Monday 14th July - more treasures

 There's been a bit of a delay, blame the tennis, but I have explored another row of drawers in the Korean Chest

The second row beneath the shelf

What have we got?

A little screwdriver set, and also a white plastic box box with a useful tiny screw drover and two miniature screws for mending glasses

A round wooden box with something in it, but which refuses to open, and another mysterious piece of card marked 'READING'

Another 'READING' card, and a packet of flints for cigarette lighters

This drawer was stuck shut; 

Two small inexpensive gilt frames 

Three corks from bottles, the sort which contained whisky or rum, a pendant on a cord, and the solution to the 'READING' mystery; this card also had 'SPECSAVERS' printed on it!

Two cups for chairlegs or tablelegs, the sort used to protect carpet.

BB managed to open the drawer. It seems that the piece of wood which forms the base of each cubby hole doesn't go all the way to the back. So he removed the drawer above and reached right in, managing to ease whatever was in the stuck drawer so it would open...

A set of poker dice, an neat little book light which clips over a book, and still works! And another Dard labelled 'SINGAPORE MULTI'. I have no idea what that could mean!

Now, that little box, that rattled and would open; BB very gently worked on it until the lid came off. It has a rather battered and dried out impression of my father’s family crest.

BB is very keen for the next installment; he really enjoys the challenge of opening stuck drawers and mysterious boxes!

There are three more rows of drawers, then the cupboard and the six drawers either side are still waiting to have their secrets revealed. 

Tennis

It felt weird not to be spending the afternoon glued to the television... but that's it for me until next Summer! 

Music 

Philip Glass Etude no 2, played by Yuja Wang. I'm not sure if Philip Glass actually started 'Minimalist Music' or not. Actually I think his idea of repeated notes slowly changing has a lot in common with the Balinese gamelan tradition.

Nowadays we hear what I call Minimalist Muzak all the time, the loathsome (in my opinion!) repetitive rocking between two notes that is the soundtrack to programmes like Masterchef while the camera lingers on the faces of the anxious chefs waiting to hear who is about to be sent home.

I think this Philip Glass piece is really interesting.