Monday 29 September 2008

And Brains!

I am a cheap date - when it comes to jewellery that is. (Don’t even THINK of scrimping on the seafood!) In these breakfast cereal days of credit crunches and fresh financial squeezes this is probably no bad thing. I have never been particularly interested in the glister of gold or the slicing, sparkle of diamonds. And anyway I always lose stuff or give it away. If a friend notices something I am wearing that they think is pretty I have no compunction in handing it over. Its only stuff after all, (that is as long as it isn’t my debit card… or my fillings…...)
Having said that, I do get surprisingly attached to strange bits and pieces of junk. I have this pair of £3 sparkly blue butterfly earrings that I bought at a supermarket. They have been to several continents and spent hundreds of nights under hundreds of pillows or on hundreds of dressers over the years. And then, in Toronto last May, I lost one.

Photo: Adonis Blue Butterfly; Johnathon Stott (c)www.jstottphotography.com
I searched everywhere, stripped the bed back, went inch by inch over the floor with my magnifier, shut my eyes turned around and opened them again..but it was still missing.

Every now and then back in UK I would think about it with sadness....my cheap little blue butterfly stud. The other, the-one-that-was-left, would glint at me from my jewellery box forlornly. ‘Its just a trinket.’ I thought. ‘What’s the problem?’

Months went by.

And then yesterday I went to pull out a pair for the day and there, entwined in each other, were two blue butterfly earrings. How magical and intriguing is that my friends? Magical, mysterious and strangely very uplifting! A blessing.

To celebrate and because I was feeling lovely, I donned the sharp, black T-shirt my nephew sent me a few years ago which has rarely made an outing. Emblazoned in white across the breasts it reads ‘ALL THIS!’ and underneath in tiny brackets it adds (and brains). It makes everyone grin and my posture gets stonkingly good. Boobs out, head high. That was until I suddenly thought,
‘Oh hell. ‘…what happens if people test me?’
It is hard to keep pert with visions of people running behind one shouting ‘And brains eh? Really? What’s the square root of 5689 then? What’s the capital of Djibouti? What are the rules of probate?’ Ideally people would be too busy looking at my breasts...but that rather defeats the marvellous double edged irony of the T-shirt.
Ah well..All This, my blue butterfly earrings and at the very least, half a brain then.

10 comments:

Suzie said...

WHo needs a brain if you have the boobs anyway

Miranda said...

Ah Fab. I LOVE this post! Miraculous indeed about the earrings (am I spelling all this right?). I also always give away things of mine that people like. If you have a birthday coming up expect a recycled gift. Usually something that I love, even if you don't!
And GREAT t-shirt. I doubt people will be testing you, just drooling at the boobies. Saw a very red T-shirt the other day on a pious looking muslim lady all clad in head scraf that read, across her buzzies - "If you can read this, thank a teacher"

family affairs said...

I love it when things like that happen and fear not, at least you (hopefully) know that there are not 360 degrees in a triangle like my friend and if you can't answer their question I always find it best to pretend that you speak another language Lx

Reya Mellicker said...

Put your shoulders back and let the glittery earrings flutter and shine.

Brava!!

tinku said...

Believe it or not I did another thorough cleanse of my apartment and did not find the earrings so glad to hear they didn't get swallowed into the vortex that is my living room. And as for the shirt...finally something to give people to read when they talk to your chest instead of your face!

tam said...

I wouldn't dare test you.

Enjoy. I'm sure everyone else will too.

dare we ask if you have news of the job?

TLP said...

Here via the Black Box.

Well, I do admit to using the boobs to my best advantage when I was younger, but on balance I think it's a mistake to give guys an excuse to stare at the chest. Just sayin'.

Happy news about the earrings! I've hung on to one earring for ages, hoping and wishing that the other one would appear, but alas, no.

Anonymous said...

Yay - I'm so glad the butterfly earring turned up! That's a real feel-good story!

And I LOVE the tee shirt. I want one!!

Chimera said...

Thanks y'all. Glad to meet a fellow gift recycler Miranda! Love the red T-shirt!
Hello to new black box visitor tip and welcome back Jay! Tinku..thought of you when I found it!
T x

Anonymous said...

Your nephew sounds really cool. I bet he brings you lots of joy.

C