Not sure what I’m thinking of but, for some strange reason, I give Hubby a loan of DD, my beloved, if somewhat unreliable, Dacia.
Thinking I need some exercise, I get Hubby to drop me off at the far end of Cornard, en route to his workplace. I find myself deposited upon the pavement in Head Lane, just a short sprint away from the Library.
Mistake.
I remember that Cornard Library always has a very good deal on has-been books – five books for a pound.
Bargain!
Why did I give Mother Cool my old shopping trolley? Why didn’t anyone tell me/ that shopping trolleys are not for old people; shopping trolleys are for the convenient transport of books.
Time for a book rest. Must be worth a photo shoot!
Did I really need a copy of Geoffrey A Godden’s ‘Encyclopaedia of British Pottery and Porcelain Marks?’ Am I really likely to discover that the chipped plates I bought from Sainsbury’s are worth millions?
This is what happens when one is an exile. I love Suffolk, but I find myself unable to shake off the obsession with my roots. I only have to catch a glimpse of the words Shropshire or Staffordshire, and I go all gaga!
Yes, the view of ‘Cornard in Autumn’ is beautiful and I can quite see why Thomas Gainsborough attached himself to it, via his paint palette.
But, no matter how much I try, and from whatever angle I look at things …
… these books are heavier than the whole of Staffordshire, Shropshire and Suffolk all mashed up together, and if I can just keep on going another mile or so …
I will be rewarded …
Okay, so McDonald’s latte isn’t served up to me in a Coalport teacup, but I’m knackered, it’s free (have six tokens saved up!), and I have a pile of books to plough through, including this very interesting by my fellow wanderer, Ruth Rendell.
Ruthie and I have a lot in common. 1) We are both writers. 2) She is famous and I am about to be famous. 3) Neither of us belong in our host county of Suffolk. But, here is where we differ and, if I may say so, where I have one up on Ruth …
Ruth has ‘no ancestors’ bones lying in Suffolk churchyards’, whereas I – I, Jay Cool, world-renowned blogger, am descended from none other than Suffolk’s elite: Sir Harold Cook of Lavenham, and the Lady Elizabeth de Clare, (nee. Burgh), of Clare Castle.
The bones of at least one of my ancestors lies here, in Suffolk soil:
Can I be ‘unromantic and prudent’ if I live in the county of my Lots-of-Greats Aunt Joan of Acre and her Great Granddaughter, my Lots-of-Something-Cousin the Lady Elizabeth de Clare? Or am I the last of the true romantic eccentrics, a ghostly relic from a bygone age?
Did they have lattes from McDonald’s back then?
Copyright owned by Jay Cool, Monday 25th November, 2019
Other posts by Jay Cool:
The Silly-Savvy Salopian in Suffolk: read, believe and write ... 