Lockdown Diary - Tuesday 22nd June 2021

A well-deserved (?) day off from work and extension of my birthday / father's day weekend. I could get used to not working.

The big challenge is to use the time well, though of course rest is a benefit in itself.

I'm going out on Wednesday evening, and after a question from one of my sons at the weekend, I have resurrected a jacket I'd forgotten about. Resurrection by way of washing.  Just to cover all bases I've also ordered a new black Harrington jacket - it should arrive tomorrow ahead of my assignation, but if it doesn't I have the Oakley jacket to fall back on.

Breakfast eaten, time for a call with a friend in Berlin. It's always good to catch up with him, both for a perspective on the UK from the outside and also to see how things are going Germany.

Late morning, call complete,  I ripped all the albums that I received at the weekend, then tagged them ready for conversion to MP3s for use in the car.  Tedious but necessary.

After lunch I watched a talk on 'Victorian London', the penultimate lesson in the Idler 'History of London' course written and presented by Dr Matthew Green.  As usual some fascinating stuff, not least the section on London's original street of porn, Holywell Street, which was demolished to purge London of the 'filth'.  It was roughly parallel to the Strand and behind where Australia House is today. 

Spent a bit of time working to complete the compilation CD I'm creating for a friend, though I'm really just tinkering with it. There is one track I keep swapping in and out, but I am close to final listing.

A bit of reading now:  first back on track with a couple more pages from the 'Cyclops' chapter of 'Ulysses' followed by some more of 'An Artist Of The Floating World'.

A break in my reading to have a call with my elder sister: something I needed advice on that I hope she has a view on.  It ended up being a slightly longer chat than I imagined, but it was useful in that I identified a couple of avenues to explore.

I'd originally thought I'd stop and listen to music, but in the event I wasn't in the right frame of mind.  Somehow time passed and I found myself with son #2 starting the dinner.

Dinner was eaten whilst watching the England game - I did suggest something else, but was outvoted.  At least it started a lot better than the match against Scotland, when England were lacklustre, to say the least.

The end.

Nick Cave / 'Black Hair' / 'Idiot Prayer' 

[Black, length just so]



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