Little Cruxes

I'm reading a novel published exactly twenty years ago- Mr Golightly's Holiday by Salley Vickers. It's a traditional, well made novel about a traditional, well made writer who has taken himself off to Dartmoor to begin work on his latest project. For the first time in his career he will be using a laptop. He has to dial up to get a connection- and- when communicating with his employees back in London- finds himself perplexed by the etiquette of email.

Ah, I remember those days, but only because Vickers has reminded me...

The novel as a literary form has many uses- and one of them is to record and thereby preserve these little cruxes of social history...

Incidentally, Mr Golightly's latest project is to bring his earlier chef d'oeuvre up to date by recasting it as a soap opera. He has been inspired to do this by watching "Neighbours" 

Black And White And/Or Silver

 I dreamed I was hanging out with a bunch of people dressed in black and white- or maybe it was black and silver. These were my friends. And when I woke I thought, "I should remember this." but then I went back to sleep again and when I got up in the morning all but the basics had gone.

Who in history dressed in black and white (and/or silver)? The Dominicans? The Knights of Malta? Spanish courtiers in the age of Velasquez? Actors in productions of The Duchess of Malfi...?