Sunday, August 31, 2003
Library ad'
Not a bad effort at 'funning up' the public library, the lyric isn't brilliant but it's catchy - but for heaven's sake, did they have to put in the sexist librarian crap yet again. Sigh.
Not a bad effort at 'funning up' the public library, the lyric isn't brilliant but it's catchy - but for heaven's sake, did they have to put in the sexist librarian crap yet again. Sigh.
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I hope I'm NFN
Though I have my doubts. Doctor Slang can't really be on the way out surely, it's too witty and useful. How about a touch of retributive 'Patient Slang'? - a few off the top of my head:-
DIQ - Diagnostically incompetent quack
NOSNOG - No smile, no greeting
CMM - Call me Mister (Surgeon)
GBH - Gosh, big hands (Internal gynae)
DAFT - Doing a few tests (Clueless)
NAFF - Not another flaky female (Male GP)
DFW - Doctor's fire wall (Triage nurse)
LE - Lazarus Effect (pronounced alive ex freezer drawer)
SOMA - Second opinion most advisable
Though I have my doubts. Doctor Slang can't really be on the way out surely, it's too witty and useful. How about a touch of retributive 'Patient Slang'? - a few off the top of my head:-
DIQ - Diagnostically incompetent quack
NOSNOG - No smile, no greeting
CMM - Call me Mister (Surgeon)
GBH - Gosh, big hands (Internal gynae)
DAFT - Doing a few tests (Clueless)
NAFF - Not another flaky female (Male GP)
DFW - Doctor's fire wall (Triage nurse)
LE - Lazarus Effect (pronounced alive ex freezer drawer)
SOMA - Second opinion most advisable
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Thursday, August 28, 2003
Family
I love this picture by my nephew (taken on the London day out that I missed). It's Philip who makes it interesting - the women fold their arms and look safely grounded, but his hands on the parapet infer that he might be just hanging there with his feet dangling. I'm glad he recovered safely
I love this picture by my nephew (taken on the London day out that I missed). It's Philip who makes it interesting - the women fold their arms and look safely grounded, but his hands on the parapet infer that he might be just hanging there with his feet dangling. I'm glad he recovered safely
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Vespulaless
There are no wasps here. Not one. Picking up windfalls today no caution was needed. Flies we have in spades. On the Buddleia scores of butterflies hang closed like tiny brown handkerchiefs. Blue dragonflies cruise past me as I hang out clothes, so huge that I feel the draught of their wings. Spiders make ill-advised webs in doorways. The green woodpecker is having an ant-fest. There are hollow bumble corpses in the window and craneflies bang about in the lampshades. Bees are on the bean flowers. As for moths - well they're coming out of our ears . But nary a wasp in this neck of the woods - odd.
There are no wasps here. Not one. Picking up windfalls today no caution was needed. Flies we have in spades. On the Buddleia scores of butterflies hang closed like tiny brown handkerchiefs. Blue dragonflies cruise past me as I hang out clothes, so huge that I feel the draught of their wings. Spiders make ill-advised webs in doorways. The green woodpecker is having an ant-fest. There are hollow bumble corpses in the window and craneflies bang about in the lampshades. Bees are on the bean flowers. As for moths - well they're coming out of our ears . But nary a wasp in this neck of the woods - odd.
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Sunday, August 24, 2003
'A happy and contended soul...'
I mentioned the "Moving Here" website on Wednesday and have been reading on through the life stories. This one about Sumati Shah's mother is worth your time. What a fantastic woman.
I mentioned the "Moving Here" website on Wednesday and have been reading on through the life stories. This one about Sumati Shah's mother is worth your time. What a fantastic woman.
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Friday, August 22, 2003
Eeeny meeny
I just noticed these on the Ely Cathedral website, I'd like to go to both, but I'll be broke after the October trip. Maybe one, but which?
