Oh I was going to have so much fun with this one. Collection : what a wonderful theme and how clever of someone to have suggested it! I am a serial collector : the kind where the actual process of collection is more important than the precise focus of the activity. Freud wrote volumes about people like me. We're the original gatherers rather than the hunters: whilst our ancestral cousins were to be found tracking sabre-toothed rabbits we were putting together a fine collection of sub-tropical berries.
Oh I was going to tell you about how I started collecting train numbers and progressed through such things as stamps, banknotes, vintage postcards, and old 78 records. If it exists, at one time or another I have collected it. Some themes have been sensible, others - I must confess - have been bordering on the eccentric (I once became a passionate collector of Patent Numbers and only recently flirted with the idea of a collection of lamp-post numbers). I tend to flit from subject to subject rather like some pollen-gathering insect (Note to myself : I have never collected insects, that would be quite interesting), the enthusiasm of yesterday fading into the enthusiasm of today. Some collectors are constant and faithful to their subject and don't understand the inconsistency of a flirter like me. Thus I still have people contacting me wanting to sell me pie-making machines (I once had a very brief phase when I got enthusiastic about collecting old baking equipment) and only yesterday I was contacted by someone trying to sell me an antique Ultimate bus-ticket machine following a brief tryst I had with bus tickets a couple of years ago.
Oh I was going to show you pictures of crisp uncirculated banknotes and fine old postcards protected by their guaranteed ph neutral polypropylene wrappers. I was going to show you my faux leather albums and the little felt-covered boxes I keep my antique coin collection in.
I was going to do all these things but reality got in the way. Just as I thought I had everything ready for this weekend's Marsden Jazz Festival an e-mail arrived saying that the photographer who was to put on an exhibition of his jazz photographs had backed out at the last moment. Could I come up with a suitable collection by Friday. So I am working on my collection and therefore can't do justice to the collection theme. So let me point you in the direction of a collection of first-rate bloggers who will be tackling the theme much better than me.
As I am the host of this theme I feel it incumbent on me to visit every one of the participants in this week's Theme Thursday. But because of the Festival I am not going to get chance to do this until early next week. But I will be calling by and I will try to post a summary of what such a fine collection of bloggers has managed to come up with.
smiles. i hope your prep for the weekend goes smoothly and all goes well. i imagine you collections are as magnificent as your posts. happy tt! see you soon!
ReplyDeleteCheers to the festival, Alan! And I like that "flirter"...sounds like me...so many things I've collected...but always something new to catch my eye!
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that the process of the collection is the most fun..the hunt, the thrill of the find...bringing the prize home...and finding a spot to display it. That's how I collect, too! It's a brilliant idea for Theme Thursday!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your festival! Hope all goes well and we get some fun reports next week!
this is a wonderful post, although you didn't meet your own expectations you shared your passion for flirtatious collecting - and introduced a new concept, giving affirmation to other flirters out here (methinks this would be me)
ReplyDeleteand thanks for being our host and suggesting the topic, I hope to make it around to more of the players this week and in doing so hopefully catch up on the bloggyhood. ah, deadlines do play havoc with one's blogosphere intentions and attentions!
have a great festival and we look forward to hearing all about it!
Love the babies in the boats! Enjoy the festival!
ReplyDeleteAlas, I am also a serial collector. (Not to be confused with a hoarder, though.) Like a magpie, I hunt, gather and drag it back to my nest. I adore the thrill of the hunt.
ReplyDeleteOh boy! Money! I like collecting money. The only problem is that you can't do much with it except get rid of it again -- either buy something or give it away. Can't believe all the different things you have collected, Alan. Quite a haul you have made over the years. Fun post!
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed this a lot, even if you couldn't go into the detail you planned. Hope you have fun at the festival after all the work you've put in!
ReplyDeleteHi Alan,
ReplyDeleteI hope all goes well this weekend and you have a wonderful time. You certainly have collected some interesting items...Thanks for the theme.
I like collecting post cards and foreign money too. Although the money collecting is loosing its charm with the introduction of the Euro...
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the post! Have a great time at the festival, and happy TT!
ReplyDeleteCollecting, hoarding, gathering, the concept amuses me. I've had collecting phases, but never that serious. I naturally hoard things, but my wife has beaten that habit out of me. Now I'm a simple man. Beer, books, a handful of nice clothes (I used to hoard them), a music collection and that's it.
ReplyDeleteHey, you came up with the theme, still managed a post about what you do collect and even added some pics! Stop apologizing and go enjoy! And thanks for a fun theme this week!
ReplyDeletei too have colected several things over the years...but most have been forgotten or given away...have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the festival... enjoyed your theme this week! xo
ReplyDeleteMan, I didn't know that I had been put into a category, original gatherer. I get two things and that starts a collections and then I must have three, and my collection is confirmed. The flaw in Freud is that sometimes I can become so keenly determined to add to my collections, that I take on hunters characteristics. I know he meant hunters as people who find meat to eat, but I can get into that same frenzy if I can find a great opportunity. It would be great if us show and tellers could have our own television shows. We could watch each other talk endlessly about everything that fascinates us.
ReplyDeleteOh, you nailed me on the head with this one. Started and stopped so many different collections over the years - and the offspring is just the same.
ReplyDeleteFor not having time, this is a pretty darn great post! Best of luck with your last-minute emergency and enjoy the festival!
When you come back, you must tell us what happens to your collections when you fall out of love with them. Do you have an attic full of stamps and postcards, closets full of 78s? Or do you sell the old to make way for the new?
ReplyDeleteI knew you'd have at least two decent collections but thought it would be your jazz records and family memorabilia. PIE MACHINES! Gah! You must have a very patient wife! I must admit as kids we'd sit on the railway bridges and get covered in steam smuts taking down train numbers. Hundreds of them. Enjoy your festival and I wish you much nicer weather than we're having here right now, cold, dreary and wet!
ReplyDeleteI collect things mostly by accident, usually items that will sell well on e-bay. Then theinterest changes and I'm stuck with a collection of whatever that was until the market shifts again. Anyone need beanie babies?
ReplyDeleteWhat a great twist to the theme. Anyway, how do you collect train numbers, it's not like you can steal them off the trains!
ReplyDeleteHi Alan .How Goes The Festival?
ReplyDelete