    
Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony
Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.132.170.85
| | Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 10:58 am: | |
Just read a short by Nabokov last night, about a chap getting lost in a museum. I've only ever read Lolita and so this was something of a revelation; you can really see the influence on Ramsey. I have to say the tale was quite awe-inspiring and totally summed up how museums feel to myself, the mixture of stirred memories and tugs on the imagination. I find them quite intense places, as I do funfairs and junk shops.
I must add (it sot of fits) that last week I went to Tatton hall just south of Manchester. The japanese garden there - a hundred years old - was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life, and the mansion itself a complete wonder; to walk it was to be transported almost physically in time. The last Lord Egeston saw the wild west and met cowboys and indians; a few decades later he was back home watching telly in his room, us folk on the board no doubt walking the earth at the same time. Mind-boggling. I also got told about the ghosts by one enthusiastic old lady volunteer (Lord Egeston was a great believer in the supernatural and regretted never seing a ghost). In one part of the gardens was an old tower used to look out for sheep rustlers; eventually a 'hermit' was hired to 'haunt' the place, scare visitors for fun (apparently a common practice among the rich). I peered thru the keyhole and saw a dusty stairwell and little else, but the atmosphere was incredibly rich and inspiring. Great place, well recommended. |