Nine Feet Underground

For the third or fourth night in a row, I woke up at around 5 and eventually managed to get back to sleep.  Dunno what's going on. When I finally got up a couple of hours later, I found myself still enveloped in the same dark cloud as last night.  Nevertheless, I got on with things despite a lack of focus which meant I forgot to do things like take my medication.  Shopping involved some interaction with people, though perhaps not as much as I needed.  After returning, the carers arrived, and as it is their birthday, I had cards to give.  Once they'd departed I headed up for a chat with Q, which kick-started my turnaround.   As the morning progressed, and, despite the fact I couldn't join friends on a walk (😳), I started to banish the cloud.  This is a first. Generally, I find myself going deeper and deeper into the murk before I manage to break free.  I guess I have learned some techniques over the years of support that I can actually use to positive effect.  I still don&#

School's out. OK, strictly speaking it's not, it is however Friday and also payday.   The weather, however, neither knows, nor cares. Just the small matter of work to complete, then the weekend can begin. I've been trying to resist buying a couple of books by Suzette Henke, but Abebooks has seduced me. I really need access to an excellent well stocked university library. It would save me a small fortune. Although... Work is finally over.  There were two things I wanted to complete to feel happy about the day/week and I managed to do both, even if rather later than I ideally would have. A few additional meetings and additional tasks stole my time and threw my plan off. Q's off out to the docks tonight, so we had a quick chat before she went. Meanwhile I booked the wonderful Italian restaurant for the week after next. All being well I'll be off to the 'Pool next weekend. Chaos is in the air and people around me are changing their plans at short notice.  We all had

I heard a rumour that it was Spring and that Sum(m)er is icumen in.  The weather seems determined not to fall into line.  At this rate I'll be getting my winter coat out again. Usual sort of Thursday with the exception of a visit by a nurse to change E's catheter.  There are a couple of lines, or perhaps phrases that are worming their way into my head. It's called 'The Visitor' by Carolyn Forche. In Spanish he whispers there is no time left. It is the sound of scythes arcing in wheat, the ache of some field song in Salvador. The wind along the prison, cautious as Francisco's hands on the inside, touching the walls as he walks, it is his wife's breath slipping into his cell each night while he imagines his hand to be hers.  It is a small country. There is nothing one man will not do to another. Work's done and the Idler returns tonight (cue a song).  The guest speaker is Jenn Granneman  talking about the Science of Being Sensitive. It was potentially very

Last night tiredness won, and I didn't manage to finish 'Nausicaa'. So, instead of starting the day with a walk, I'm going to finish the chapter ahead of tonight's lecture/discussion. I've managed to finish the episode ahead of 8 am, which means I still have time to make breakfast before I start work. I will hopefully have time to write something about 'Nausicaa' and my response to it after work. Son #1 went off to work early and son #2 is not far behind, though he's heading to the airport to meet his gf, who is arriving from Costa Rica by way of Newark. A little after lunchtime they arrive back from the airport. It's good to see them together again.  Perhaps I'll get a chance to practice my Spanish? Back to work. My last meeting today was rather later than usual and, as is so often the case, there were post-meeting actions which meant I finished closer to the lecture than expected. The guest speaker on 'Nausicaa' is Prof. Anne Fogart

Back to work.  Weather is good. Usual combination.  Weird dreams last night. I guess the sources are inescapable. I wanted to say something about friends. I'm really lucky to have a great set of friends.  My life is enriched by having all these friends. Friends who are outside the UK. Friends I haven't seen for years. Friends I don't see often enough. Friends I've known since I was a child. Friends from school. Friends from university. Friends who were E's friends before mine. Friends I've made because of our children. Friends I've made through work. Friends I've made through shared interests. Friends I've made through political choices. Friends who are no longer with us, sadly. Some of these are overlapping categories, but all of them are important to me. All of you are part of me. 💓 I've been so busy today I've not had time to finish 'Nausicaa', so I'm going to have to read it tonight, if I can stay awake for long enough. Son #

