A Mild Obsession

[porphyry]

Typically, I am a pretty cheap person who can talk herself out of buying almost anything I don't have to (unlike Malkhos who has no problem spending money).

Still, I have my weak points.  I develop mild obsessions.  The latest is Royal Doulton fine china in the Old English Country Rose pattern.  I can't help it.  It would look beautiful in the hutch of my buffet.  It's just--well, me.

I found a set online which could be much more expensive than it is.  I have bookmarked it.  I'm trying to talk myself out of it.

So who, of all people, is also trying to talk me out of it?

"Why do we need that?" says Malkhos.

"I don't know," I say. "To eat from like civilized people.  To take our tea in the afternoon in good style."

"I can just see it," he says. "'Here, Madeline, here's your hot dog on fine china.'"

"Be quiet," I say. 

"Or, "'Andrew, let's put your Pop Tart on this fine plate,'" Malkhos continues.

"You're probably right," I say. "But I still want it."

Oh, the difficulty of the idee fixe!  It just doesn't respond to reason.

Comments

[benicek.livejournal.com]

Oh but it's all so kitsch and mostly made in Indonesia anyway. No wonder they went bankrupt.

[malkhos.livejournal.com]

It's kitsch, really? I don't want to be kitschy. Damn, damn. This is truly shocking. I always imagined this must be the kind of thing off which the Queen must eat, and no one in Buckingham Palace would permit the Queen to indulge in kitschiness, would they? Say it isn't so!

[benicek.livejournal.com]

Oh but it is so! Anyway, at least, thanks to the private equity company that has now bought Royal Doulton, you are now being patriotic and buying American.

[mercyorbemoaned.livejournal.com]

I know you don't like me, but I do have good taste, and yes, kitsch.

[malkhos.livejournal.com]

I don't dislike you, really. I think once what happened was my husband and you had a little tete-a-tete and somebody perceived that as disliking the other... it was so long ago, I can't even remember the details.

I think that's one of the downsides of a blog--in the absence of non-verbal cues (tone of voice, expression, and such)--sometimes what one says and what one means get mixed up. And the most interesting thing to me is, as a lifelong word monger, it's the words themselves where true meaning can get lost or confused, but the non-verbal cues never lie and those, unfortunately, are the ones that you can't see here.

Anyway, I still haven't bought the dishes. Perhaps my miserliness will win out in the end.

[mercyorbemoaned.livejournal.com]

You can get much nicer china at an estate sale.

[malkhos.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you're right about that. Probably I'd be better off to wait, then, and keep an eye out for estate sales. There are always plenty of those around.

[malkhos.livejournal.com]

On the contrary, I once friended your journal precisely because you do seem likable, but--as nearly as I can recall--you have the habit of replying to some perfectly mundane comment in a way that is both aggressive and mad. Or I may have you confused with someone else.

[mercyorbemoaned.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure you lj-dumped me because you were being a kneejerk FLDS-hater and I pointed out that whatever your personal feelings are about bad dresses and polygamy, you ought to remember that first they will come for the sisterwives in Laura Ashley knockoffs, and if you don't speak out, no sisterwives will be around when they come for you.

[malkhos.livejournal.com]

I remember now!

Ah, yes, his negative feelings about Mormons know no bounds, that's for certain. My own take on all differences among religions is to let them all exist as they wish even if I don't agree with them.

[mercyorbemoaned.livejournal.com]

I agree with Heinlein's assessment: it is the various American religions' jealousy and mistrust of each other that protects everyone else's religious freedoms. The prolife movement, which Heinlein was too old to understand, is one of the worst things that could have happened to America in terms of religious freedom, as it gave nearly all religions common ground and created a reason for secular people to care. One of the only real protections we have left is what tension there is left between Mormons and Christians.

[malkhos.livejournal.com]

I always liked that show with Hyacinth, but Malkhos didn't too much. And remember her sisters, Rose (the tart) and Daisy (part of the noble proletariat class)? Terribly cute if a bit silly.

Anyway, I think I will buy it, kitsch or no. It's either that or perpetual Corelle (doesn't break; good with kids) or possibly Pfalzgraff. Yes, why not just get the china?

[benicek.livejournal.com]

I think Hyacinth epitomises Royal Doulton. The product of a now-defunct filthy industrial town, but with pretensions to rural gentility. She's a cleverly written character who works on several levels. Viewers in the Midlands will recognise that she and her husband have Warwickshire accents. Warwickshire always struggles to pretend it is 'Shakespeare country', and not post-industrial Coventry's toilet, or a suburb of Birmingham, which is what it really is. Her proletarian relatives embarrass her with their strong Birmingham accents. The exterior shots of her house are filmed in Binley Woods, on the edge of Coventry (round the corner from my Auntie Mary's house). Binley Woods started life as a refugee camp for bombed-out Coventry families during the war.

[stefanie-bean.livejournal.com]

Would Mr. M. feel better about it if you served scones on the plates? :D

[malkhos.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes! That's the trick to a good relationship, really; he can eat his scones (which he loves) on his plate and Andrew his Pop Tart on his!

And they all lived happily ever after. :-)