Q is for Quaint

Q is for Quaint

Apologies for the large gap, I’m going catch up to Q,R,S and T today

The reason for my lack of posting had been twofold. The first is my laptop broke down making posting difficult which is why I did not post of then Thursday as promised and the second is I was away in Wales all weekend with no computer access.

I went to a little cottage that is owned by Liverpool Hope University, nearby was a small Church called Saint Philips and the nearest town to us was called Barmouth.

My first thought when seeing each of these places was “oo... Quaint.” But I never really knew what the word meant.

So I searched into Google and got this:

1.

having an old-fashioned attractiveness or charm; oddlypicturesque: a quaint old house.

2.

strange, peculiar, or unusual in an interesting, pleasing, oramusing way: a quaint sense of humor.

3.

skillfully or cleverly made.

4.

Obsolete . wise; skilled.

I think the first definition is the most accurate to what I experienced. I am after all a city boy, but despite that I have spent a fair amount of my time in the countryside. What I really notice whenever I stay in the countryside is my ability to get up early without feeling as tired and my ability to eat breakfast as soon as I get up.

Something about the atmosphere and environment changes me. I would be very curious to know if anyone else has noticed a similar thing.

I think I feel most at home in more Quaint settings, or should I say, at peace. I know my good friend Nel is equally fond of old fashioned houses and cottages. Maybe when she is a rich author she’ll by me out in Ireland.

Wales itself is a quaint little country and gets what I can only describe as an unjustified negative attachment. Wales is beautiful and Welsh people are lovely and kind and I would even go as far to say that there is not a well established community of people who practice bestiality.

I think I like quaintness because it is not as guilty, large cities you can see the vast consumption of the natural world, in a quaint little cottage you feel less of a burden on nature, you can see forests and mountains and other natural beauties, you can hear birds and the soft wind. Rather than destruction.

I don’t believe humans were ever supposed to live in the vast communities that we do. I would even be tempted to go on a village or tribal basis (only in the point of view of working with nature rather than against it)

DFTBA