Bon Journal

My green curtains

The unlined, brownish, patterned curtains in the living room have been bugging me since day one. I do not like the colour brown. I do not like patterns that make me dizzy. Neither brown patterns nor patterned brown textiles make me happy.

My gut instinct has been to replace these curtains with my green curtains from London. I had salvaged them from the famous Portobello Market a decade ago. It had started to rain, and the seller wanted to clear his goods in a hurry. I offered him five pounds for the pair of green, lined curtains.

I remember vividly how the seller had put the curtains into a black bin bag. I carried it home on my bicycle. I put the pair of heavy curtains into the washing machine, hung them to dry on the radiators, and ironed them. These old curtains were the perfect size, shape, and thickness for my windows which were too big for the landlord's new curtains.

I had to mend the white cotton lining of the curtains. I wasn't sure what the fabric was, but it looked like silk from afar. And the curtains kept me warm in the five storey house at St John's Wood.

The next occasion I was able to use the curtains was in my house - to cover my grand piano. In the summer months, I left it to rot in my shed, for I had no need for old curtains anymore.

Now, they've come back to save me from the dreaded winter. Thinner, frailer, and with more holes than before, they are old friends who know how to comfort me and keep me warm. And my gut instinct was right --- they are much better than the unlined, brownish, patterned curtains.

7 January 2004 Wednesday