Lockdown Diary - Saturday 16th May 2020

May is half way gone already?!? How can that be?

A normal Saturday of shopping and washing marred by the necessity of gardening. Dug out loads more roots though I think some of the stumps will need more powerful medicine.  I reckon dynamite should do it.

Unusually I've taken a call from our GP today, primarily to check up on my latest course of antibiotics which I need to take for two weeks, even though it's a more powerful antibiotic than the one I'm normally prescribed.  Apparently there's a very resistant bug to be killed - I guess it all tallies with what I've been feeling, so let's hope it does the job. It's me or the bug. Place your bets!

Far too much of today has been spent doing chores - the evening is here and all I have to show for it are clean clothes and an assortment of cuts on my hands. I have wine now so I'm probably going to go a blow away the cobwebs with some loud music before it's time to make dinner.

Didn't work out that way, by the time I'd finished a load of smaller chores there wasn't time to listen properly, so instead I've been listening to new band (well, new to me) Witch 'n' Monk, playing live from their studio in Berlin.  I guess you'd describe their music as 'avant-garde' - it's certainly an intriguing mix of styles and instruments. This is how they describe themselves: 'Witch 'n' Monk (formerly Bitch 'n' Monk) is the twinning of nonconformist Colombian flautist  Mauricio Velasierra and anarchic soprano and guitarist Heidi Heidelberg.' What are you waiting for!

There was much confusion about film choice tonight - it was son #1's turn, but he couldn't come up with anything (too many choices), so son #2 volunteered to swap turns. His choice was 'The King' which is about Henry V.  I have to confess that I don't find that era of history very interesting - I'm sure there are individuals or topics that could be interesting from that era - but all those pointless battles and petty rivalries between countries and their royal families, not forgetting the stupid inter-marrying to cement alliances, bores me rigid. So I approached the film with caution. Falstaff is an interesting character (and Robert Nye wrote a wonderfully ribald novel about him) and he was the only thing of mild interest about it as it got going. Needless to say the combination of my meds, alcohol (oops), lots of digging earlier in the day and the lack of interest meant that I slept through most of it. There were battles. Bloody, brutal and confusing.  How can you tell if someone in armour is French or English?  I couldn't and, to be honest, I had long ceased to care.  

The trouble with falling asleep early, which is something that really annoys me, is that you have to wake yourself up in order to go to bed.  By the time I got to bed, I had managed to wake myself up to the extent it took ages to go to sleep.  I was tired. I could feel it, but every time I got to the edge of the cliff, I stopped and my mind was churning some shit or other over.  Worst of all the thoughts troubling me weren't at the conscious level, so I couldn't just end the thoughts by nuking them with something even more intractable and let myself slip away. I will pay for this tomorrow morning.

I don't know how I found myself listening to this again but I do know exactly where I was the first time I heard it. It was a Sunday morning (don't know the date, but it was in 1991 and about the time it was released, presumably as a single ahead of the album) and I was in the bath with my wife. The radio was on. Radio 1. DLT (I know! I know! On judgement day I will pay for this lapse. In my defence, H liked Radio 1 and DLT too. Compromise is at the heart of all successful relationships.)  Normally I'd just let the shit being played wash over me (!), but this tune kicked in, with no intro and I was transfixed. My ears pricked up (steady!) and the lyrics drew me in. I didn't recognise it was Prince, but I knew I liked it.  All activity had to cease until the song finished and the self-styled 'Hairy Cornflake' (forgive me once more - two hail Marys coming up) told us the song details. Enough preamble: Prince & the New Power Generation with 'Money Don't Matter 2 Night' from the album Diamonds and Pearls. 

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