On a word

Oh my word, what a difference. As you may be aware if you have read any of my previous Musings, I have ended up living where I live not really by design but of necessity. Consequently the Flat and I have rather a fractious relationship, although it has improved immeasurably of late owing to the banishment of the wrong stairs and the vanquishing of the sulky off-white. Now all that remains is the moth-eaten carpet, which is of course quite ancient and literally eaten by moths. I have a plan for it. The other issue with the Flat is the building in which it is situated, being one of three in a converted Edwardian house. The house itself is really very attractive but oh… a very long time ago, someone had the bright idea of painting the façade orange. Not a tasteful terracotta, if there is such a thing in our northern light, but rather an ugly, dirty, browny orange. The only virtue in the colour was that it made us easy to find. But how deflating it was to return to each day. Its ugliness even overshadowed the garden, which despite at least two efforts to improve it, resolutely remained home to the odd forlorn bush, a thriving colony of weeds and I suspect a loo for the local cats, perhaps not even excepting the Cat. Something had to be done. So it was. Eventually.

The façade is newly painted, the scaffolding has come down, the garden has been tidied up, and my pots planted with pretty flowers and scented herbs. And lo… we are no longer the embarrassment of the street. Neighbours have even voluntarily crossed the road to congratulate us on the transformation. Yes, really. It was that bad. Coming home is now an enriching experience, for as Paul Klee wisely noted, what “one eye sees, the other feels”.

Enrich. It’s a powerful word. I’ve looked it up. It can mean: to add greater value or significance to, as in “Art enriches life”; to supply with abundance anything desirable, as in “enrich the mind with knowledge”; to adorn or decorate, as in “a picture frame enriched with gold”; and to make finer in quality, as in “enrich the soil”. It even has a fabulous array of synonyms – great words like embellish or cultivate or endow or augment. A word to live by I think, especially now, at this pivotal moment in our history when it behoves us all to think more thoughtfully about how we interact with the world and our effect on it.

It’s a rare thing indeed to find a word that so perfectly encapsulates everything one is striving to achieve. I am quite overcome.