Cousin Stinky? You bastards!
Today — as part of ongoing festivities — we did something we’ve been meaning to do for a while: visit Rudyard Kipling’s house. Bateman’s, it’s called. It’s not far away. I don’t know why we never got around to it, since we’re both huge Kipling fans.
His daughter left the whole thing, contents and all, to the National Trust, and they’ve kept it exactly as it was. His study, his bedroom, all the original furniture and books and carpets.
It’s Jacobean — 1630-something — so, you know, lots newer than Badger House. But still it has its charms. Actually, it was a lovely house, and yet there was something very sad about it. Impressive from the outside, but somehow quite small and intimate on the inside.
More pictures when I manage to offload them from the camera (oh, who am I kidding? I’m going to pinch some of Uncle B’s. He’s a much better photographer than I am, damn his eyes).
Meanwhile, this here is a wolverine carpet from Kipling’s study. Wolverines are, of course, members of the weasel fambly. What’s weird is, this one was quite a light blonde color. I thought (and a quick look at Google images confirms) that wolverines are mostly black, or dark red.
Somewhere in there is a “what’s dumber than it is mean?” joke.
May 5, 2010 — 11:30 pm
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