These are a few of my favourite things…

There’s a nice column in Tatler magazine where they invite toffs to talk about their favourite things in their house. I don’t normally read Tatler unless there are some very stylish free sunglasses attached (approx every June) but after having a look at what the upper crust are up to tipsily in a barn somewhere in Oxfordshire, I found that feature and as a result, I thought I’d have a go myself.

Here are a few of my favourite things scattered around our home and the reasons for them:

Well, we all know what this is. I was given this as a present by my sister and her partner for my 18th birthday in 1992. The album cover print is 18 out of a total of 200 Cannell works. It’s a bit faded now after copious house moves where it was positioned badly (too much light) and so the hue is more pink than scarlet, but it’s mine, it happens to be one of my all-time favourite albums and I’m proud to own it.

My brother’s wife is a Slade school of art graduate but doesn’t paint much these days although she does do pop/jazz prints for special occasions. She gave me this for my 30th birthday. Ever since I was three (when I literally wore a hole in my vinyl copy of Mull of Kintyre) I’ve always liked McCartney (and we happen to share a birthday, I wonder if that makes a difference…) and so I was very touched Lucy made this for me.

I can’t play much, unless it’s a simple folk or protest song, but I bought this guitar in the late 90s when I barely had a penny to my name. It cost about £140 in 1997 which was a lot of money then (well, it certainly felt like that to me). The Fenda’s in excellent condition and I dust it regularly.

I’m always touched when a friend makes you a CD, especially when unprompted. This is a collection of Welsh folk music made for me by my friend Nia, who speaks Welsh as a first language. The collection is from the 60s and contains some pretty rare stuff (Welsh Rare Beat, right?). It’s what I listen to most at the moment and I’m hoping to pick up some of the language by spaced-out osmosis.

And when I’m listening to folk music or watching tv, where am I? Under my ‘blanky’ of course. Orange is one of my favoured colours and I like the slightly rough, scratchy texture of my blanket. Well, we all have our little quirks, I suppose.

~ by Suzy Norman on 15/06/2009.