Love, Poetry and Revolution - Friday 16th August 2024

August starts with son #3's birthday.  We celebrated with a meal at a local Thai restaurant, even though a salad had attempted to poison me the night before.  Hard as nails, me!

Q joined us for the weekend and then the three of us headed back to Liverpool for a week to give son #3 a break from caring responsibilities, especially while son #2 was in Costa Rica and son #1 was away with his gf.

We had a great week, including a tiring day walking at Malham and meals with my big sister and her husband in Saltaire and my brother-in-law and his wife in the 'pool.

Family is key.

Since returning dahn sarf, I've started, with the help of the dudes a big clearout of crap we no longer use/need.  I have begun the process of sorting through E's stuff, which is long overdue.  E has a huge collection of shoes, boots and clothes and it's hard to know where to begin.  I guess the biggest challenge is accepting that she'll never need any of these things again.  Especially when she's still here.  It seems unlikely that she'll live a lot longer (i.e. not years and years and years) but despite the obvious decline and increasing weakness, she doesn't seem to be going anywhere.  Seeing her daily in a death-like state, which she seems to be in increasingly often, is a form of constant torture, especially when you're trying to move forward and live life in the present. Hey, ho.

I'm finally getting something done about the garden.  I'm paying someone to get it into a state whereby I, my sons, and maybe Q (who has already enjoyed being let loose with the hedge trimmer!) can easily maintain it.  I'm coming to terms with the idea of gardening.  Deranged, or what?

Music is still a key survival mechanism. "I like binoculars, Tell me that you want me." A great couplet from a song, ridiculous - a pairing that's never been said in real life, but I love it.  (I do have binoculars. More than one pair. Say no more.)

The challenge is, what song to choose for this.  An old one? A new one? A personal one? Hmmm...

There are lots more things I could write about - RIAT, revitalised interests, books, etc - but this is just an off-the-top-of-the-head quickie (not pronounced quiche).

I've been listening to a lot of angry songs by the Fatima Mansions over the last week, so I'm choosing one of those.  Not the most vitriolic one, but I feel it's very relevant to the times we are living in.  Especially the hatred and divisive words spread by evil ex. investment bankers and the man with many names, to name but two.   It's called 'A Pack Of Lies'. Lyrics are excellent.

The Fatima Mansions /  'A Pack Of Lies'  / 'Viva Dead Ponies'

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