Retrospective Friday Five
This was last week's, but I spent so much time mulling over the questions that I've only just got round to essaying answers.
1) What is the oldest thing you own?
Can I count the piece of amber in a pendant with fossil water in it? If not (and I honestly haven't gone checking my bookshelves for ancient editions of things), probably a carved wooden egg acquired by my maternal great-grandfather when he was in Russia in the 1850s constructing mill machinery. Though there are also some bits and bobs of family jewellery and knickknacks that I can't date precisely.
2) What is the oldest home you've lived in?
Not actually sure when Ye Family Mansion was built (I was trying to work out when that street became built up during the course of this week, but no luck): I would guess late Victorian era, though whether that was before or after my present residence (1890s London suburban terrace, converted into flats in the 1970s) I wouldn't know.
3) What is the oldest book you've read?
Duckies, I worked in libraries holding Ye Antient Manuscriptz of Grate Antiquitee, though I suppose looking at them doesn't necessarily count as reading. And do The Classix in translation count? - in which case, um, The Odyssey? The Poems of Sappho?
4) What is the oldest electronic device that you still use?
Probably my handheld blender.
5) What is the oldest work of art/architecture that you've seen?
Probably during last year's trip to Malta: maybe the megalithic temples at Ggantija on Gozo, or the Hypogeum and the Tarxien Temples or maybe something in the Archaeological Museum.
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