As always, trying to maximise the use of time on my non-working day.  I need to catch up with my big sis about her birthday celebrations have gone, but I'll do that later.  In the meantime I'm in contact with friends about meeting up, planning a car wash and catching up on reading. The morning is consumed in minor admin and such stuff until after the lunchtime carer visit, when I head off out to get my car washed.  The final departure of the bird poo.  Whilst at the car wash, son #2 informs me he's off to the dentist this afternoon and, after some discussion, we agree that I'll pick him up afterwards. Once I've returned from the car wash (cue song) son #2 and I make lunch before I watch the second half of episode 5 of 'Blue Lights'. This is a damn good series. Change of medium. Now I finish reading the papers and then get stuck in to 'Nausicaa' with its over the top, florid and romantic narration. We all know it's leading up to masturbation, whic

Travelling day again. Weeks in Liverpool seem to pass so quickly. Now I'm packing all my stuff up again, ahead of a motorway expedition. Whatever happens in the world outside, this cannot change in the near future.  Geography is as it is. The journey home took a little longer than usual owing to roadwork-induced delays. I stopped for a quick break on the M40, and after refuelling myself I resumed my journey. Got home to a bit of kitchen chaos, though I've been reliably informed this was a blip.  What does one do? One just gets on with it. The Royal one. I had planned to meet a friend for a drink and a MAFSA catch up, but by the time I'd got the washing done, cleared up and dealt with three tons (approximately) of bird poo, I was struggling. Luckily we rearranged for tomorrow evening. A fairly quiet evening of unpacking and organising ensued, culminating in dinner with the conquering hero, son #2, and the most recent episode of MAFSA, meaning I am totally up to date. Bed via

I wake up feeling thirstier than a camel lost in the dessert, but at least I don't have the hump.  Overnight I drank about three-quarters of a litre of water and I'm still thirsty.  I'm beginning to suspect that the lamb we at last night may have been grazing but the Dead Sea, just prior to its untimely demise. Either that or someone accidentally bumped into the chef as he was seasoning the meat. When I awake there's a guest in the house, though an expected one.  A pleasant surprise. Q and I have a lazy start which is underpinned by a lot of water consumption.  Q is off to work for an applicants day whilst I go and get my barnet trimmed at the local barbers.  It being Liverpool, there was a lot of banter and it was suggested that I get a Mr. T trim, I declined.  The topic changed to football and when we discussed who I supported, the hilarity increased for them.  It was all good light-hearted banter to brighten my morning. I'd hung the remainder of the washing out b

There's been a sudden and dramatic temperature drop, or at least it feels that way, so much so that mid-morning I swap my t-shirt for a long-sleeved t-shirt.  Gnod to Acid Mothers Temple. It's been a successful day and Q has now returned from work.  We are booked into a local Turkish restaurant for dinner tonight, which is Defne worth checking out. The food was excellent and we both enjoyed our second consecutive date night of the week.  It's a friendly and welcoming environment, which turns out to be Φ-friendly as they don't serve everything smothered in sumac, which she's allergic to.  One lesson Q and I took from our visit - don't order too many starters because if you choose the mixed grill as a main, you will struggle. The lamb was cooked so well...who could resist? Not me, sadly, and so I probably overdid it a bit. I will pay for it. Luckily we walked to and from the restaurant, as it's really close, and the exercise was a small consolation.  On the wa

Let's start this post without banging on about work, instead, I must record the fact that it's a very sunny day and I'm off to the shops early to get milk and bread. Walking in the sun is a good way to start the day and my expedition involves posting a birthday card to my big sister.  The local Morrisons is a hive of activity whilst I take a bit of time accidentally picking up chocolate and sour sweets.  Accidents will happen if you search long enough. Q and I are off out tonight to see Sara Pascoe at the Liverpool  Philharmonic, preceded by a meal at The Philharmonic Dining Rooms which is more or less diagonally opposite. It is officially a date night, so I'm putting on 'brainwaves' to brighten things up. We both ended up having steak, mine accompanied by a glass of red wine as I wasn't driving (thank you Q) and, in my case at least, a full three-course meal.  As I'd previously declared I was lactose-intolerant, they wouldn't let me have the dessert

