Easter Thoughts Latent – But My Chinese Soldier Risen from the Dead «

Easter Thoughts Latent – But My Chinese Soldier Risen from the Dead

Saturday 30th March 2013 (Easter Saturday)

Robert Nevil sent a Good Friday text: ‘Jesus died for you – the silly-billy.’

Let’s hope warmer weather will improve Robert Nevil’s mood.

He died but he rose again.

In the meantime: my Chinese soldier got knocked down the other day and his arm was smashed. I thought poor Libby Purves’ dead son’s disturbed diary as dramatised on the radio in the afternoon would make a good background for the glueing back together. At each attempt the shards just disappeared inside the soldier. Tilt him for five minutes back and forth to get them out. Libby’s son descends further into darkness. Glue again. Snap. A piece is rattling round the soldier’s hollow interior. Tilt. Out it comes. Libby’s son really bad. Near death. Again I glue. Again snap, then tilt. Libby’s son gone.

The only hope to fill the soldier with that expanding foam stuff to give support, pare the broken pieces down so they’ll fit, glue together, then fill the gaps with Milliput (a modelling clay), sand, then re-paint the damaged areas.

The costs were only about £20 and several visits to the handy shop. All the paints were in stock fortunately ( mean in my home stock room). But the soldier was a present from Aunt Lavinia, priced £7.50 from the British Museum shop.

I’m reeling from the result. You’ve just never know. How did I get the colours right? What a miracle! There’s a ground of grey with a wash of terracotta over the top.

What an Easter story!

May Poor Little Rich Gays here and throughout the world, heal and reconcile without gooeyness or anything resembling relationship-therapy jargon and with the full promise of remaining impossible.