I had so many things to do today, and most of them were not fun, but this part of it was actually a great thing. It all began last Sunday when my sister asked me to do a shadow box mounting of some of her late husband's memorabilia before she passes the things on to his children. (That's a long story...) Located in his 'ditty box', a sturdy, but time-worn wooden coffre that held so many precious things, were some incredibly interesting snippets that you just don't see these days. Les documents authentiques no less! One item was a French lettre avec la calligraphie d'une plume à bille, and another was this pamphlet about this Old Port Wine & Spirit House from somewhere in England. I wish that the scan had come out clearer so the list of spirits and prices in shillings and pence were all visible. There was also a cool poem at the back of the booklet along with some other advertisements. I am a real softie when it comes to looking at this kind of stuff. I could spend the whole day imagining who wrote it, what the people looked like, where they were, what the furnishings were like and so on. Unfortunately, the fellow who wrote the lettre was in an infirmary, 'en traitement' and it was during The Great War, (WW I) so the circumstances may not have been all that romantic, but still...
After I'd read the beautifully scribed letter, I wondered if I could play Shirlee Holmes (Sherlock's sister) and do some checking about the person to whom it was addressed. I did some searching and found the family name in the area (the letter had been sent from Calais, France in 1915 to Folkestone, Kent, England) but could find no real mention of either the writer or the lady to whom it was written.
En tout cas, it was a marvel to me, and made an otherwise mundane Sunday, get ready to hum à la Mamas and Papas ..Mundane Sunday (la la , la, la la la) far less ennuyeux.
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