Clocks and chandeliers

My brother told me that he’s interested in clocks. He said it as though it’s something innate that he discovered about himself, maybe even that surprised him, that he couldn’t control. It’s been there all along, but it’s just bubbled up to the surface all of a sudden.

I told him that I’m interested in chandeliers. I don’t think that it’s an innate thing that I’m drawn to chandeliers specifically, but I’m intrinsically attracted to their sparkliness and structural grace.

Those elements are embodied by the thirty-three starburst chandeliers at the Metropolitan Opera. The eleven that hang in the lobby have been sent off on holiday in Vienna. They will be repaired and refurbished, all expenses paid by Swarovski.

My brother and I take off tomorrow for a beach holiday, though I don’t expect to encounter many chandeliers—or clocks—on the Cape.