Saturday 8th November
Concerts at Ely Cathedral
Cambridge University Music School, Berlioz ~ Requiem
Tickets including wine and light refreshments £20
Saturday 22 November
Concerts at Ely Cathedral
Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Berlioz ~ Te Deum
Tickets including wine and light refreshments £20
I just noticed these on the Ely Cathedral website, I'd like to go to both, but I'll be broke after the October trip. Maybe one, but which?
Saturday 8th November
Concerts at Ely Cathedral
Cambridge University Music School, Berlioz ~ Requiem
Tickets including wine and light refreshments £20
Saturday 22 November
Concerts at Ely Cathedral
Cambridge Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, Berlioz ~ Te Deum
Tickets including wine and light refreshments £20
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Mrs. Stop at Home
I feel like a child denied an outing - peevish, envious of those who went, mooning about at home with my feet up. The promised treat was a lovely cocktail of seeing my nephew, a London river ride, Tate Modern, an Embankment picnic with Sarah, Skinny & Philip. Then the ride home watching an evening sky and regaining the pines after the city. And missed because of my damned legs. Tonight young Tristan said he would make me a wooden pair when he starts carpentry course in September. Not a bad idea at that.
I feel like a child denied an outing - peevish, envious of those who went, mooning about at home with my feet up. The promised treat was a lovely cocktail of seeing my nephew, a London river ride, Tate Modern, an Embankment picnic with Sarah, Skinny & Philip. Then the ride home watching an evening sky and regaining the pines after the city. And missed because of my damned legs. Tonight young Tristan said he would make me a wooden pair when he starts carpentry course in September. Not a bad idea at that.
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Summer and Time
Now when the days descend
We do not let them lie
But ponder on the end.
How morning air drained dry
Of mist will but contend
Later with the evening sky.
And so we mix up time.
Children, we say, ignore
Before and after, chime
Only the present hour.
But we are wrong, they climb
What time is aiming for
But beg no lastingness.
And it is we who try
In every hour to press
Befores and afters, sigh
All the great hour's success
And set the spoiling by.
Heavy the heat today,
Even the clocks seem slow.
But children make no play
With summers years ago.
It is we who betray
Who tease the sundial so.
Elizabeth Jennings
Now when the days descend
We do not let them lie
But ponder on the end.
How morning air drained dry
Of mist will but contend
Later with the evening sky.
And so we mix up time.
Children, we say, ignore
Before and after, chime
Only the present hour.
But we are wrong, they climb
What time is aiming for
But beg no lastingness.
And it is we who try
In every hour to press
Befores and afters, sigh
All the great hour's success
And set the spoiling by.
Heavy the heat today,
Even the clocks seem slow.
But children make no play
With summers years ago.
It is we who betray
Who tease the sundial so.
Elizabeth Jennings
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Wednesday, August 20, 2003
A must-read site
Moving Here is a database recording migration experiences of the past 200 years.
The life stories are compelling - Irish, Jewish, Asian, African - funny, moving and a testament to determination, courage and hard graft.
"We arrived at Southampton Dock. In the suitcases were pots for cooking curry, a tawa or metal griddle for cooking roti and a rolling pin. The immigration officer looked at me and asked, "Where is the kitchen sink?" My reply was, "Haven't you got any in this country?" Later on, I developed an English sense of humour." (Esther Jones)
Moving Here is a database recording migration experiences of the past 200 years.
The life stories are compelling - Irish, Jewish, Asian, African - funny, moving and a testament to determination, courage and hard graft.
"We arrived at Southampton Dock. In the suitcases were pots for cooking curry, a tawa or metal griddle for cooking roti and a rolling pin. The immigration officer looked at me and asked, "Where is the kitchen sink?" My reply was, "Haven't you got any in this country?" Later on, I developed an English sense of humour." (Esther Jones)
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Tuesday, August 19, 2003
Go soothingly by..
Taken from a 1962 Honda Motor Cycle Instruction Book.
Translated by Honda for the American Motorcycle Rider (with thanks to Roberto in Colorado):
The following rules for motorists are so successful in Japan, that American motorcycle riders might profitably paste them in their hats.
