Burned

Villanueva, Spain, October 2016

It has been a hot, hot time and I have been suffering. Not just because I don't function very well in the heat, but because I was stupid enough to scald the back of my hand by pouring hot water onto it. I then compounded this stupidity with more stupidity by persuading the very helpful and obliging nurse in the Minor Injuries unit at work, who cleaned and dressed it on Friday morning, that it was OK for me not to come back until Monday, which turned out to be a Bad Idea. After that, I have followed their nursing advice to the letter. Except that I actually haven't because I'm not wearing the sling to keep my hand raised - how could I type? or drive?

In between typing and driving I am most definitely keeping the hand raised, because it jolly well hurts if I don't. And taking the antibiotics that have lessened the pain and angry redness and swelling that built up over the weekend of spending two days at the Leamington Peace Festival, in the searing heat. I also lost my best hat on Saturday, and wearing my second best hat on Sunday compelled me to buy a new best hat, which is not as good as my previous one, but will do for now.

The Peace Festival was good, and displayed Leamington at its finest in the scorching weather. I invited TaiChiY (my second cousin from London) to come and see the town and its festival - she could only come on Saturday, so I invited the Buddhists to join me on Sunday. I assembled just five Buddhists altogether, but two of them were kind enough to help move my household furniture as well as sitting around in the sun listening to some of the bands. On Saturday, given that TaiChiY is probably keener on Tai Chi than I am on badminton (imagine that!), I joined a Tai Chi workshop with a flustered little man who taught a small group of festival-goers a series of moves. It was surprisingly pleasant.

There is little else going on at the moment. The large shrubs in the garden have finished flowering and it's time to cut them down again, and the lawn needs mowing as always, and the upstairs sink needs unblocking, and there are more of my belongings to shift from one room to another. I'm getting rid of quite a lot of stuff in the process, but also finding interesting artifacts that I had forgotten about - a pack of letters saved from the early 1990's, for example. If there's anything interesting in there, it might find its way into a future post.

Hair today

Krakow Botanical Gardens, July 2016

It's been a long time since I sat down to write, and I was wondering why. I'm pretty sure it's because of an HBO television series called 'The Newsroom', which I started renting from LoveFilm because it is written by Aaron Sorkin, who also wrote the best TV I have ever watched ('The West Wing'). The Newsroom is not as good as The West Wing, but it is a very close second, and I bought the DVDs and have been rewatching the first series before even going on to series 2. Each episode is about 45 minutes, which I would otherwise spend noodling on the laptop, hence the lack of blogging. I could be watching an episode now, that's the sacrifice I'm making.

Recent activity: weeks ago I visited Lola II and Mr M for a weekend, my colleague left work and we had a night out to celebrate and commiserate, I had a large percentage of my hair cut off, I had a long meeting with the builder who's going to manage my kitchen renovation, there was an election, and I went to work and badminton and meditation in the usual way. We also did some meditation in the park as our contribution to Buddhist Action Month. BAM! "Don't just do something, sit there!"

While I was visiting Lola II and Mr M we went to a performance of 'Roller Diner' in London's Soho, and it was rather good, although it took a while for me to get comfortable with the style of it. I haven't been to the theatre for quite a long time, and our seats were right at the front so not much distance between me and the actors. Despite my assertion that being called 'Roller Diner' meant that there was bound to be roller skating in it, there wasn't. I didn't mind being wrong on this occasion, because there was plenty to keep me interested. Based on this experience I wouldn't mind going to the theatre again.

We also went to a Street Food event at Alexandra Palace and then a lovely long walk on Sunday, and it was the Bank Holiday weekend so I even had Monday to get more done at home. There's still so much to do, although I'm gradually moving the old downstairs office upstairs, and emptying the kitchen into the old downstairs office and getting rid of whatever I don't use through Freegle, Nextdoor.com, Facebook Marketplace, eBay and the 'Household Waste Recycling Centre' (aka the local tip). Talking of eBay, the big philatelic project is nearing its conclusion with a total net profit of more than £250 as of today. I've finished selling the main postal mechanisation literature, and the very last bit is stamp booklets which is something new to me.

Then there was that general election as well. International politics at the moment feels like a particularly violent roller coaster ride with no option to get off. Just keep riding, and endure what's in store over the next political horizon - will it be a gentle bend or a vertical drop? I don't think there is the same sense of imminent catastrophe as there was at the height of the Cold War, just a sick feeling that our society is becoming ever more divisive and those holding political power have very little in common with either my way of thinking or of those who would disagree with me. Political thinking has never felt more like a gambling habit. I do often wonder how it will end.

What I've been reading

Herland
by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

narrated by B. J. Harrison

"An all-female society is discovered somewhere in the distant reaches of the earth by three male explorers, who are forced to re-examine their assumptions about women's roles in society."

An interesting situation made more interesting by the values of the time - early 20th century - when women were assumed to be less than men by nature rather than societal norms, wives were chattels, and rape within marriage was not only legal but thought quite reasonable, at least by the men. The author paints an attractive picture of a society run by women who are intrigued by the three men who intrude upon their world. One of the three is completely won over by their society, one is expelled ultimately because he is unwilling to change his view that women wish to be 'mastered', and the third (the narrator) falls somewhere between the two. The book ends quite suddenly with the narrator and his new wife, a native Herlander, leaving for his home. There is a sequel 'With Her in Ourland', but reading the synopsis and reviews it sounds a bit too much like a feminist lecture.

Alex's Adventures in Numberland
by Alex Bellos

"Mathematical ideas underpin just about everything in our lives: from the surprising geometry of the 50p piece to how probability can help you win in any casino."

I used to read this sort of book all the time, but I still have a shelf full of other books waiting to be read, getting in the way. Very readable, a good mix of things I already know and new ways of looking at maths, nothing that leaps out in my memory, but I'd be glad to read it again one day.

The Short Stories of Saki: 65 of Saki's Most Popular Tales
by Saki (Hector Hugh Munro)

narrated by Cathy Dobson

"Sly, observant, unpredictable, and irreverent stories - Saki was a great observer of the English classes and their distinctions and foibles. He had a way of turning an ordinary situation into something clever and surprising."

All with a certain style and many with satirical cruelty, these are my ideal examples of the short story. Beginning, middle and end, sometimes straightforward but often leaving a good deal to the imagination. Masterful use of language - not quite Wodehouse but nearly as good. Only the odd vocal tics of the narrator brought it down a little.