Route 79

I think of dreamy visions of being a 4th-year O-Level pupil at upper school (Grade 11 for my Americanized cousins) - and how I committed to my memory the first 10 digits of the value of "pi" : 3.141592653

Great snap Jag. Makes me think of relationships. People you love, but who are far away. People you write to (the stamps) or speak to on the phone (it's a calculator, I see, but at first I saw it as a phone). You keep their picture there so they're close to you. But you're right to call it an infinity of stories. There are so many stories that these objects could conjure up. All this talk of stories made me think of the American writer Paul Auster. "An infinity of stories" could have been an alternative title for a project he worked on called the National Story Project. It started out as a show on National Public Radio. Listeners were encouraged to send their short stories to be read out on air by Auster. The project was so successful that a selection of the stories was published as a book, edited by Auster, called True Tales of American Life". Going back to the photo, it's almost impossible to look at a photograph without thinking of possible stories it could fit into. That's why looking at portraits of strangers is so interesting. Who are these people? What are there lives like? Here's to stories...

Hear hear Stu. Couldn't agree more.

Re Paul Auster: well the ignoramus that I am - I'd never heard of him before - but a quick Google-surf and I found: http://www.paulauster.co.uk/ - which seems to match the profile of the Auster that you describe. Thanks for the ref!

I was reading about sliderulers earlier and so the calculator and B&W photo takes me back to the 70s. Family and friends travelling between here and there - first a clash of cultures and then not so much a clash as a comingle. Beautiful girl - maybe much missed.

Hey Jag. I tried to put in a link to Stuart Pilkington's Paul Auster site in my comment, but it didn't work for some reason. I'd definitely recommend his writing. My favourite of his works is a book called "The Invention of Solitude". Sounds depressing but it's very good. It's a "meditation on fatherhood" - an account of his memories of his father, and his own feelings about becoming a father himself. It's a very thought provoking book.

Oh, and congrats to Ms. Route79! :-)

Hi Stu; Your recommendation was too hard to resist: I have just ordered it!

http://www.whsmith.co.uk/WHS/Go.asp?isbn=057115414X&DB=220

And what's more - because it's been such a long time since I've ordered books over the web (last time was Amazon/Bol over 18 months ago - at the time the other-half was just into the Teacher Training) I decided to "shop" around - and found out that not only is WHSmith cheaper than Amazon and Bol - they also deliver for free to your local WHSmith store - which blows Amazon/Bol away because: a) you might not be home when a "bulky" book gets delivered and b) you might not use your work address because you don't trust your office postal handling system to mislay the goods - and c) it's free and WHSmith is probably only a short lunchtime walk away from your office!

Many thanks Stu!

Hope you enjoy it Jag!