1. At the rise of the hand by Policeman, stop rapidly. Do not pass him by or otherwise disrespect him.
2. When a passenger of the foot, hooves in sight, tootel the horn trumpet melodiously at first. If he still obstacles your passage, tootel him with vigor and express by word of mouth, warning Hi, Hi.
3. Beware of the wandering horse that he shall not take fright as you pass him. Do not explode the exhaust box at him. Go soothingly by.
4. Give big space to the festive dog that makes sport in roadway. Avoid entanglement of dog with wheel spokes.
5. Go soothingly on the grease mud, as there lurks the skid demon. Press the brake foot as you roll around the corners, and save the collapse and tie up.
Taken from a 1962 Honda Motor Cycle Instruction Book.
Translated by Honda for the American Motorcycle Rider (with thanks to Roberto in Colorado):
The following rules for motorists are so successful in Japan, that American motorcycle riders might profitably paste them in their hats.
1. At the rise of the hand by Policeman, stop rapidly. Do not pass him by or otherwise disrespect him.
2. When a passenger of the foot, hooves in sight, tootel the horn trumpet melodiously at first. If he still obstacles your passage, tootel him with vigor and express by word of mouth, warning Hi, Hi.
3. Beware of the wandering horse that he shall not take fright as you pass him. Do not explode the exhaust box at him. Go soothingly by.
4. Give big space to the festive dog that makes sport in roadway. Avoid entanglement of dog with wheel spokes.
5. Go soothingly on the grease mud, as there lurks the skid demon. Press the brake foot as you roll around the corners, and save the collapse and tie up.
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Old ones, new ones, loved ones, neglected ones....
We have entered a maelstrom of social activity. People call all day - among them a 'love lost' friend for regular consolation & coffee at 11 am; the fifteen year old lad rings the bell at 6pm for CocCola and a daily report. There have been 3 barbecues. I've done 4 dinners for 4/6 in 10 days. Today - an old friend for a visit which included washing her hair and receiving the results of her weeks of isolation - reminiscence, thoughts, fears cascading. We prop up, and receive propping in our turn. The result - dust everywhere in the house, a thousand thistles, a stream full of waterweed, tax return undone. I think I'm getting it right.
We have entered a maelstrom of social activity. People call all day - among them a 'love lost' friend for regular consolation & coffee at 11 am; the fifteen year old lad rings the bell at 6pm for CocCola and a daily report. There have been 3 barbecues. I've done 4 dinners for 4/6 in 10 days. Today - an old friend for a visit which included washing her hair and receiving the results of her weeks of isolation - reminiscence, thoughts, fears cascading. We prop up, and receive propping in our turn. The result - dust everywhere in the house, a thousand thistles, a stream full of waterweed, tax return undone. I think I'm getting it right.
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Born in the purple
What does 'Emperor' say to you? Beethoven? Penguin? Caligula?
Certainly not 'Moth'? Have you ever seen anything so amazingly colour co-ordinated?
What does 'Emperor' say to you? Beethoven? Penguin? Caligula?
Certainly not 'Moth'? Have you ever seen anything so amazingly colour co-ordinated?
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JJ House
We booked our B & B in Boston tonight. I had posted "location, location" on a Boston message board (bugs?!)and a guy came up with a really great looking hotel. It's central, by a subway stop and the room has a microwave. I figured that 4 days' fares/taxi in from one of the suburban cement blocks would add up and we can do a few simple meals in the room that will save a lot; it will probably work out about the same. At least, that's my excuse.
We booked our B & B in Boston tonight. I had posted "location, location" on a Boston message board (bugs?!)and a guy came up with a really great looking hotel. It's central, by a subway stop and the room has a microwave. I figured that 4 days' fares/taxi in from one of the suburban cement blocks would add up and we can do a few simple meals in the room that will save a lot; it will probably work out about the same. At least, that's my excuse.
