Showing posts with label Wind in the Willows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wind in the Willows. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Fantasy Time . . .

 
I'd love to have a vardo --  a bright-painted  gypsy van--
The traditional interior is spectacular if a tad busy for my taste.
 I've wanted one ever since reading Wind in the Willows . In the
passage below, Toad is showing Rat and Mole his new acquisition.

"He led the way to the stable-yard accordingly, the Rat following 
with a most mistrustful  expression; and there, drawn out of the 
coach house into the open, they saw a gipsy caravan, shining with
newness,  painted a canary-yellow picked out with green, 
and red wheels.

'There you are!' cried the Toad, straddling and expanding himself.
'There's real life for you, embodied in that little cart. The open road,
the dusty highway, the heath, the common, the hedgerows, the rolling
downs! Camps, villages, towns, cities! Here to-day, up and off to
somewhere else to-morrow! Travel, change, interest, excitement! The
whole world before you, and a horizon that's always changing! And mind!
this is the very finest cart of its sort that was ever built, without
any exception. Come inside and look at the arrangements. Planned 'em all
myself, I did!'
. . . 
It was indeed very compact and comfortable. Little sleeping bunks--a
little table that folded up against the wall--a cooking-stove, lockers,
bookshelves, a bird-cage with a bird in it; and pots, pans, jugs and
kettles of every size and variety.

'All complete!' said the Toad triumphantly, pulling open a locker. 'You
see--biscuits, potted lobster, sardines--everything you can possibly
want. Soda-water here--baccy there--letter-paper, bacon, jam, cards and
dominoes--you'll find,' he continued, as they descended the steps again,
'you'll find that nothing what ever has been forgotten, when we make our
start this afternoon.'" 
 
 
It sounds nice . . . 
Of course, to pull that gypsy van, I'd need a Gypsy Cob. 

They're available  HERE
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