Something to do....
‘If one day, you have no companion…’ That sounds such a sad phrase, but was probably one of the reasons why I loved this book, Something To Do, so much, I think. It never presumed you were going to be surrounded by friends. Most of the activities are quiet and creative. I wonder if this is why when I posted this morning on Facebook about it, so much of the love has come from fellow artists and writers? Personally I’m sure it helped to build my curiosity and ‘can-do’ muscles.
It’s based round the months of the year (think Lia Leendertz’s Almanac but with more games) and has a special place on my desk bookshelf. I’ve been reading it again recently for a larger – secret – project I’m involved with. And you know what? It’s still brilliant. I’m not surprised that on my Facebook people have been been citing pages and activities they particularly liked and remembered. So here, for Frances and Hilary, is the fudge recipe (obviously I’d cooked it a bit messily several times) and ‘something to do with cotton reels’…
What a lovely thought that you might just have a wooden kitten needle and two spare cotton reels just hanging around!
It's part of what makes this a highly comforting book: even though the authors, Septimus, are anonymous, they give the impression that they all hang out in each other's kitchens (probably drinking gin and bitching about the kids, but who cares?), and the illustrations are by Shirley Hughes - how young must she have been then?
But it's also full of facts about nature - I actually remember going out with this drawing and identifying buds...
... and it's got poems in it - not as a chore to learn but offered as a possible pleasure!
In fact, I might just try to grow myself a pineapple plant this weekend...
Who else had it? And what do you remember doing from it?