Tag: Dickens

Riding Metro North. With Leaner.

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Claustrophobia_I_by_RGreene

The mercury tipped 27° F.
It’s the fifth day of Spring. Spring. Right.

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. (Dickens)

The only thing Dickens got right in this passage was the book title: Great Expectations, and mine for the weather.

It was one of those March days when the sun doesn’t shine at all and the wind blows cold: when it is winter in the light, it is winter in the dark and it is winter in the shade. (DK)

It’s 5:45 am. I’m standing on the platform with a handful of others.  The remaining commuters wait for the 5:57 train in the warming station.

But not me. No Sir. I refuse to cede my place at the front of the not-yet-formed line.  Close to memory are my last two rides — unable to find a seat, I stood the entire 55 minute ride. Technical correction: there was an unwillingness, a steadfast refusal to sit in the middle seat.  Just not an option. I need my space.

I board the train. I’m the first on, my wait paying off.  I find an empty two-seater and sit next to the window. I settle in and start into the morning papers.  The warm air from a vent caresses my feet and legs. It’s going to be a good day. Continue reading “Riding Metro North. With Leaner.” →

There are people who will tell you that Christmas is not to them what it used to be

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Charles Dickens

“Christmas time! That man must be a misanthrope indeed, in whose breast something like a jovial feeling is not roused—in whose mind some pleasant associations are not awakened—by the recurrence of Christmas. There are people who will tell you that Christmas is not to them what it used to be; that each succeeding Christmas has found some cherished hope, or happy prospect, of the year before, dimmed or passed away; that the present only serves to remind them of reduced circumstances and straitened incomes—of the feasts they once bestowed on hollow friends, and of the cold looks that meet them now, in adversity and misfortune. Never heed such dismal reminiscences. There are few men who have lived long enough in the world who cannot call up such thoughts any day of the year. Then do not select the merriest of the three hundred and sixty-five for your doleful recollections, but draw your chair nearer the blazing fire—fill the glass and send round the song—and if your room be smaller than it was a dozen years ago, or if your glass be filled with reeking punch, instead of sparkling wine, put a good face on the matter, and empty it offhand, and fill another, and troll off the old ditty you used to sing, and thank God it’s no worse.”

— Charles Dickens, Sketches by Boz

References and Credits:

  • Misanthrope (n), a person who dislikes humankind and avoids human society. Origin mid 16th cent.: from Greek misanthrōpos, from misein ‘to hate’ + anthrōpos ‘man.’
  • Sketches by Boz is a collection of short pieces published by Charles Dickens in 1836 with illustrations by George Cruikshank. (Wiki)
  • Portrait of Charles Dickens from the Telegraph.  He was photographed at the age of 49 by the London portrait photographer George Herbert Watkins. Watkins took several portraits of Dickens between 1858 and 1861 and they have helped define the enduring image of Dickens as a melancholy, care-worn personality.
  • Dickens quote via fables-of-the-reconstruction. Thank you.