One of my all-time favourite book characters which has
always managed to put a smile on my face is
‘Uncle Fred’ a figment of genius
humourist author PG WodeHouse’s imagination, who perpetually seeks to spread ‘
sweetness and light’ much to the alarm
of those around him, as he invariably ends up creating chaos and getting everyone
else around him in a muddle. His nephew (and I remember his name well, as I
found his character and name so funny) " Pongo", is forever fearful of his Uncle descending
on him on one of his missions to spread ‘sweetness & light’.
Speaking of light, I am not particularly fond of wall or
hanging ceiling lights (except recessed, accent or picture lights). Infact guests in my
house, on a number of occasions have reached for the light switch and flicked
it on, and then stood around puzzled, because most wall switches in my home
donot turn any lights on – I rely on
mid-room-height lamps to spread ‘softness & light’ – rather than harsh
light beaming down from above. Having said that, I must add, I have been pretty
impressed by some of the new wall and ceiling light designs out there. Some of
which can be conversation starters (if you are short of words, that is…) a
wall-climbing night light, hang-me-dead lamp (uh! morbid, whoever came up with
that one obviously doesnot understand sublety), a leaking faucet which is not
leaking rather illuminating, and talking of faucets, would you like to have a
goldfish swimming in yours?
But the sweetness is the idea behind some of these deigns,
the leaking faucet light is meant to make you think about conserving energy
because the more you turn the knob, the brighter the light gets, and the
goldfish faucet is just a plain old guilt
trip into getting you to use less water, if you leave the tap running,
the water drains from the goldfish bowl and it dies …
So next time you are out buying something for your home, choose
designs that spread a bit of sweetness and light...
