given a bob or two for that LNER loco plate.

den said...

(0)

mm said...

Dick: Had a feeling the loco plate would appeal.

Den: Thank you.

20th Century Woman said...

Yes, angels and all other imaginary creatures should lurk. They should be about to arrive, or have just left. I wish that pretend world were true. Well, maybe it is.

mm said...

Welcome and thanks for the comment. Who knows?

Avus said...

All the better for being in black and white. The window reflection adds a perfect touch of the ethereal, veil-like quality. (Is that ectoplasm coming from the be-hugged one's nose?)
I once attended a course involving hypnotism and creative visualisation which included the concept of one's personal "guardian angel". Not really believable, I fear, but it left a deep and comfortable impression (even after all these years). So I guess it had the intended effect.
Still a fan of creative visualisation, though. Shakti Gawain's book on the subject is interesting reading.

mm said...

Thanks Avus. The ectoplasm is the reflection of a double yellow line. Heh!

I am a believer. Kind of.