At the end of today, I'll be mid-way through the working week. Even better than that, this evening is 'Ulysses For All', always a highlight of my week. A busy working day came to a hectic close with two project colleagues setting up impromptu 1-2-1 video chats.   There's a bit of magic required in re-connecting of cables from my work laptop to my personal laptop so that I can use the monitor, speakers and external camera. Tonight's guest speaker is Prof. Jonathan Goldman, calling in from New York. He has some interesting perspectives on both the book and the chapter, including the wonderful observation that the chapter is founded upon a dad joke.   Jonathan is a wonderful advocate for the book and its advocacy of love for humanity. I love this course. Q is out tonight at an event to celebrate Iftar, but before she leaves she makes dinner which I eat during the lecture. Q's back and has had a wonderful evening meeting new people and learning more about Islamic cu

Sun!  Has Spring sprung?  I'm not fully able to enjoy it, but the sunshine is very uplifting, work or no work. Apart from work, what happens during the day?  I find time to meditate, for starters, but not a lot else, or at least nothing beyond the ordinary. Q returns home a little after five, but I work a bit longer as there are some big things to be considered for the project. We have a bit of a chill and then start on dinner.  Q chills by learning more Spanish, as do I, but then I also read more about 'Cyclops'. Pasta and meatballs in a ragu for dinner followed by some Easter chocolate leftovers whilst watching MAFSA. We're a bit later than last night and tiredness descends upon us all precluding the finishing of this episode of MAFSA. Sleep beckons but not before this week's poem is read, which is 'Dog Days' by Derek Mahon.  There's a nugget of something that strikes a chord deep within. Here it is: 'When you stop to consider The days spent dreami

Monday in Liverpool.  Roadworks outside. Cloudy sky.  After breakfast together, Q heads off to work and after washing up, I begin by reading 'Cyclops'. By way of a change of pace, I go outside to hammer the new washing line all the way into the ground.  Once I found some wood and the sledgehammer, this process became much easier.  The difficult part had already been done, that is making it vertical, and so brute force was all that was required. Such a brute 😂 Returning to 'Cyclops' and finishing it in plenty of time for Wednesday's lecture.  At the heart of the chapter are explorations of Irish nationalism and anti-semitism, culminating in Leopold Bloom (who is an Irish Jew) being chased out of the pub by 'the Citizen' and his dog. It is a fascinating episode with two challenging elements: it gradually becomes apparent that the episode is being narrated by someone who is present in the action, but unnamed; and, the action is littered with sections parodying

I wake up a little earlier than usual for a Sunday but am feeling energised as I am going to be driving to Liverpool later to spend the coming week with Q, with the usual caveats. Tense? The past sure is tense. (Apologies to Don Van Vliet)  My plan was to leave at around ten, after the second, key, carer visit of the day. I had packed all my clothes already, so what could go wrong? Well, turns out, the final packing took a lot longer than I had anticipated and I finally left around eleven-thirty. Not all the time was spent packing, to be fair.  There was breakfast, clearing up the kitchen, taking the rubbish out, another carer visit, making coffee for the journey and so forth. Not that it matters, as I don't have to be there by a set time. I am now in the 'pool. The journey included a detour by way of the M54 and the Shropshire  countryside owing to the closure of part of the M6. Time to relax.  Q made a wonderful roast lamb dinner which we all enjoyed together. After clearing