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I think I could turn and live with animals, they're so placid and self contain'd,
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the earth
Walt Whitman
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition,
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins,
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God,
Not one is dissatisfied, not one is demented with the mania of owning things,
Not one kneels to another, nor to his kind that lived thousands of years ago,
Not one is respectable or unhappy over the earth
Walt Whitman
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Thursday, August 14, 2003
A garden to die for
I promised someone that I would post a few of my year 2001 pictures of Barbara Hepworth?s house and garden in Cornwall. I had a memorable visit there on a hot June afternoon when the garden was still fresh and in flower. A young caretaker, not yet jaundiced by too many questions, was inclined to sit and chat in the shade and share many stories of what went on there. Hepworth created, high above a busy street in St Ives, the perfect fusion of her sculpture with her garden.
I promised someone that I would post a few of my year 2001 pictures of Barbara Hepworth?s house and garden in Cornwall. I had a memorable visit there on a hot June afternoon when the garden was still fresh and in flower. A young caretaker, not yet jaundiced by too many questions, was inclined to sit and chat in the shade and share many stories of what went on there. Hepworth created, high above a busy street in St Ives, the perfect fusion of her sculpture with her garden.
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Wednesday, August 06, 2003
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Stephen Fry doesn't split infinitives
A minimalist comment in view of the spectrum of his talents. But his preface to his new website is literate and delightful. We all like to claim second, nay fifth hand knowledge of celebrities. My Director of Information Services, a very sexy older lady, sat on Fry's table at the opening of (I think) the new British Library. She said he was enchanting and magnificently bawdy. She reckoned she would have paid a year's salary for the experience.
A minimalist comment in view of the spectrum of his talents. But his preface to his new website is literate and delightful. We all like to claim second, nay fifth hand knowledge of celebrities. My Director of Information Services, a very sexy older lady, sat on Fry's table at the opening of (I think) the new British Library. She said he was enchanting and magnificently bawdy. She reckoned she would have paid a year's salary for the experience.
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Cupid's Capsule
At first you're aghast at such obsession with the minute detail of nuptials and then after reading the design rationale it all becomes rather fun. You must check out the proposal.
At first you're aghast at such obsession with the minute detail of nuptials and then after reading the design rationale it all becomes rather fun. You must check out the proposal.
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Monday, August 04, 2003
A swift pee
In the lav' this morning I was reading a bird book by Tony Soper picked up in charity shop (book, not Tony). The garden lavatory is just by my herb bed and I usually grab a sprig of camomile or rosemary, get the reading organised and then settle down to enjoy with the door open to the orchard.
The swallows were up feeding and I turned to the page where they figured; a picture of a grounded swift caught my eye. Apparently they occasionally get marooned because their legs are so short and weak that they cannot supply thrust for vertical lift-off. One should gently fold them up, take them into an open space and throw them upwards. They live their whole lives on the wing - the air is their element - they drink the rain, bathe in showers and even 'sleep' in the sky. They fly at about seventy miles an hour, travelling prodigious distances in their long lives. I would love to see one close to, they have that rather odd large eye, like the nightjar, which makes them a bit sinister.
"Birds in Your Garden" is illustrated by John Busby, a Scotland based artist with a talent for seizing the personality of the bird. It was a bargain for 20p.
In the lav' this morning I was reading a bird book by Tony Soper picked up in charity shop (book, not Tony). The garden lavatory is just by my herb bed and I usually grab a sprig of camomile or rosemary, get the reading organised and then settle down to enjoy with the door open to the orchard.
The swallows were up feeding and I turned to the page where they figured; a picture of a grounded swift caught my eye. Apparently they occasionally get marooned because their legs are so short and weak that they cannot supply thrust for vertical lift-off. One should gently fold them up, take them into an open space and throw them upwards. They live their whole lives on the wing - the air is their element - they drink the rain, bathe in showers and even 'sleep' in the sky. They fly at about seventy miles an hour, travelling prodigious distances in their long lives. I would love to see one close to, they have that rather odd large eye, like the nightjar, which makes them a bit sinister.
