Why Lampposts?

So, you may or may not be wondering why my blog is called “At the Lamppost.” Does she really like lampposts? Did she get the idea from a book or movie? Is there a deeper meaning behind the name? The answer is “yes, all of the above.”

The existence of lampposts came into my life at the tender age of two. It started with my dad reading The Chronicles of Narnia as my bedtime stories. Even that young, I never wanted to stop reading and would always ask him to read another chapter. Adventures always seemed to start “at the lamppost” – whether it was a misbegotten fawn or a quest for the white stag who could grant wishes. The Narnia books made them magical, and I can never see them otherwise.

Lampposts were the first thing I started to climb, besides kitchen counters. You can also blame this on my dad, because he worked as an arborist and had me climbing at an early age. My lamppost-climbing stage did not last long though, and I quickly moved onto bigger things, like trees and rocks.

As I got older, lampposts were still magical. (yes, I still believe in magic and faeries. If you don’t you should watch the episode of Ghost Hunters in Ireland.) However, I began to appreciate them for their natural beauty as well. They make excellent backgrounds for pictures. See my blog title for an example. That picture was taken a little over a year ago. The dog in the picture is my dog, Vander.

Finally, lampposts even made an important appearance in the anime I watched. There are many significant lampposts in anime and manga. For example: in the theme song for Cowboy Bebop, any scene where someone is running down a sidewalk (there is always that repeating lamppost), and many Hayao Miyazaki movies. My all-time favorite appearance is in the movie Spirited Away, when Sen and her companions take the train to visit Zeniba.


Well, now you know the big secret about my blog title. Be sure to use this knowledge wisely, and mayhap you will start your own adventure at a lamppost… :)