Nine Feet Underground

The old year stretches out behind me and the new one beckons me. I haven't made any resolutions as I believe that you should try to improve every day and learn from things you got wrong.  Doesn't always work that way, but trying is half the battle. What I want most this year is for E's suffering to end as soon as possible. We don't even know the full extent of it, only the part of the iceberg that's out of the water. Over the past few weeks, her decline has continued apace, such that we are now keeping one eye open for signs of sepsis.  Fingers crossed it happens sooner than later. This weekend I should be off to Amsterdam with Q and her daughter (who is returning to her home there) to celebrate Q's birthday, hot on the heels of Christmas. I had a neck, head and shoulder massage at the Sue Ryder hospice yesterday which set me up nicely for New Year's Eve.  I have three more sessions to go and I can try reflexology (which I might try) and reiki which sounds l...

What do you do, when it's all behind you Every day, someone else reminds you When times were sweet. Wings on your feet, and bells on your toes Ahh, only heaven knows... A day of chores, weekend papers, music, and the book club novel, and not a lot else.  One of my 'change my life' objectives is still not in play - must try harder, I guess. Over lunch I watch the end of the first part of a documentary from BBC4 entitled, 'The Summer of Love: How Hippies Changed The World'.  It's an interesting documentary, with excellent music: one thing I have discovered - why on earth have I never seen all of D.A. Pennebaker's film 'Monterey Pop'?  This is clearly an omission that must be rectified.  The second and final part of the documentary will be an exploration of the darker undertones, especially from a woman's perspective.  Should be interesting. 'Adults' by Emma Jane Unsworth is this month's book club read and though it's easy to read, I...

More of the same today: very busy at work, so will not have much time to write until later. Lots and lots of lovely work, until the early evening when it's time for the idler drinks Zoom session.  Tonight's guest speaker is Jaron Lanier, who is described on Wikipedia as 'an American computer philosophy writer, computer scientist, visual artist, and composer of contemporary classical music. Considered a founder of the field of virtual reality...', and also a critic of social media, especially of Facebook and YouTube. Another incredibly thought-provoking session, which was attended by around 500 people at the peak, with Jaron talking widely on a variety of topics including, social media, ownership of personal data, access to creative works (music, art, literature etc), bitcoin, blockchain and GDPR, to name but a few.  I'm sure I've said it before, but these weekly discussions have been one of the highlights of lockdown and a major contributor to my sanity. Dinner ...