Sometimes, it is the quirky, the overlooked, or the downright difficult that brings us a smile or a thought. Sometimes, we need moments like these, an array of stories, not neatly correlated but a jump from one thought to another, to wander and wonder.
Born in 1875 in Arles, France, Jeanne Calment witnessed the turning of two centuries and the transformations they brought with them. At the age of 90, Jeanne entered into a contract with 47-year-old lawyer André-François Raffray, who agreed to pay her a monthly sum for her apartment, assuming he would acquire it upon her death. However, Calment lived to the remarkable age of 122, outliving Raffray, who died at 77. On the day Raffray died, Calment “dined on foie gras, duck thighs, cheese, and chocolate cake at her nursing home.” The Raffrays continued the payments until her death. Reflecting on the arrangement, Jeanne Calment remarked,
“In life, one sometimes makes bad deals.”
Calment drank port wine regularly and ate more than two pounds of chocolate weekly until she was 119. She remained active throughout her life, taking up fencing at 85 and continuing to ride a bicycle until her 100th birthday.
In 1810, Theodore Hook bet his friend Samuel Beazley that he could make any London address famous within a week. Choosing Mrs. Tottenham’s house on Berners Street as his target, Hook orchestrated an elaborate prank. It began early on November 27 when a chimney sweep arrived, mistakenly claiming he was summoned to clean. Before long, eleven more sweeps appeared, each dismissed by the bewildered housemaid.
Then, a line of coal delivery carts and cake makers bearing large wedding cakes arrived. Afterward, a flood of supposed professionals, doctors, lawyers, and clergy all duped into believing they were urgently needed to tend to a dying resident. Prominent figures like the Governor of the Bank of England, the Duke of York, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Lord Mayor of London also showed up, further clogging the already congested street.
The scene turned Berners Street into a spectacle, effectively bringing that part of London to a standstill, as newspapers reported, and winning Hook his wager. And yes, Hook did have to stay low “for a week or two.”
The prank worked, perhaps because it was a chain reaction of curiosity, assumptions, and following the crowd, proving how easily one can fabricate a spectacle out of thin air.
Dublin Canvas is a community street art project transforming dull utility boxes across Dublin into works of art. Given their placement in public areas, utility boxes (structures that house essential services such as electricity, telecommunications, and cable connections) are highly visible to pedestrians and drivers, making them ideal candidates for artistic transformation.
Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest ones!
www.dublincanvas.com in the Why Section
The artworks often reflect themes relevant to Dublin’s culture, history, and community values, making each piece unique.
Their Instagram account feels like a treasure hunt, as all works are vibrant or cheeky!
Take, for example, the Overend sisters tribute near the Airfield Estate, a working farm and gardens. The Airfield Estate was home to the Overend family, and sisters Letitia and Naomi Overend established the Airfield Trust to care for the farm and house after their deaths.
And the painting that made me, a Romanian living in Dublin, tear up:
Morgan Housel’s blog at Collab Fund is always peppered with stories and little-known anecdotes that blend financial insights with visceral human truths.
One such anecdote is about Nobel laureate Robert Shiller, who built a U.S. housing index dating back to the 1800s by digging through an obscure 1950s research book he found in the library. “Wonderful book,” he said, “but nobody reads it.”
There’s a well-known idea in real estate that you earn the highest ROI on the ugliest properties no one wants to own. The same is true for so many things in life: The unsexy work, where there’s little competition, is where some of the biggest ideas are found.
Morgan Housel – A Few Little Ideas And Short Stories
Another anecdote from Housel’s blog is one with David Letterman and Jerry Seinfeld. In 1990, David Letterman asked Jerry Seinfeld how his new sitcom was going. Jerry admitted he was frustrated that NBC’s comedy writers weren’t delivering much good material.
“Wouldn’t it be weirder if they were good?” David asked.
“What do you mean?” Jerry asked.
“Wouldn’t it be strange if they could all just produce reams of hilarious material day after day?”
Years later, Seinfeld laughed, recalling the moment: “It’s supposed to be hard.”
Morgan Housel – It’s Supposed To Be Hard
Perhaps this “it,” whether art, comedy, innovation, or a meaningful life, is supposed to be hard. Perhaps in the struggle, outliving expectations, curiosity, transforming the mundane, and the unseen effort, we find the extraordinary, built moment by imperfect moment.