Monday, August 23, 2010

Wonderous Worldly Reflections in a Glass-Bar None?




















I think that it was William Thackeray who said that ‘the world is a looking glass and gives back to every man the reflections of his own face’. This is of course a profound and thought provoking statement and it is one which my wife and I have begun to take seriously to heart in recent times. I hasten to add that this inclination has arisen, not so much as a result of a conscious decision on our part, but more out of a response to the diversity of our social interaction.

A little background context might be opportune at this point as some people on Twitter are notoriously prone to misread the intentions of my light blog discourses. So let me therefore say that my good wife and I have been married happily for some 30+ years and during this time we have made a habit of visiting ‘The Front Door’ public house in Galway at weekends after work in order to enjoy some light refreshment and ‘chew over’ the events of the day both in our working lives and in the nation as a whole. There is I’m sure you’ll agree nothing new or unusual in such a habit but I have noticed of late a subtle shift in my wife’s behaviour during these social events. On first reflection this change would not seem significant. Our drinking, eating and social discourse remains as committed and intense as ever but a new factor has entered the equation in recent weeks. Simply stated, my wife has begun to take photos with her mobile phone of and through her half empty wine glass and to consider them as ‘artistic’ images. At first I thought that this new photographic creativity was simply the result of imbibing a little too much of the contents of these glasses prior to the photographs being taken. But this theory would not appear to hold water, or in this case wine, as it were. She has now begun to string a number of these images together into an artistic ‘statement’ and has even extended her camera capers to include the liquid content of glasses at home as well. At first, I thought this might be a reflection on the ‘quality’ or indeed intensity of her social interaction after so many years spent waffling together. However, she has assured me that I should not worry ‘my pretty little gray head’ about such matters and see it simply as a maturing of her own artistic bent.

So eager as I am as always to support my creative partner, I have decided to embrace this new found artistic endeavour and have now begun to take photos of pints of Guinness myself. Not content however to simply reproduce what to others might appear to be ‘banal’ images, we have embarked upon profound discussions on life occasioned by the ‘distorted’ images reflected in these glass receptacles. I for example, have gained a new insight into the cycles of life itself by studying the rings of creamy froth left on the inside of a Guinness glass as the black gold liquid retreats with each giant slug of consumption. We have taken to compare our captured images with great pride in our respective achievements and there is certainly a new warm glow of satisfaction in our facial expressions. Indeed, thanks to the spirit of William Thackeray, it can truly be said that the world for us is indeed a looking glass, which to anyone visiting the ‘Front Door’ Pub can be seen truly reflected on our flushed faces!


Warning Note: This blog entry is for comic purposes only and it should in no way be considered as reflecting adversely on my fine wife’s artistic endeavours. Snap Happy?

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