A little later getting up than usual, but after that things fell into the usual pattern for a Saturday. The morning was occupied with the usual chores which continued until lunch when stopped to eat and finish yesterday's HIGNFY and start another MAFSA episode. Time to read the papers, I think.  The papers are now dealt with and so time to tackle 'Cyclops'.  A favourite phrase, so far, is 'as drunk as a boiled owl'. Superb, and there's always more, as the song says. Unexpectedly the sun has poked its head around the clouds and the afternoon is sunny, if not exactly warm (unless in direct sunlight).  The washing is loving it. I've now switched to packing for tomorrow's departure to Liverpool.  All my clothes for next week are now in the case.  For some reason the word case always reminds me of the Viz cartoon below. The image is of, course, copyright Viz.  Although packing is fun, you can have too much of that sort of fun, and so this was the perfect time

Friday seems to have come around quickly this week, which is surprising given I'd just returned from a wonderful break in Cornwall. Nevertheless, it is a working day which will dominate proceedings. The most exciting thing is due to be the delivery of a self-assembly laundry basket to replace the boys current knackered one.   Not quite ecstasy, but obviously not far short of it. Somewhere just short of five-thirty in the afternoon I decided I'd had enough.  There are questions I need answers to and the person I'm asking is off until next week.  Little sis and I nearly arranged to have a call, but our opportunities don't align, so we've agreed upon a Saturday chin-wag. I'm making dinner again, listening to music ahead of us all getting together to watch TV.   We finish another episode of MAFSA (I'm still catching up).  I'm beginning to think Dan is a snake, after originally thinking he was a good guy. I'm sure he's trying make Sandy ditch him, tho

Starting the day with a walk and a chat with Q. This is a good way to start a day. In fact it's better than that. There are two main themes to today, work and also the roof. The team are back again to finish repairing the roof and it looks like the weather will let them do that. Apart from a few breaks to view the work being done and also the newly discovered faults needing fixing, work was the focus of the day. After the roofers left, vowing to return tomorrow for final checks etc, a nurse arrived to change E's PEG balloon water and a general health check. These are the exciting things that litter my day. Now that work is over, Q and I have a chat before I start on tonight's dinner. After dinner we watch more MAFSA and another episode of 'Blue Lights', which is a really good and different cop series set in Belfast.  TFBSZ, by way of 'Cyclops'. Tricky / 'Aftermath' / 'Maxinquaye' [['Maxinquaye' is such a superlative album and it still

Another day started with a walk, during which Q and I chatted.  I may be on a roll, walk-wise. Starting work seems to go better when I've walked first, so it's a habit I'd like to keep up.  Talking of which, owing to work things will be fairly quiet today. First thing the roofer arrived to take a look at our roof.  The main roof is not too bad, apart from the gulley, but the extension roof, which is newer, needs a lot of work. The ridge tiles are all loose, he showed me he could lift them with his little finger.  He reckons the original mix used didn't contain enough cement.  There are leaks, not of the vegetable kind. Back to work... 'Ulysses For All' is taking a break for Easter, so I have no commitments tonight other than to the bins. Committed to the bins, a pretty tragic state of affairs. I now need to start reading 'Cyclops' by next Wednesday, which is around 40 pages. After a chat with son #2 about instant photo cameras, which seem to have come on

It's always difficult returning to work after a week off, and today is no different. I just have to get on with it. Unexpectedly the morning starts with sunshine and so I'm off out walking. I am trying to increase the amount of exercise I'm doing and get it to the point where I'm losing weight.  Oh, yes, that and eating less. That will probably help. Whilst I'm walking Q and I have a chat.  Before I know where I am I'm back home, making breakfast and logging in.   I've returned from cyberspace and the working day is over. Tonight I'm making meatballs in a vegetable and tomato sauce (home made, ofc) with wholemeal pasta.  I start catching up on 'Blue Lights' (where I left off yesterday) and then, once quorate, we watch the next episode together. boygenius / 'Not Strong Enough' / 'the record' [[ ]]

