PLATO.. THE COMPLETE WORKS.

When she went upstairs for tea on Tuesday, she mentioned to Tereza that apart from reading new authors each week, she was also going to start reading 'The Classics' and she wasn't talking about Austen or Dickens.

She meant Virgil, Homer and Plato and Tereza, who is educating her two girls most beautifully, replied "well, you are welcome to borrow anything that we have" and led mama to the relevant bookcase.

She took down a fat book 'Plato' the complete works, they went back to the kitchen and finished their tea and mama came down with this 'brick' of a book in a her bag.

It's a dismally damp dreary day here in deepest Knightsbridge and she has just given me my breakfast, we woke up very late, and thought about this book.

And she marveled at several things that we, Dear Readers, all take for granted.

We take paper for granted, do we not? So imagine being a writer in the days of Plato. They wrote on Papyrus, an extraordinary and durable material which is / was made in several different qualities, from rough 'paper' to the finest smooth quality that was used for royal documents, for precious books and manuscripts.

Papyrus is made from a reed that grows in the Nile River Valley, highly specialized workshops produced it.

For people who did not have access to papyrus, they wrote on Parchment - a much heavier writing medium -  it is made from calf, goat and sheep skin, the word Vellum comes from the French word veau, this refers to parchment made from the skin of a calf.

Then there is the 'ink' with which they wrote and the coloured inks with which they illustrated their books and, of course, their 'pens'.

The ancients.. ie the Greeks and Romans valued their education extremely highly and wrote letters, books and manuscripts, the wonders of which you can find in the great museums of today.

Then there's the last thing that makes all of these authors works so extraordinary.. they only wrote by natural light or by 'candle' light. There weren't any light switches.. for there was no 'light' to be switched on.

It makes you wonder, doesn't it, well, she certainly did, for it made her marvel at these wondrous books and she hasn't even opened this one yet.

Dismal day or not, she has to go out for some things and I, with my tumtum full of egg and tea am going to doze on a door. We'll be back later at some point and wish you all a pleasant day, even if it's as dismal as it is here.

GeeGee Parrot.
January 11th, 2018.