"Birds in Your Garden" is illustrated by John Busby, a Scotland based artist with a talent for seizing the personality of the bird. It was a bargain for 20p.
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Sunday, August 03, 2003
We should have seen it coming
Weep with us. Everyone we know gets bargains, be it DIY, clothes, holidays, travel. We never, ever hit the spot. We haven't been abroad for 13 years. I have a bad knee, so when we heard that there was a July special sale on premier economy travel (with lots of legroom) at BA we raced in to Norwich to beat the deadline and saved £400 on the fare. At lunchtime today Gordon saw the first TV advert which promoted 25% savings on all BA fares booked in August. The fare we booked on Friday has fallen by another £290. We can't change it as it was a special deal. Bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger. Howl, howl, howl. It's just not FARE. Oh well, caveat emptor.
Weep with us. Everyone we know gets bargains, be it DIY, clothes, holidays, travel. We never, ever hit the spot. We haven't been abroad for 13 years. I have a bad knee, so when we heard that there was a July special sale on premier economy travel (with lots of legroom) at BA we raced in to Norwich to beat the deadline and saved £400 on the fare. At lunchtime today Gordon saw the first TV advert which promoted 25% savings on all BA fares booked in August. The fare we booked on Friday has fallen by another £290. We can't change it as it was a special deal. Bugger, bugger, bugger, bugger. Howl, howl, howl. It's just not FARE. Oh well, caveat emptor.
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Saturday, August 02, 2003
A treat
Do the full screen walkthrough of Antony Gormley's work. I particularly like the 'Total Strangers' set. A couple of years ago my mate Sammie had the job of setting up his famous piece "Field" in a Suffolk gallery - 35,000 small terracotta statues to be placed in a prescibed sequence. And then she had to pack it all up again! Back ache guaranteed.
Do the full screen walkthrough of Antony Gormley's work. I particularly like the 'Total Strangers' set. A couple of years ago my mate Sammie had the job of setting up his famous piece "Field" in a Suffolk gallery - 35,000 small terracotta statues to be placed in a prescibed sequence. And then she had to pack it all up again! Back ache guaranteed.
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Boston B&B
On Friday we booked our flights to Boston in October- putting our hand in the hand of British Airways, an act of faith if ever there was one. That evening I tackled the online hotel booking and my hair stood on end, Boston hotels in fall are gigantically expensive. I found an affordable one out on Morrissey Boulevard for our 4 night stay, it's well out of town but has a courtesy bus to pick up the Subway at JFK/UMass. I checked the maps and the hotel reviews ('disappointing breakfast served on polystyrene!') - it will just have to do. We'll go on to a lovely B&B on Nantucket Island and then up to friends in Cambridge NY.
Anyway, I became pretty familiar with Boston city transportation. Tonight I took my usual look at Eeksy Peeksy - who has done it again; he posted a link to the Boston Globe referring not just to the T, but to Morrissey Boulevard and the station. It's creepy. And so is the news story - not for the squeamish.
On Friday we booked our flights to Boston in October- putting our hand in the hand of British Airways, an act of faith if ever there was one. That evening I tackled the online hotel booking and my hair stood on end, Boston hotels in fall are gigantically expensive. I found an affordable one out on Morrissey Boulevard for our 4 night stay, it's well out of town but has a courtesy bus to pick up the Subway at JFK/UMass. I checked the maps and the hotel reviews ('disappointing breakfast served on polystyrene!') - it will just have to do. We'll go on to a lovely B&B on Nantucket Island and then up to friends in Cambridge NY.
Anyway, I became pretty familiar with Boston city transportation. Tonight I took my usual look at Eeksy Peeksy - who has done it again; he posted a link to the Boston Globe referring not just to the T, but to Morrissey Boulevard and the station. It's creepy. And so is the news story - not for the squeamish.