Tuesday 2 February 2010

Leaning Out Of Heaven with A Telescope

Today's post is dedicated to Amy and Alexa who wondered (after Sunday) how I kept an eye on the oven from high in the sky. An excellent question. I have to say that, in truth, the only way to do this is to delegate. I have to hang over the bannisters and shout "I need a volunteer to keep an eye on the oven." It's been known to work. Every time I look down I'm reminded of a wonderful phrase from this book


in which Captain Kewley imagines his great-grandfather "leaning out of heaven with a telescope." I love the notion of that. It's a retirement activity tailor-made for my late, great Father-In-Law, The Dean, I always think.

I thought you might like to see what I see when I lean out of my heaven. So, if I call and The Tall One, say, decides to listen, he comes out of the kitchen, down the hall:


and up the first flight. On the landing he might very well pass a pile of boxes:


because when The Accountant isn't rocking a calculator he likes to build flat packs. Up the next set of stairs and The Tall One might stop off in his room to pick up his ipod; and the view on the way back out looks like this:


I keep meaning to buy a "Keep Calm And Carry On" poster for this point. It would be perfect. Up the final flight and as he reaches the top he stops for breath beside my old poster which I liberated from the wall of the Students Union many, many years ago:


Through the door and here we are. High In the Sky. The cropped-to-hide-the-mess version. The Lloyd Cole poster used to hang in exactly the same place above my desk in the Student Halls of residence when I was 19. It's the first present The Accountant ever bought me; and when we moved here he had it framed as a surprise. What do you think?  I'm sure Lloyd is always worth the climb. But I think I'm the only one.



14 comments:

humel said...

How lovely to see your beautifully cropped home :-) For a moment I thought you were going to tell us you kept an eye on the oven through a telescope! x

Maria Ontiveros said...

Love the Commotions poster and the peek inside your home!
TFS,
Rinda

Ruth said...

Great to have a brief tour of your home. I love the fact that The New Lewies had a new 'cassette' out soon ~ all that hiss and long gaps between tracks!!

Ann said...

I live in a Town House with four flights of stairs. If I leaned over the bannister and shouted downstairs no-one would reply. There's only my husband and me left in the house...and he's deaf!
So, enjoy that you get a response to your call ;)
Lovely to see your house too.

Deb @ PaperTurtle said...

Thanks for the tour, Sian. That was fun! :o)

Amanda said...

Thanks for the tour - I love your style. Ah, Lost Weekend sprung to mind I'm humming it now very badly:)I've been recently admiring the Keep Calm and Carry On mugs too.

debs14 said...

Great tour of the house, I'm sure if I shouted down all those flights of stairs everyone would have selective hearing and ignore me!

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful phrase! Yep, it and a Dean would go well together! Privileged to see your lovely home - you have great style, Sian! I am intrigued by the The Tall One's Tall Object by his door - is it a lamp? A boxing ball? Something else? Thank-you for another great post. x alexa

scrappyjacky said...

When we lived in a tall Victorian house....I was always the one at the bottom yelling upwards...and usually not being heard due to 3 different sets of music blaring. I quite like now living on one level...and blaring music is banned!!
Really enjoyed the tour,Sian.

Amy said...

I always have a LOL moment when you talk about The Accountant and his flat packs - my Father in law is a retired accountant and he often had little woodwork projects and the like scattered around the place ... heaven knows you would need a change from the calculators!

Liberty :) said...

love the tour and you have a lovely home!! is it a big period townhouse? id love to have that many stairs!!!

Scrappi Sandi said...

I love that poster, nicked...sorry...liberated from the SU!! I would love to have heard that 'cassette'..."Cat Lovers Against The Bomb"!!!

Thanks for the peek into your home...isn't cropping wonderful...I love how it can hide a multitude of sins!!

With all those stairs you must save a mint on gym fee's!!

Anna said...

Definitely worth the climb. I saw Lloyd Cole at Leeds University. I'm not sure but it might even have been in '86! Never managed to liberate a poster from the SU though... :D
What a lovely home!

Carmen said...

I'm so jealous of your lovely looking house. But I can claim one thing - I just found out I've won a Keep Calm & Carry On poster print! Wooo! It's needed in this house believe me! *g*

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