On the wall # 2

Song lyrics

You can't go wrong with a bit of Morrissey, and this line from Handsome Devil also neatly sums up my attitude to life.  It lives in a room lined with books and I see it every day as I walk out of the front door.  As with anything that you've lived with for a while, most days I look straight past it, but on the days I notice it it always makes me smile.

Printing blocks

I have a passion for typography and text: an extension of my love of reading, I guess.  I found these vintage printing blocks in Spitalfields Market and managed to knock the seller down to £20 for the five.  They spell out my mother's maiden name, an unusual Afrikaans surname that my cousins all have while my brothers and I have to make do with 'Brown'.  It's a special name because my maternal grandpa was well known in South Africa as an anti-apartheid activist, and it's always bugged me a bit that I don't get to share in the famous name. 

Photographs

I do have some normal stuff up on the walls in amongst the pharmacy labels and statues.  These black and white photographs are from the 30s, 50s and 70s and were scavenged from my parents photograph albums.  I think my favourites are the one of my paternal grandparents wedding (her gorgeous 1930s silk wedding dress being the main attraction) and one of my mum on the beach in Durban when she was 3 years old.  So cute!