It's a bank holiday Monday and it's raining. That's unusual. Today is a day for catching up with people: I owe several people a reply and I am also overdue speaking to my big sis. My plan is to have a day of catching up interspersed with a bit of learning Spanish courtesy of Duolingo.  An uneventful day is coming to a close, next step dinner.  There's been a change of plans and it's now easiest if we have a takeaway.  We've ordered Japanese food, including sashimi, as I've had too many chips lately. Whilst we wait, I start watching the first episode of the latest series of 'Race Across The World'. Variety is the spice of life. Once the food arrives - and very good it looks indeed - we watch the second episode of 'Blue Lights'.  This is a really good series and I now have a new catchphrase: 'Don't be a notebook wanker'.  Excellent. On my way to submerge in white noise. Wish me luck. Caroline Polachek / 'Smoke' / 'Desire

For the third consecutive morning I wake up in a different bed.  Bed hopper or global jetsetter? Who can say.  Apart from tackling the holiday-induced washing backlog, my plan for the day is to read the paper mountain, finish reading 'Sirens' and prepare to read 'Cyclops'. I've finished 'Sirens' and I love it.  The way Joyce uses language to imitate the rhythms and melodies of music is breath-taking. The idea that the first section is the sound of the orchestra tuning up, prefiguring snippets of what's to come makes it even more enjoyable.  Pure joy. It was such a nice day that I went for a walk before indulging in chocolate, managing over 30 minutes of brisk walking after all that mental exercise.  The washing has dried outside (a first for 2023) and I return to the final bit of reading before I clear up to the sound of music (not the film, which coincidentally is on TV at the same time - whatever happened to 'The Great Escape'?) I'm in the

Global jetsetter that I am, this morning I wake up in Liverpool.  I won't be staying long, though, as I must drive south for the winter. I enjoyed a nice breakfast with Q then loaded my overnight stuff into the car.   Time to head for home via the petrol station. I'm back, late afternoon, after a reasonable journey give or take the odd problem on the motorway.  Accompanying my journey were Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds ('Murder Ballads'), Peter Hammill and more. Deep joy! E was asleep when I arrived but woke up as I was sorting stuff out.  She seems unchanged and as I left her.  I said hello and talked to her about my stay in Cornwall at a school friend's house. One day all worlds will be one world. Intersection to union of all sets. We sat and ate together watching another episode of MAFSA together.  The boys are gradually getting drawn into it. Another chat with Q, before heading for sleep. Peter Hammill / 'Nobody's Business' / 'Nadir's Big Cha

We wake up in Poughill for the last time this week. We've had a wonderful with friends: much walking, fish and chips, and so much laughter that my sides were in peril. Not to mention the presence of an impromptu brass band. Today, however, Q and I are heading back to Liverpool. Our host has been exceptional, perhaps vehement, even providing a packed lunch for the journey east and north. Wonderful. We're now back in the 'pool, after a long but largely uneventful drive. The weather has been good - too good for travelling, really, but heigh-ho. Not long after returning home, we headed out for dinner at Wagamama, 'we' being Q, Φ, and I.   The food was really good, though  Φ's had flies in it. She complained (very politely) and asked what the fly was doing in her dinner.  The waitress said, 'it looks like the back stroke, madam.' Except that she didn't. That only happened in my head. Sadly.  Instead,  Φ had her dinner replaced and we got an extra round of

There's really very little to say about Wednesday.  It rained.  Then it rained some more, until eventually Q and I headed out into Bude. Our plan was to go for a trip to a coffee shop, maybe grab some lunch and then to a bookshop we'd seen earlier in the week. (My idea, though Q was happy to indulge me.) In the end, we went to a café called 'Life's A Beach' overlooking Summerleaze Beach and had lunch and coffee.  I had a superbly cooked whole Bream, with Samphire and new potatoes.  It was rather excellent. Off to the bookshop next where, much against the odds, I came out with a couple of books. Big surprise! On the way back we stopped off to buy some food for the evening.  Q was cooking jacket potatoes whilst I joined the 'Sirens' episode of 'Ulysses For All'.  'Sirens' is an episode whose theme is music and is structured like a symphony in words, and borrows Wagner's idea of the Leitmotif, in written form.  It's a wonderful episode -