Spring revival

November 2020

And with the spring comes snow, and tradesmen!

Somehow I regained the motivation to start on the LTRP again - perhaps it was because I had to do something about the ceiling stain. Olf's mate the plumber replied to my message saying he's a bit busy and I might need to look for someone sooner, but I pointed out that because he's a plumber he probably doesn't realise how hard it is to find a plumber, and the stain is growing very slowly so I'm prepared to wait until he's available. Of course if the water starts gushing through the ceiling I'll have to move a bit more quickly. 

New builder Glf has visited to survey the wall on the pub side, and seems like a friendly reliable type of chap (but I've been mistaken before). He even phoned back after the visit to check a few details. I've sent a list of jobs to Ilf as well, including general maintenance and decoration, asking for a date in late spring/early summer when I'm hoping the wall will be done. Setting myself up for disappointment as usual, but my next door neighbour wants some work done as well so if I'm not ready for Ilf then at least he can do stuff for her. And last but not least, the saga with the broken glass on the hob has moved on through contacting the original supplier (Ylf), establishing that the warranty period covered the work, a scheduled visit cancelled due to the part not having arrived, and finally the visit taking place and the glass replaced.

And the pub has opened again! They've put up a marquee in the garden with nine tables of six and an area for standing up that isn't under cover. The kitchen isn't open but they've got an arrangement with a local pizza place for delivery. I went over to say hello and ask them to turn the music down a bit if there's nobody there. I'll try and find some friends to go and actually buy a drink, so I'm not just the neighbour that complains about the music. It's been odd being reminded how quiet things have been for a year, or conversely, how much noise I had become accustomed to before the pub closed.

I also wrote a long time ago about how overdue the dress that I promised Lola is, and how I ironed a hole in it. Well, it hasn't progressed at all because my sewing machine kept breaking needles, and I eventually got round to finding out that a local shop was able to carry out a service despite pandemic restrictions. So it's had a service. Now I've got to find time between the diabetes, vaccination, Mr MXF, visiting mum and dad, providing tech support to Lola II (of which more later perhaps), the Buddhists and the LTRP to get down to some sewing.

What I've been reading

Conundrum
by Jan Morris

"As one of Britain's best and most loved travel writers, Jan Morris has led an extraordinary life. Perhaps her most remarkable work is this grippingly honest account of her ten-year transition from man to woman - its pains and joys, its frustrations and discoveries."

This is a fascinating account from the early 1970s of a gender transition from James to Jan Morris. It was mostly a memoir of the journey, and coincidentally a reminder that such things are not new in the 21st century although they are now more commonly known, and hopefully accepted. The story was going well until the chapter after the surgery, when the author was comparing her feelings as man and now as woman, and describing the difference in how she was treated. My hackles rose at the stereotypical attitudes of the times - it was the 1970s after all - and how welcome they were to a woman who had been born as a man in the 1920s. How unwelcome they are to me, reading as a woman now living in the 2020s! The first man who kissed this woman newly born from surgery was a taxi driver, uninvited. " 'There's a good girl,' he said, patting my bottom and returning to his cab: and all I did was blush." Later in the chapter she compares men with women on the basis of her n=1 experiment, and it made me furious. "Men are [like this] and women are [like that]," she decides, without knowing what the hell either men or women are like. She now takes more interest in clothes, she describes how good a mother she would have been, how she can imagine more vividly how others feel, now that manliness is replaced with femininity. My goodness, how irate I became. Anyway, I am glad that she found happiness and even more glad that some things are different now, although there's still a long way to go.

The Old Wives' Tale
by Arnold Bennett

narrated by David Haig

"From working as children in their family's drapery shop to their later years, Constance and Sophia's journey through life could not be more different. While one travels the world and defies male expectations, the other becomes a dutiful wife and mother."

I really enjoyed this. It's been a long time since I've read Arnold Bennett, but I remember that I used to like his writing. And what's more, he writes wonderfully about women with agency, who are most definitely constrained by the restrictions of the era but don't sit back and let it define them. I think after all my forays into the Classics I have to conclude that I enjoy writing from the 18th and 19th century much more than anything more recent. 

The Great Gatsby
by F. Scott Fitzgerald

narrated by B. J. Harrison

"Nick Carraway is an aspiring writer; his cousin, Daisy, is married to the fabulously wealthy Tom Buchanan. Their neighbour, Jay Gatsby, throws extravagant and extraordinary parties in the exclusive and hallowed neighbourhood of West Egg."

I do think this is a fine piece of writing, although I can't say that I enjoyed it all that much. I found it hard to like any of the main characters, even the neutral narrator, and when you don't like any of the people it's difficult to like the book.

Breakfast of Champions
by Kurt Vonnegut

narrated by John Malkovich

"Set predominantly in the fictional town of Midland City, Ohio, the book focuses mainly on two characters: Dwayne Hoover, a Midland resident, Pontiac dealer and affluent figure in the city and Kilgore Trout, a widely published but mostly unknown science fiction author."

He's certainly a strange fish, this Vonnegut fellow. He writes in an odd manner, and it's lucky that I found it attractively odd this time or else the book would be unbearable. The author himself features as a character towards the end, revealing himself to his fictional counterparts as their Creator, and throughout the book there are drawings that have to be described in this audio version. I probably wouldn't recommend it, but I didn't find it too bad to listen to - John Malkovich is a great narrator. And it's admirably short.

Sailing the Worldly Winds
by Vajragupta

"Tossed around by gain, buffeted by loss, borne aloft by praise, cast down by blame, how can we not be ground under, lose all direction, confidence, and sense of purpose? This book focuses on the Buddha’s teaching of the worldly winds, how we can learn to navigate them more effectively, so that we can sail safely through life rather than being blown off course, however stormy the weather."

The second time I've read this, and this time I was doing it for my book group. Still my favourite Buddhist author, and most accessible (in my opinion), with some useful things to say about dealing with what life throws at me.

Lockdown lifting

Riverhill Himalayan Gardens, September 2020

There has been lots of vaccinating, lots and lots. For one whole shift, six hours, I did nothing else. Usually we each swap around to do at least two roles, but that's not how it worked out on that occasion. There have been no particular highlights - I meet a variety of people who work in all sorts of different places, but now that second vaccines have started there really isn't time to chat - we're working flat out. One tip if you're planning to get vaccinated any time soon - don't wear a tight-fitting long-sleeved shirt. It's surprising how many people end up having to get half-undressed, and it's not just the men.

Nothing notable to report at the moment. A bit of brain stretch with Mr MXF, a bit of meditation and study with the Buddhists, and we've managed to start walking together now that restrictions allow up to six of us to gather outside. The variable weather makes scheduling a walk a bit of a gamble, though, especially the day after it snowed. I met Lola II and Mr M at mum and dad's and made a splendid trifle for the occasion, and Mr M brought a garden plant for mum, and Lola II cut my hair at least as well as the salon without any of the fuss. 

I have been watching many films, doing some cooking, cleaning, sorting out the house, but no specific LTRP projects completed although I noticed a growing stain on the ceiling in the hall upstairs. I finally got round to going up into the loft to see what was there, and unfortunately the stain is growing under a water tank, so it's back to Olf's mate - the plumber who helped out after Flf left me in the lurch. And I've been in touch with a new builder to help repair the render on the wall next to the pub, and he's coming round to have a look at it next week.