🌲🌲🌲🌲 The Lone Chair in the Riga Dockyards 🌲🌲🌲🌲
A dreamer, a fatalist and an introvert. I suppose that’s what you need to be to spend your life, like me, in the docks in Riga.
I may be a child of the twentieth century, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t known my share of violence and catastrophes. Once I was knocked half senseless when some man or other teetered unsteadily past, gave me a kick and, in a fit of anger, hurled me straight into the dry dock. That was a close shave, believe me. I could easily have ended up with a broken backrest. The ship was on keel blocks at the time, so it was nothing short of a miracle that I survived. Thankfully, someone working in the docks saw to it that I could get back on my feet again.
So here I am now, standing on the floor of the dock beside a cargo vessel that originally came from Holland and is now fast approaching 50 years of age. She’s in dry dock and I’m close at hand – ready to be used as a little step-ladder, a seat, or a place for the dockyard workers to slake their thirst with an occasional beer or two.
With all these patches of oil, grease and dirt on my seat, you may find it hard to imagine that I can trace my lineage back to what was once a tall, majestic pine tree. But that’s what life is like when your main purpose is to provide a place for workers to sit down and take a breather now and again. There’s no sign of another chair anywhere to be seen, so when night-time comes, I’m left all alone to dream and fantasise to my heart’s content. About how I ended up here, for example, and the kind of life I once used to lead. Rumour has it that it was here in Latvia that I first saw the light of day.
Of course, there are some things I wish for. I’ve seen on the internet, for instance, that you can get gift vouchers for massages and beauty treatments as a Christmas 💫. That’s something that’s at the very top of my own wish list. It sounds absolutely wonderful. Imagine being able to be nice and clean again, all spruced up and painted in the same beautiful blue colour as a summer evening sky.
What a dream that would be – especially for someone like me, all on my own, out here in the dockyards of Riga.
By Gun Bjerkander Handberg
🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲
🌲Christmas Gift Idea 🌲From the Editor
This blog is a continuation of the elegant book series author by Gun Bjerkander Handberg, ‘Please Be Seated – Historic Chairs and The Tales They Tell. Three beautiful books filled with charming tales of inspirational chairs and musings of a four-legged variety.
If you enjoy the blog, both books are now available online or to order from you local book shop, just in time for Christmas.
Please Be Seated – Winnie & Bessie ISBN: 978-0-9927084-9-8
Please Be Seated – Historic Chairs and The Tales They Tell ISBN: 978-0-9927084-7-4
Please Be Seated – More Historic Chairs ISBN: 978-0-9927084-8-1
Please Be Seated 