"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
DAY ONE
People are afraid of flying. I’ve never understood that. It’s a most remarkable experience; yes, even in a cramped seat in a noisy compartment on a three-hour budget flight with no food. You are still in the air. You are Above. It is extraordinary in the most direct and apt way; you are outside the ordinary. The ordinary is pushed down, rendered for a score of minutes into a mosaic of green and brown and mercury, and then you’re with the clouds.
There has never been a better time to be alive, and that is not simply thanks to penicillin, flush toilets and central heating, it’s because now we can look down on the clouds. Clouds are utterly faithful to their promise of ethereal beauty. When I was very young, I imagined clouds to be warm and soft to the touch, because I knew they were water, and so therefore they must be steam because that’s what they looked like, and steam was warm. Perfect logic. Of course, they are not warm, but in the air-conditioned cylinder of your midweek commercial flight, they fulfil their old promise because they are awash with sunlight – no matter the daytime weather beneath, the cloud tops must be exposed to the sun, that is their guarantee, that is their tiny miracle.
Renaissance artists must have felt this love of clouds, and appreciation of their natural splendour, and having always felt separated from their true glory were moved to populate them with putti and seraphim; so perfect was their approximation of the wonderfulness of being above cloud level that to be there now is to expect these heavenly denizens to be there with you. But they are not. You are alone above a landscape that is forever changing, forever unique, forever special for you; rolling cirrus meadows and boiling mountaintops across unfathomed distance. You are an explorer and this is your new-found land.
But with all this beauty and isolation there is also an obligation – you must return, you must descend, back to the imperfect.
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Book Description Soft cover. Condition: Good. Seller Inventory # 004580
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Care of Wooden Floors This book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. See all our books here, order more than 1 book and get discounted shipping. Seller Inventory # 7719-9780007431267
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Very Good. This book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. See all our books here, order more than 1 book and get discounted shipping. Seller Inventory # 6545-9780007431267
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Very Good. 304 pages. price labels marks on front, edge tanning, otherwise Near Fine:CARE OF WOODEN FLOORSBy Will Wi lesHarperPress, UK, 2012ISBN 978000743126 7sml trade pb, 304ppVERY GOOD: price labels mar ks on front, edge tanning, otherwise near-newA bold a nd brilliant debut from a darkly funny new voice.Oska r is a minimalist composer best known for a piece called Variatio ns on Tram Timetables. He is married to a Californian art dealer named Laura and he lives with two cats, named after Russian compo sers, in an Eastern European city. But this book isn't really abo ut Oskar. Oskar is in Los Angeles, having his marriage dismantled by lawyers. He has entrusted an old university friend with the t ask of looking after his cats, and taking care of his perfect, be autiful apartment. Despite the fact that Oskar has left dozens of surreally detailed notes covering every aspect of looking after the flat, things do not go well.Care of Wooden Floors is about how a tiny oversight can trip off a disastrous and f arcical (fatal, even) chain of consequences. It's about a friends hip between two men who don't know each other very well. It's abo ut alienation and being alone in a foreign city. It's about the q uest for perfection and the struggle against entropy. And it is, a little, about how to take care of wooden floors. Seller Inventory # 1105i