Lockdown Diary - Tuesday 14th April 2020
A quiet day.
Made some progress on the Sci-Fi book club novel, 'The Queue'. (Hmm! Does it qualify as Sci-Fi? Debate!)
Contacted our GP about my wife's registration on the 'at-risk' list of people who should be shielding/shielded. Turns out she was omitted in error on the first pass while at the same time some who shouldn't have been on the list were included. Not a very exact science by the look of things. Just as well I followed up on it though. She has now been flagged properly.
The Community matron also called to see how my wife is doing and check that the antibiotics prescribed for her are working, which they are.
Both the GP and the matron enquired after my well being, especially my mental health and I assured them that things were OK, so far. The biggest stress is the fear that inadvertently, despite all my efforts to keep the virus at bay, I might be the vector that wreaks havoc, with cataclysmic effect, leaving my/our sons parent-less. Let's banish that thought.
I've read more than my minimum daily requirement of the 'Wake, as I often do. Paradoxically III.3A is easy to read and yet at the same time - leitmotifs aside - also opaque in terms of what is actually going on or meant. When I come upon one of the common themes or references, for example the year 1132 or 'The Book of the Dead', I'm like a shipwrecked mariner clinging to a rock, in the hope it's the rock that will save me (or at least restore my understanding). Nevertheless, casting understanding to one side for the moment, the language, the sound and rhythm of the words and the puns - oh! the puns - bring much enjoyment and make the puzzlement dissipate like a fog burnt off by the Spring sun.
I've also completed lesson 2 in the 'Introduction to Borges'. Titled 'Memories', it looks at some of the ideas about memory that Borges used in his stories and how his thinking about memory was influenced by his blindness. Fascinating. The third lesson is titled 'Infinities' which is another of Borges' fascinations.
Couldn't resist it. Watched lesson 3 on 'Infinities' too. This really is a good course. Well written and presented and a fascinating insight into Borges's obsessions. I already have quite a list of short stories to read (though I did read some of them quite a few years ago.)
Made dinner and sat and ate it watching the latest (penultimate in the current series) episode of 'Better Call Saul' (a spin-off from 'Breaking Bad') with my sons.
Language I don't understand leads me nicely on to Gwenno's album 'Le Kov' ('Place of Memory'), which is sung entirely in Cornish. 'Hi a Skoellyas Liv a Dhagrow', which translates as 'She Shed a Flood of Tears', is one of the standout tracks.
Made some progress on the Sci-Fi book club novel, 'The Queue'. (Hmm! Does it qualify as Sci-Fi? Debate!)
Contacted our GP about my wife's registration on the 'at-risk' list of people who should be shielding/shielded. Turns out she was omitted in error on the first pass while at the same time some who shouldn't have been on the list were included. Not a very exact science by the look of things. Just as well I followed up on it though. She has now been flagged properly.
The Community matron also called to see how my wife is doing and check that the antibiotics prescribed for her are working, which they are.
Both the GP and the matron enquired after my well being, especially my mental health and I assured them that things were OK, so far. The biggest stress is the fear that inadvertently, despite all my efforts to keep the virus at bay, I might be the vector that wreaks havoc, with cataclysmic effect, leaving my/our sons parent-less. Let's banish that thought.
I've read more than my minimum daily requirement of the 'Wake, as I often do. Paradoxically III.3A is easy to read and yet at the same time - leitmotifs aside - also opaque in terms of what is actually going on or meant. When I come upon one of the common themes or references, for example the year 1132 or 'The Book of the Dead', I'm like a shipwrecked mariner clinging to a rock, in the hope it's the rock that will save me (or at least restore my understanding). Nevertheless, casting understanding to one side for the moment, the language, the sound and rhythm of the words and the puns - oh! the puns - bring much enjoyment and make the puzzlement dissipate like a fog burnt off by the Spring sun.
I've also completed lesson 2 in the 'Introduction to Borges'. Titled 'Memories', it looks at some of the ideas about memory that Borges used in his stories and how his thinking about memory was influenced by his blindness. Fascinating. The third lesson is titled 'Infinities' which is another of Borges' fascinations.
Couldn't resist it. Watched lesson 3 on 'Infinities' too. This really is a good course. Well written and presented and a fascinating insight into Borges's obsessions. I already have quite a list of short stories to read (though I did read some of them quite a few years ago.)
Made dinner and sat and ate it watching the latest (penultimate in the current series) episode of 'Better Call Saul' (a spin-off from 'Breaking Bad') with my sons.
Language I don't understand leads me nicely on to Gwenno's album 'Le Kov' ('Place of Memory'), which is sung entirely in Cornish. 'Hi a Skoellyas Liv a Dhagrow', which translates as 'She Shed a Flood of Tears', is one of the standout tracks.
[[0]]
Comments
Post a Comment