The Paternal Optimist

Boy Wonder : Man Of Many Colours

Some time ago,  the PO and the BW had a long and fascinating conversation about the BW's chromesthetic tendencies.

Chromesthesia (sometimes spelt chromaesthesia) is a specific variant of synesthesia (or synaesthesia).

And what, I hear you ask, is synesthesia ? Well, it's when you experience a reaction to some form of sensory stimulation that manifests itself through one of the senses other than that you would normally expect. So for example, on listening to a piece of music you smell something.

Probably the most common form of chromesthesia is coloured hearing - you hear music or a particular sound, and you see a colour.  It was something similar to this that the BW explained to me - except that in his case, it wasn't music that was stimulating the colour sensation - it was the days of the week. He explained to me in great detail how he felt the colour of each day of the week, and how this was relatd to the way he looked forward to the days ahead of him.

I was reminded of our conversation a few days ago when I came across this site. It turns out that as part of the Biennale Design in 2004, a designer came up with the idea of producing a set of tee-shirts, one for each day of the week.  And to do so, she asked a group of contributors to vote for the colour they most associated with each day.

I don't remember exactly what colour each day of the week was in the BW's own personal rainbow calendar, but I half-remember that Thursdays were brown for him. And the colour of the Thursday tee-shirt ? Brown, of course...

The project, it seems did not end there - by clicking here, you can go to a page where you can vote on the colour you associate with each day. And you can see the latest  results, which interestingly are sometimes identical and sometimes very different from those used to create the initial tee-shirts.  For example, Saturday remains red, and Sunday is still white. But, predictably perhaps, Monday has changed from light blue to grey...

A Boy Wonder Summer Special

Though some might consider this site a sort of virtual equivalent of the Periodicals Room at the British Library - a place where the finest minds this side of the Cumberland Gap come together to browse and to lose themselves for an hour or two in writing of the highest literary quality - it cannot have escaped the attention of regular readers, blessed as they all are with exceptional analytical skills, that the writing here has become - well, let's just say a little too periodical.

No, I cannot deny it. The PO has been shamefully neglecting his readers, not to mention the villian hero of this piece, the Boy Wonder himself. Why, I shouldn't wonder that some bespectacled lawyer isn't already working in some dust-laden, ill-lit attic somewhere on a draft warrant for my arrest for wilful parental neglect.

[Incidentally, if you have been worrying since the first paragraph whether you are on the right or the wrong side of the Cumberland Gap, just take my word for it - and unfortunately I have neither the time nor the inclination here to go into the complex pyscho-geographico-semantic explanation of why this is true - that wherever you are, you are, without question, this side of the Cumberland Gap, and that by mere virtue of reading this you therefore fall within the definition of "the finest minds" this side of the said - er, gap. Unless, of course, you are actually in the Cumberland Gap, in which case the PO can offer you nothing but his most heartfelt commiserations.]

It's all very well apologizing, I hear you both cry in unison, But what are you actually going to do about it ?

Well, I'm going to declare this summer recess over, for one thing. Henceforth, the PO will attempt to post at least a couple of times a week (providing he actually gets some material from the BW - and believe me, that's no given).

And as a special treat, I'm going to give you a BUMPER summary of what the BW has been doing since the last post appeared here precisely a month and a day ago...

• The BW has read, beautifully, the Arthur Hamilton ode Rain Sometimes at the Lovebirds' Wedding (reported here).
• The BW has watched, with a mixture of curiosity and embarrassment, the Lovebirds, the Mad Professor, My Favourite (with a u, cos' she's NOT American) Aunt, the Recluse and the Principal strut their funky stuff at the Lovebirds' Wedding.
• The BW has seen the PO attempt to speak coherently while very, very drunk at the Lovebirds' Wedding
• Presumably seeking solace from the madness all around, the BW has slurped his first Pimms, at the Lovebirds' Wedding
• The BW has enjoyed a relaxing vacation in the west of France
• The BW called the PO on the morning of the fourth day of the Second Test to tell him he had been watching the final overs of England's nailbiting victory over the Aussies and how EXCITING he had found it - which, believe me, is VERY good news.
• The BW has been abseiling, while on a residential music course
• The BW has been trampolining while on a residential music course
• The BW has had some fantastic masterclasses while on a residential music course
• The BW has performed a Chopin Nocturne while on a residential music course - as last year, his performance was recorded, and the PO will be delighted to share it with you so that you may gauge the BW's progress as soon as he receives a copy of the recording, probably some time just before Christmas
• The BW, inspired by his friend Hamish Dustygear (or something similarly composer-like), has composed his first piece of piano music - entitled Invention No. 1, inspired by Bach. In C Minor and marked allegro con spirito, it lasts 29 bars, and ends dramatically on a pesante. The Mother Superior says it sounds like Schumann. The PO will get his chance to judge for himself this Thursday evening, and will no doubt take the opportunity to get his pesky recording machine out, given half a chance. Watch this space, as it were.
• The BW has played a great deal of Star Wars lego, purely in the unselfish aim of entertaining his youngest sibling, obviously...

Oh, and not to be outdone, not only did Button attend the same residential music course as the BW (and stay up MUCH too late every night chatting to her friends), but she also scored a Distinction in her Grade IV piano AND - wait for it - scored a higher mark in her Grade V music theory than the BW managed, with a whopping, gob-smacking, mind-boggling 84 ! Way to go, girl !

What a good thing there's no sibling rivalry there...

So there you are, folks. That's the summer summed up. Normal service - if such a thing ever existed here at the PO's - will resume shortly...