Tuesday 28 October 1662
At the office sitting all the morning, and then home to dinner with my wife, and after dinner she and I passing an hour or two in ridiculous talk, and then to my office, doing business there till 9 at night, and so home and to supper and to bed.
My house is now in its last dirt, I hope, the plasterer and painter now being upon winding up all my trouble, which I expect will now in a fortnight’s time, or a little more, be quite over.
15 Annotations
First Reading
A. De Araujo • Link
"she and I passing an hour or two in ridiculous talk"
Were they telling jokes to each other?
Terry F • Link
"my wife...and I passing an hour or two in ridiculous talk"
Sweet nothings? = everythings in an affectionately companionionable marriage; but perhaps Sam'l means here what he says/writes in its aftermath.
Terry F • Link
"ridiculous talk”
Contrast this remark with everything else -- both substance and tone -- in this day's entry.
Methinks, for all his recent protestations about wedded bliss, his heart is elsewhere: there is his persistent concern with a broader pleasure (hedonic) principle.
SP the goal-oriented man?
Pauline • Link
"...the plasterer and painter now being upon winding up all my trouble..."
Nicely said.
Robert Gertz • Link
"...ridiculous talk..."
"See Sam'l, after reading all your notes on the case at Brampton, I was thinking I'm sure with your guidance I could handle the courses at Cambridge and as a lawyer be a great help to you. And act as an advocate for those poor seamen and their families. All I'd need is for you and Lord Sandwich to petition the King to demand they admit me." Bess gives wide smile...Her Sam as always sure to lend support.
"Uh. Sure, yeah. Great idea, dearest. I'll get on it...right away."
***
Cumgranissalis • Link
"...Ridiculous talk ----the plasterer and painter now being upon winding up all my trouble..."
Lines best writ by RG, go somup like this
"Listen Pricklouse, get this bloody mess cleaned up now ,I mean now, not to-morrow, I've put up with this mess long enough , you told me it were done except for a dab here and there, 'tis why I've came back from that miserable boondocks for a civilized life, not more of that country muck.....Mon Dieu."
Mary • Link
ridiculous.
(OED) Exciting ridicule or derisive laughter; absurd, preposterous, comical, laughable.
Note that Dr. Johnson, in 1755, defines 'ridicule as "Wit of that species that provokes laughter".
I doubt that Sam would be prepared to sit through 'an hour or two' of presposterous suggestions from Elizabeth, or a harangue about the building works. They're just enjoying one of those silly, inconsequential conversations that I assume all married couples hold from time to time for the sake of pure amusement.
Robert Gertz • Link
The fact that Sam spent an hour (or two?) after dinner with Bess suggests he and she were kidding around and that he had a great time, chiding himself just a little for spending so much time away from the office.
I like to think they played at being Lord and Lady Pepys...After doing the comely French maiden captured en route to her convent school by the roguish but gentlemanly highwayman...
Or maybe...
"Now Sam'l, the purser's accounts are as easy as pie." Bess pulls the book over... "Look, you take column one and..."
***
Terry F • Link
See what draws our interest!!
So far we have spent 7/8 = 0.875 of our annotations on 11/88 = 0.125 of this entry.
Robert Gertz • Link
I dunno Terry. Are you using "ridiculous talk" or "ridiculous" for your basic figure? Cause I used "an hour or two, after dinner..." as well and others used additional words which may well throw your calculations off.
This begins to remind me of that Mad magazine tiny print box that used to say anyone trying to read this is willing to try and inscribe "what me worry" on the head of a pin...
Pauline • Link
"...and so home and to supper and to bed..."
Terry F, Sam has said so little else that we can pontificate on. Show us the way.
Second Reading
Terry Foreman • Link
"the plasterer and painter now being upon winding up all my trouble, which I expect will now in a fortnight’s time, or a little more, be quite over."
Pauline, would you say " a fortnight’s time, or a little more" was "now being upon winding up"? I was surprised the prospect of more than two weeks' work yet --17th-century standards for home rehab -- had escaped comment.
Bridget Davis • Link
Ridiculous talk...
He so rarely mentions his wife, I have every intention of celebrating when he does. I'm thinking he enjoyed the talk, or he wouldn't have engaged her for one to two hours. :)
GrannieAnnie • Link
"the plasterer and painter now being upon winding up all my trouble, which I expect will now in a fortnight’s time, or a little more, be quite over."
Sam drops in some sarcasm here? The workmen say they are "winding up" the job to placate Sam which he interprets as actually meaning more than half a month later.
Ivan • Link
L&M read: "And after dinner, she and I passing an hour or two in harmless talk"!!