Boat cabin
Grey swell outside, brass and varnish within, a dog already asleep
The saloon of a wooden boat: chart table spread with a coastal map, dividers and an open log book, a kettle steaming on the gimballed stove, and a spaniel curled on the settee berth under a wool blanket. Through the companionway the sea runs grey past a headland, and the brass lamp swings gently overhead. It smells of varnish, tea and wet oilskin, and nothing needs deciding for another hour.
Boat, Coast, Day, Overcast, Wind, Austere, Thinking, Travelling, Cold light
In this room
- A journal: what you write stays in the room, and only the people you choose can read it.
- A sound of its own — rain, a fire, a radio station to leave playing.
- A clock that keeps your time.
- A window with the real weather where you are.
- A note for the day, where you will see it.
- Frames for your own photographs.
- An assistant that knows the room and what you keep in it.
- A shelf for your files.
- A lamp that turns the room from light to dark.
- Steam rises from a cup.
- The lamps give a soft glow.
- After dark the same room has a night of its own, with its own light.