Ker-ikey.....it's the letter K

Today, a la Sesame Street, my post is brought to you courtesy of the letter K.

From: The Dumb language, or the Art of talking with the fingers.'

I've been given this 'fun' task by Pam - who assigned me this letter because she thought 'K' will take some imagination and thinks I've got plenty. Well thanks Pam - we'll see about that.

There are of course some guidelines:

1. Write about ten things you love that begin with a given letter
2. Post the list on your blog.
3. When people comment on your list, you assign them a new letter and the game continues.

Right, I can cope with that. OK. Scratch head. Think.

First up we'll have a quick lesson about letter K - no pain without gain folks. It's the 11th letter of the Latin alphabet, Greek 'kappa' - from the Semitic 'kap' = open hand. (Imagine something hieroglyphic here.) Linguistically no one loved it and over the centuries poor ol' K has been sidelined in favour of 'c' but it still seems to hang on in spite of the fact that most things with a 'k' would be fine without. Think about it.

I've had to resort to the dictionary. Incidently there's a lot of stuff there beginning with 'K' that frankly should get the elbow: Karaoke, kippers, kissograms, the Klu Klux Klan and Kumquats...oh, and kohlrabi that most incomprehensible of cabbages.

So, 10 things I love - and in no particular order:

1. Ketchup - Heinz tomato sauce. The best. Bacon sandwiches. With ketchup. Drool.

2. Kindness- 'the state or quality of being kind.' There's nothing wrong with that is there?

3. Kites - what fun. Let's go fly a kite.


















4. Knowledge - not just what London cab drivers must acquire - but knowing stuff - things that education instills. Little pub quiz snippets or big serious things. It's never too late. Go out and get it.

5. King James Bible - Listen to the poetry and power of the words. All these new-modern interpretations are a bit like vicars on motorcycles or stacking chairs instead of pews. 'Tis flying in the face of nature. Where's the mystery and magic?

6. Kimmax Kracking Shot: aka Chester. He can be hard to love at times but he has the silkiest ears and means well. Perhaps.7. David Kindersley - Lettercutter - he did it in stone. I quote:

'Letters make words. Words are one of the main ways we interpret and understand our world. We act on words. We find our way through words. We pass on knowledge through talking and writing with words. Literacy is a vital link in the web of humanity. Words can be spoken - existing for a moment; or written - so lasting for longer.'

Having served an apprenticeship under Eric Gill where he learned the disciplines of drawing and cutting letters from stone, Kindersley went on to found his own workshop.

His inscriptions are for me things of beauty and grace; elegance wrought in stone.

The Cardozo Kindersley Workshop, run by his wife Lida, continues this tradition. I am saving up. I would like a sundial. (So far can probably just about afford one very short word.)

8. Kir - crisp white wine with a dash of crème de cassis - or for high days and holidays make that Kir Royale by using champagne instead of wine. Accept no substitutes: crème de mûr or crème de pèche just Will Not Do.

9. Here I am c.1972. I am at 55 Piccadilly in Manchester which houses the Polytechnic's School of Graphic Design. I am posing for a photograph here to illustrate a fellow student's project about marital disharmony - hence the knife and the gun. (Come on - keep up.) I am wearing my kaftan. I did love that kaftan. I bought it from the Kensington Superstore sometime the previous summer and wore it ad infinitum. It was of soft Indian cotton in oranges and browns - the colours de nos jours. It had a hood too.

I occasionally think a kaftan would be quite nice to throw on at the end of the day but I think I might end up looking like an overstuffed sofa now. Not a good look.

10. '....raindrops on roses, whiskers on kittens, bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens, brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of etc. etc.'

That brown paper would be kraft paper - utilitarian, no nonsense wrapping paper for serious parcels. Crisp, rugged and just waiting to be folded round a box and put in the mail.

So there we have it - 10 'loved things'.

If you would like to have a go yourself I'll allocate a letter - I promise that x, y and z will stay in the box.