displacement (and a discovery)

Current work: new Medical/nonfic/tinkering with other projects
Listening to: Whitesnake
Reading: Nicholas Orme, Medieval children (interesting subject matter and I like his style - good read - it's research and am thoroughly enjoying it – NB this is a huge book so it’ll take me a while!)

This morning, daughter announced that she’d like a charm bracelet for her birthday. Tonight, I’m doing a talk to rather a lot of people, so I’m a tad fidgety today… hence the displacement activity of looking up charm bracelets this morning.

They seem to come either pre-loaded (with stuff that is not to my taste and probably won’t be to hers), or they’re eye-wateringly expensive (for a child her age… hmm…).

And then I discovered the ‘modern’ charm bracelets. Pandora. Utterly gorgeous. And I’d rather like one.

Which is odd, because I’m not really a jewellery person. I wear my wedding ring, my watch (also bought by DH) and if I’m dressing up I’ll wear a pendant or my posh pearls. But I’m not one for lots of rings or ankle-chains or bracelets or earrings (especially not earrings – do I look as if I’m mad enough to let someone stick a needle through my ear and cause me lots of pain?).

Though the charms that go with the Pandora bracelets are lovely. Murano glass and the kind of quirky stuff that I like. (Very like a medieval rosary, in fact... but I digress and I am not supposed to be working on medieval stuff today.) And something my friend Ray-Anne said a while back stuck in my mind: her DH bought her a charm bracelet to celebrate the sale of her first M&B, and she’s going to add a charm with each book. What a lovely, lovely idea.

If I did that (and backdated it) I’d have a Pandora bracelet AND necklace by now, especially if I added the nonfics. I can’t be that naughty. (Really, I can’t. Not unless Radley is involved.) But I do like the idea of a charm per book. Something special to keep.

So I read up about the company. They come from Denmark. Hmm. So does my mother’s side of the family (her grandmother was a Danish midwife). They’ve been going for 25 years, and I recently celebrated my 25th M&B (last year = recent in book terms, yes?).

You can see where this is going. Same way as I convinced myself about the Radley bag. This is meant to be, is it not?

And although I make a point of never, EVER dressing my daughter as a mini-me (and in any case she has a completely different style – she’s far more girly than I am), I could stretch a point for this, as we’d choose very different charms. Hers would be girly. Mine would be quirky. (Supposing they teamed up with Radley for a dog… or had a spaniel rather than Patch…)

I have to go into town tomorrow to pick up my new specs and see about Madam’s birthday pressie, depending on what she says tonight. Son has an inset day. Whether he’s a good or a bad influence remains to be seen :o)