Monday, February 6, 2012

WHAT THE DICKENS

Source: Google Images
"Barkis is Willin'"

"Please Sir, I want some more"

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery."

Today is Charles Dickens' 200th Birthday,
and the above quotes are regularly tossed about between the Red Cardinals to amuse ourselves.


Our front door knocker is Marley's Ghost (A Christmas Carol)
We found it at the Dickens House Museum in London in 2004.
The museum is located in his former London home:


 

Something of a Dickens Tragic,
 I was thrilled to be asked to assist in the weekly winding of Dickens old Grandfather clock:



This is moi, actually touching a key
that was touched by the great man himself!



A pretty mug was bought at the gift shop,
picturing young David Copperfield when he meets his
Aunt Betsy Trotwood
in Dover, having walked all the way from London.



Dickens' garden, tucked into a tiny space at the back of the London home.
Did he plant that pink rose? or the ivy on the wall?


Happy Birthday Mr Dickens,
and thank you for the hours of happy reading,
the quotable quotes, the weird and eccentric characters,
and the commentaries on the human condition,
you so generously left to us all!

4 comments:

  1. How exciting to have actually wound CD's clock! I love Dickens too, even the stupid names and bizarre plot coincidences that seem to annoy everyone else LOL! I think I like Little Dorrit and A Tale of Two Cities best of all - the goodness of the characters in a wicked world knocks you sideways! Happy reading! xxx

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    1. Bring on the stupid names and bizarre coincidences - they are what make the fun! Glad you enjoy them too! xx

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  2. I love that stepping back in time feeling while visiting historical homes etc. The door knocker is brilliant Patricia!
    xx

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    1. Glad you like the door knocker, Annie! We think it is great fun and pretty unique for Brisbane. Stepping back in time is great - I think that is part of loving antiques, too. xx

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