InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Daddy, I want a squirrel!"

Avoid if triggered by misplaced apostrophe's. (essayel) wrote in morningstar_mnr,
@ 2010-06-13 11:41:00

Entry tags:

chandika, chas, deacon, leo, nia, rahul, ruth, susan, urquhart, vincenzo

Multipurpose multipup, Manor, morning, OTA
Leo had actually been into the office on a Sunday, not unheard of but not a regular occurrence, because Carnahan had called him to say that some papers from Pangolin had been misdirected to his office and that he had, shamefully, forgotten to mention it. He had offered Leo Sunday evening dinner in recompense and Leo had accepted cheerfully, then had put the phone down and cursed and got down there sharpish. Now he was back, envelope in pocket, considering options and ready for tea - possibly iced because it was a warm day.

#

Vincenzo greeted Lawyer Beck on his way through the lobby then settled back in his seat and eased his collar. It was hot. He might have to fetch the one of the fans from the security suite. They didn't need ALL of them in there.

#

Ruth had finished her laundry and paused to look in the mail room. She felt - restless - and couldn't work out why.

On impulse she spoke to the young man at the security desk and he smiled and agreed to keep her small package of laundry, neatly folded inside a pillow case, in his cupboard until she came back for it, and she hitched her purse under her arm and went for a walk. Maybe to the park - or the Square.

Though she would probably end up at the museum.

#

The lack of the pool house was being felt quite keenly by some of the residents so Charlie had obtained an extra large and extra tough paddling pool and obtained permission to put it on a sunny patch of ground not far from the gazebo. Overnight he and Nick and Phil had put it up and filled it and now the sun was busy warming it.

He sat on the grass laughing as Nia, in a very frilly swimsuit, dipped her hands in and squealed and ran about shaking them and going "brrrrrrrrrrr". The way the temperature was rising it would soon be milk warm and he might even have a paddle himself.

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	essayel 2010-06-13 12:38 pm UTC (link)
	"Oh," she said and sat and placed her cup precisely on the saucer then aligned the spoon. "Are you ill?" she asked. "Sometimes when I'm ill I find it hard to remember things." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

mm_maru
2010-06-13 12:45 pm UTC (link)

"No," Urquhart says, "unless 'the morning after the night before' is an illness. I've been to explore the wonders of the City music scene a little. One of the bands promised bagpipes."

He still liked bagpipes. They didn't remind him of anything horrible. Of course, he also liked an entire orchestra blasting away, or the honest, passionate rock music of his youth.

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	essayel 2010-06-13 12:56 pm UTC (link)
	"Bagpipes?" Ruth nodded. "One of the more successful instruments of antiquity continually reinvented to serve different purposes." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mm_maru 2010-06-13 01:11 pm UTC (link)
	"Antiquity?" Urquhart asked. "The Greeks and Romans had bagpipes?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	essayel 2010-06-13 01:47 pm UTC (link)
	"Earlier than that," Ruth said, "and a major marker for the presence of Celts. But Aristophanes wrote about them as well - said they sounded like a wasp farting in a bottle." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mm_maru 2010-06-13 02:42 pm UTC (link)
	Urquhart laughed. "As a Scotsman, I should be offended," he says, "but I guess they were a lot different back then. And I actually like the comparison. It's just a horde of angry wasps in huge demijohns, with modern bagpipes." He sipped his coffee, having quietly extinguished his cigarette. "Weren't there Celts in Asia Minor, anyway?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	essayel 2010-06-13 03:04 pm UTC (link)
	"Oh yes they got everywhere," Ruth said with a smile. "Northern China to Spain. A very up and at 'em race the Celts." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mm_maru 2010-06-13 03:37 pm UTC (link)
	"Northern China?" Urquhart said. "I heard about Spain. Galicia, isn't it? But Northern China is new." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	essayel 2010-06-13 04:58 pm UTC (link)
	"Up in the Altai on the border between Russia and China. The Tuvan region. Red hair, tartan. You should speak to my room mate. She's very excited about the textiles coming out of the desert there. Almost perfectly preserved." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mm_maru 2010-06-13 05:07 pm UTC (link)
	"Tartan?" Urquhart said. "My ancestors must have really been very, very adventuresome to get that far." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	essayel 2010-06-13 05:12 pm UTC (link)
	"Well to me it looked like a fairly simple checked pattern but apparently the type of weave was right for tartan. I wouldn't know." Ruth sipped her tea and nodded. "It's a case of cultural dynamism. At one point the Celts had it. Not everyone does." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mm_maru 2010-06-13 05:27 pm UTC (link)
	"No, not everybody," Urquhart says. "At the moment, the whole world seems to be keen to become American." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	essayel 2010-06-13 06:12 pm UTC (link)
	"Not necessarily BE American, but they like our goodies," Ruth said. "The iPod will win more hearts and minds than any number of presidential emissaries." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mm_maru 2010-06-13 08:41 pm UTC (link)
	"Probably," Urquhart said. "I guess when archaeologists from the future find these things all over the world, with no way of telling what they were for. Tartan and bagpipes must be far more telling." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	essayel 2010-06-13 10:09 pm UTC (link)
	"Oh yes," Ruth said. "And far more accessible than, say, the spread of a particular style of geometric sgraffito design in Bronze age domestic vessels. People ar emotionally engaged with tartan and bagpipes - if they like to think of themselves as Scottish or Irish." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mm_maru 2010-06-13 10:12 pm UTC (link)
	"My name is Urquhart," Urquhart says, "and my birth certificate says Inverness, Scotland, UK. So I guess I really am Scottish. Even though my accent may be a bit washed out." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	essayel 2010-06-13 10:32 pm UTC (link)
	"Urquhart Castle - an iconic image," Ruth said. "So you're the real McCoy. There's a MacIntyre at the museum who insists on wearing a tartan tie and I'll swear he's no more Scottish than I am. I wonder when a name stops being a racial legacy and starts just being a name?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mm_maru 2010-06-13 10:38 pm UTC (link)
	He hadn't expected her to make the connection, and is taken aback for a moment. "Yes," he says. "Or rather, no. I'm not related to any McCoys." Beat. "Was a joke, sorry. Yes, I am. That's where I'm originally from." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	essayel 2010-06-13 10:51 pm UTC (link)
	"Do you miss it?" Ruth asked. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mm_maru 2010-06-13 10:57 pm UTC (link)
	"I've been to many places all over the world," Urquhart says, "and I know I couldn't live there again, it would feel too small. Too many tourists, too few other jobs. But I miss parts of it, I guess. At least I'll go spend nights in noisy places when bagpipes are promised." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

essayel
2010-06-14 06:33 am UTC (link)

Ruth looked down as well, at her tea, and tried to imagine what that might feel like. Eventually it occurred to her to imagine how it might feel if she had to go and work in Social History or the Education department and she sighed with mingled sorrow and horror.

"I know someone," she said. "One of our volunteers. He plays bagpipes at the Celtic festivals. I'll ask when he's playing next."

(Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mm_maru 2010-06-14 08:41 am UTC (link)
	"I would really like to go to a Celtic festival," Urquhart said. Half of it would be as genuine as Disneyland, but it was something he could ask Ruth to come along to. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	essayel 2010-06-14 02:45 pm UTC (link)
	"I'll ask him about it, next time I see him," Ruth promised. "And I'll let you know." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mm_maru 2010-06-14 05:53 pm UTC (link)
	"Thank you," Urquhart said. "I'd like that." He finished his coffee. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	essayel 2010-06-14 07:11 pm UTC (link)
	Ruth finished her tea. "Well," she said. "I should be going." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

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