I confess I am not a great fan of autobiographies that begin at the beginning and follow a temporal path up to the present day – not that the person might not have some interesting stories, facts and opinions strung on their necklace, but it just doesn’t appeal as a structure. On the other hand, in my last, extra year at school in Oxford, retaking an A-level and adding a couple more, I was allowed out of school on my recognisance and saw a fascinating Exhibition at the Modern Art Gallery. The Artist had laid out and photographed every single possession of a single person – for example, all the cutlery was laid out in one shot, all the shoes in another. This more thematic approach appeals more and although I am not arranging the objects which I have chosen to tell my story in chronological order, I hope that my writing will be sufficiently interesting to keep your interest Dear Reader, and that on the journey from A to Z, you will assemble an impression of my life and who I am…
When I was populating the list together for this A to Z 2025, the phrase “Objects of Desire” just popped into my head – it seemed a good idea at the time but I find I have no “bon mots” to offer. I have already confessed to a very unPC desire for certain Citroen cars (see “C”post) but here are a few other things I covet…
There is a film, which I saw during my time at The Ritzy Cinema, called “That Obscure Object of Desire” by Luis Buñuel, in which a late middle-aged man falls in love with an exploitative younger woman. I am now 70, but still one’s heart can be gripped and squeezed by the sight of beauty – it never goes away, seemingly…
On safer ground, though, boats, who are always female, here is poem about an unrequited (as yet) love…
Grant me a Boat
For goodness sake
grant me the bucket-list wish
of a boat
any boat will do
a picayune pram
to potter on a large pond
better still a proper rowboat
on a large lake
to drift down the wind lanes
a dry fly bobbing alluringly
on the ripple, gently retrieving
with the dream of a trout rising
A day sailer – better still
ducking the boom
on a dinghy is dodgy
at my age so day trips
on a Summer suitable sea
would fit the bill delightfully
sailing out and back
with the sea breeze
sometimes sleeping
in the cabin after stargazing
at anchor in some sheltering bay
And in the Winter
I would cherish
my little vessel
drawn up on the shore
cleaning and caulking
and laying on varnish
let me leave alliteration behind
and voyage forth
on real wavy waters –
so for goodness sake
one day
grant me a boat
© Andrew Wilson, 2024
My eye was immediately drawn to the ukuleles…my current objects of desire – or obsession. I am up to 10 of them. I don’t play well, but I enjoy it. I wonder what I’ll do for U…hmmm.
And my kitchen cupboard looked like yours until three days ago when I decided to check expiration dates. It’s much more sparse now!
Great post.
Oh no Donna – no surprise now…
Well done on the Spring cleaning!
Books, a boat–any boat–and burned Basque cheesecakes, although when I looked at your photo I thought they were custard tarts, which are certainly one of my objects of desire. Heaven!
Yes, Josna, you don’t get the scale of the cheesecakes – they are gateaux sized! Unusually for cheesecakes, they have no pastry base but we can’t call them gluten-free since they have a little flour in the mix to hold them together and my suggestion to substitute cornflour has fallen on deaf ears… I agree with you on egg custard – something which is increasingly a luxury, with the price of eggs!
Ah, objects of desire – collectibles, what nots, and such. Over the years I’ve collected way too many and am working towards minimizing. My addiction to stationary products was so bad, I couldn’t walk into the office big box stores without walking out with something I didn’t need (new pens, new paper, new journals). My one object of desire that I still wish I had, my 1959 Austin-Healey 3000-6 sports car. It was a mess, but I loved it!
Donna: Click for my 2025 A-Z Blog
I know what you mean about those stationary objects of desire, Donna, and they are powerless to get away from you lol. I too love stationery shops, tool shops, art material shops, millinery shops, culinary goods shops, food markets and delicatessen, as well as book shops! Might be shorter to write a list of shops I don’t like…
Boats are not objects of desire for me but books, baked goods, and biplanes for sure. In fact I posted a picture of me in a biplane for the letter O.
I shall check that picture out, Pauleen – my pictures of myself in a biplane exist only in memory…
I was just explaining to my mother that buying books and crafting supplies are separate hobbies from reading and using crafting supplies. I’m lucky in that paint and beads don’t take up as much room as yarn – I’m unlucky that they are MUCH more expensive.
May the expensive Object of Your Desire (Boat) come your way some day.
A great distinction, Erin, as attested to drawers full of paint, paper, wool, fabrics not ten feet from where I sit right now…