Mr. Bingley Experiments with Drugs

Mr. Bingley, of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice fame, was spoken of as "lively and unreserved" with "unaffected manners".  He was easy going and didn't care about class differences.  Charm came naturally to him and besides being handsome he was rich and just an all around pleasant fellow.

Of course I've read the book too many times to count and my favorite film is the six hour long BBC production starring Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy and Crispin Bonham-Carter as Mr. Bingley.  The quality of the acting is outstanding in that version but I have to admit that as far as looks go I prefer the Mr. Bingley played by Simon Woods in the 2005 Keira Knightly production of Pride and Prejudice.  There is just something about that shock of orange red hair and the way that his face lights up in a smile that is charming.

So charming did we find him and his style that we couldn't help but think of this Mr. Bingley when we brought our new cat home from the SPCA several years ago.  Our cat who was originally named "Houston" had gotten out of his cage and climbed up into the duct work of the building causing staff to call the manager and explain, "Houston, we have a problem".  We saw his picture on the SPCA website and drove out to Maple Ridge to have a visit.  There were many cats to chose from but our fellow was a charmer who laid down and rolled around on the floor of the visiting room, making eyes and begging us to come and pet him.

When we brought him home I don't know if we had the movie on or if it was just seeing our new cat sit very gentlemanly on the bookshelf but both Keeley and I looked at each other and said, "Mr. Bingley" in unison.  Our Mr. Bingley has a mane of orange on his head, more orange wrapped around his shoulders and back while the rest of him is white.  When he sits, front feet together, he looks as if he's a stately gentleman in regency era breeches and a jacket.  His personality matches Jane's Mr. Bingley well.  He doesn't care about

classes, going to most people for attention  and he is definitely an all-around pleasant fellow who charms pretty much everyone who comes in

to the house.

Today, though we got to see the "unaffected manner" side of our kitty. 

He is still young and plays quite often but today he was running around the house like a wild-man goofy cat--jumping, leaping, playing with anything he could get his claws on and his eyes were huge and a little glazed.  I was beginning to wonder if there was some truth to the full moon go-crazy theory and then I walked into the bathroom.  The truth was all too evident.   Mr. Bingley had very obviously been experimenting with "drugs".  We have a number of very small narrow shelves next to our tub and he must have stood on his hind legs to reach all the way into the back and somehow drag a herbal bath bag down on to the floor.  He then proceeded to completely shred it and spread it all over the room.   Obviously the lavender mint herbal mixture had something in it, perhaps similar to cat nip, that made him go nuts.  He must have imbibed quite a bit because there was not a whole lot left and what was was not spread around the room was a soggy chewed on mess.

Thankfully, after about an hour, our calm, genial, Mr. Bingley returned and for the past few hours he's been sitting on the window seat in front of our living room window.  I'm not sure if he's still too stoned to do much or recovering from expending too much energy.   Who knows what Mr. Darcy would say about his friend trying "drugs" but hopefully Mr. Bingley has learned his lesson and no future intervention will be necessary.  And as a responsible parent I promise not to buy any more bath infusion mixtures that might be too much of a temptation for our gracious, well-mannered gentleman.  

Mr. Bingley with Jane Austen

Salynne ©2011 

The New York Narrative - Jane Austen & Other Celebrities

Our final day arrived and we spent the morning packing our suitcases and getting ready. Keeley had found out that a Jane Austen exhibition had opened at The Morgan Library on Madison Ave the previous day so we dragged all of our luggage to the subway & to the museum.

Just as we walked into the museum lobby, Richard Gere walked right in front of us. I did a double take and so did my son. "Was that...?" There was no doubt. And ladies, let me tell you, that grey hair is just as silky, shiny and "want to run your fingers through it" smooth as it appears in movies. Mr. Gere walked to the dining room and obviously had lunch there because he came out some time later while BFF, Keeley and I were in the exhibit. My son & DIL were sitting in the entranceway waiting for us and he stood there for some time and waited for his car to arrive. They said he was quiet, unassuming and looks & talks exactly like he does in movies. We certainly did wonder if we would see a celebrity on the trip to New York but I have to say that seeing someone like Richard Gere in such a place was completely unexpected. I have to admit that although I've always thought of him as a grey fox but my opinion of him has raised a notch or two; I mean really....nice hair and Jane Austen lover....what more could a woman ask for?

The exhibition itself included over 100 pieces of Jane's work including manuscripts, personal letters and related materials. Jane's letters to her sister Cassandra were very revealing about her personality, their lives and the social mores of society during that period of time. The dispatch to her neice was cleverly written backwards and challenging to read but it showed her humour and her relationship to her family. Rare editions of Jane's books as well as illustrations of various characters from her novels made for a well-rounded look at one of our favorite author's lives.
Playing in a walled off enclosure in one corner of the exhibition a short film about Jane featured various artists and actors. It was here in this small place that I had opportunity to pay close attention to the other women and one man who were there at the exhibition. In fact I had to sit through the film several times because I kept missing parts and getting distracted by the interesting personalities that came in and out of the viewing area. When it came to fashion my jeans and top were the only non-designer and un-pressed, not perfect, outfit in the room. I tried to tuck the ragged hem of my jeans under the stool I was on. At some point an older jewish woman with a 5 or 6 carat diamond ring on her finger and sporting a hand-carved cane sat down beside me. Several actors answered the question, "If you could have Jane Austen for dinner, who else from history would you invite?". The answers ranged from the pope to Freud. In a very cultured New York accent my neighbour turned to me and whispered, "My god, Jane would just be turning over in her grave if she heard such foolishness". Of course I gave her my most sophisticated head nod and agreed, after all one doesn't argure with a Madison Avenue queen bee brandishing a cane.

From there we visited the gift shop where we picked up a fabulous little book entitled "The Jane Austen Handbook--A Sensible yet Elegant Guide to her World". It discuss things such as How to Become an Accomplished Lady, How to Get Rid of Unwanted Guests and How to Behave at a Dinner Party among other very interesting topics. This is a read aloud book and Keeley and I have been having some good laughs as we go through it, although I'm not certain how the chapter on How to Marry off your Daughter is going to go over.


Spending time at the museum was one of those unexpected but very pleasureable events that somehow just seem to drop into your lap. I'm so glad we took the opportunity to attend even though it was not on our planned itinerary. Jane would have approved,

"Why not seize the pleasure at once, how often is happiness destroyed by preparation, foolish preparations"~Jane Austen.

Salynne ©2009