CANDLELIGHT MAKES LIFE MORE BEAUTIFUL

Rab is enjoying the cosy life at home – the flickering flames of umpteen tea lights lending a snug atmosphere to blockbusters of yesteryear in glorious Technicolor

Ilike being cosy, me. At night, for watching a DVD, I put the big light and table lamps off, and switch on my flickering electric candles and my little electric tea lights that change colour. They take me back to childhood – memories of a Christmas present, a torch that changed colour.

I don’t always put them all on because that means I must switch them all off again later, and I’m far too busy for that sort of thing, particularly when going to bed.

But, some nights, I put on the whole subdued light show, and that includes – though sparingly – proper candles.

There’s nothing like these for creating a snug atmosphere.

Perhaps it’s an atavistic thing, conjuring ancient memories from back in the days when we lived in caves and made them snug as we sat down with a box

of nuts and berries to watch the drawings of aurochs on the wall. Proper candles flicker and cast shadows less predictably than battery-operated ones.

They’re more elemental. Fire, “man’s red flower”, as the philosopher Plato described it. Not Plato. That monkey in The Jungle Book. Always get those two mixed up.

There’s a little thrill of wonder in lighting up a match and applying it to the wick.

Flames are edgy, but candles are generally safe unless you try to sit with one on your heid. You don’t want a fire in your follicles.

You need the right candles too. I try to avoid ones containing chemicals or paraffin, and that generally means going online for supplies.

You tend not to get the fancy pongs with these more spartan ones, which is a pity.

Of course, you don’t need to switch off all the lights to get a place cosy.

Sophisticated pals of mine are right dab hands at creating atmosphere through side-lighting, and even up and doon illumination, though really there’s not much to it. Just keep the big light off.

I think of my house as a dreadful mess but, recently, I was out doing something exciting – putting the bin out – and looked back at my sitting room and thought:

“Gosh, that looks nice and cosy.” My house! A room with a yellow glow. Through the open curtains, a glimpse of a bookcase, framed prints on the wall, an acoustic guitar

sitting on a stand.

The whole effect was enhanced, furthermore, by the outside, with a red mailbox and ivy growing up the wall.

Superficial, I suppose, but serendipity had conspired to

give the place a settled look, even though I’ll probably move on again this year.

As for DVDs watched this week, these included Margaret Rutherford as Miss Marple, and the 1945 film – in wonderful Technicolor – of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit.

I had sent off for it before discovering I already had it, in my DVD boxed collection of David Lean films.

Ah, the small things in life. They’re what get you through.

I’m writing this during the day – so no candlelight! But it looks cosy outside, too.

Unseasonal sun is shining. Birds are on the feeder. Perhaps they wonder about “man’s red fire”.

I hope that, as they try to sleep in the bushes outside the window, the candlelight doesn’t get on their wick.

FLAMES ARE EDGY, BUT CANDLES ARE GENERALLY SAFE UNLESS YOU TRY TO SIT WITH ONE ON YOUR HEID

ELEMENTAL: Proper candles flicker and cast shadows less predictably than battery-operated ones.