“Here was an old owl liv’d in an oak
The more he heard, the less he spoke;
The less he spoke, the more he heard
O, if men were all like that wise bird!”
(Punch 1875)
John Lentell – Barum & Sarum
Month: February 2010
Thursday’s Piece
“I never saw a Purple Cow,
I never hope to see one;
But I can tell you, anyhow,
I’d rather see than be one!”
(Gelett Burgess, 1866 – 1951)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gelett_Burgess
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Purple_Cow
John Lentell – Barum & Sarum
December 25th, 1967
Wednesday’s Piece
Hath the rain a father? Or who hath begotten the drops of dew?
(Bible)
John Lentell – Barum & Sarum
December 24th, 1967
Tuesday’s Piece
“A Christmas gambol oft could cheer
The poor man’s heart through half the year”.
(Sir Walter Scott)
John Lentell – Barum & Sarum
December 23rd, 1967
Monday’s Piece
Whatever one might think and feel about the issues of our Rhodesian day, I swear there is no other land where a stranger (once through Immigration and Customs!) is more readily, and unreservedly, accepted.
John Lentell – Barum & Sarum
December 22nd, 1967
Sunday’s Piece
Truly I do not like talking ‘shop’ on social occasions but in this business it is unavoidable. People just want to talk about furniture and they say the nicest things which, to be frank, keep me going when cold logic says ‘call it a day’.
John Lentell – Barum & Sarum
December 21st, 1967
Saturday’s Piece
Appearances are deceptive – my good-looking and comfortable car clocked up 180,000 miles last week. With luck it will be 200,000 by December 1968 and 250,000 by December 1970 or thereabout. What a friend – an Opel Kapitan – 1955.
John Lentell – Barum & Sarum
December 20th, 1967
Friday’s Piece
I ran a ‘one-man’ business for eleven years (remember Jacob’s business and Twining’s Teas?) and swore I would never do it again. I have done it again and it is killing me. Decisions – decisions – decisions!!
John Lentell – Barum & Sarum
December 19th, 1967
Thursday’s Piece
“On Monday, when the sun is hot,
I wonder to myself a lot,
‘Now is it true, or is it not,
That what is which, and which is what?’ ”
(Alan Alexander Milne, 1882-1956)
John Lentell – Barum & Sarum
December 18th, 1967
Wednesday’s Piece
Many a chair or a piece of furniture has come into us for repair – some in bits and pieces from the loft or garage – and they go out worth a realisable five times the few pounds charged.
John Lentell – Barum & Sarum
December 17th, 1967
Tuesday’s Piece
It would be foolish to pretend that I am feeling the spirit of Christmas. I am better off than many but I am nevertheless struggling to survive and I view 1968 with trepidation – what is the use of pretending otherwise?
John Lentell – Barum & Sarum
December 16th, 1967
Monday’s Piece
I am not wedded to any particular dogma – Christian or otherwise – and (lest I be misunderstood) I am certainly not in the book business! But I would recommend to anyone seeking a better understanding of life and death the writings of Kahlil Gibran – especially ‘The Prophet’ – “every page has some beautiful and liberating thought”.
“His power came from some great reservoir of spiritual life….”
John Lentell – Barum & Sarum
December 15th, 1967
Lentell Soup 