2008 — 4 July: Friday
Suddenly, it's 00:24 and the eyelids are converging... Just time for tonight's picture. It dates from shortly after Peter was born, and a period when dear Mama seemed genuinely pleased to have a grandson, let alone a daughter-in-law. She had come down from the Midlands (that is to say, we had fetched her) to stay with us in Old Windsor for a couple of weeks.
Christa and dear Mama in late 1980
G'night.
As I await...
... details of today's planned perambulating (it's 08:41 and the sun is shining) I have time to sink a cuppa and work out whether or not this astonishing piece on marriage is a cynical spoof or a serious bit of thinking:
This profound attitudinal change is mirrored in the numerous neologisms that describe modern relationships, expressions like "starter marriage," and its diminutive "starter wife/husband." It is now taken for granted that the first marriage is but a warm up, a little infield practice before the big game. Older, successful men have long traded in last year's model for a new trophy wife. And while that phenomenon persists, today's woman is no more reluctant to jettison her partner, and shows far less inclination to compromise or adjust unrealistic romantic expectations as might women in early times. The male, meanwhile, has accepted that he no longer need submit to matrimony to pass on his genes. Or, with no-fault divorce, today's "baby daddy" may spread his seed and move on well before he hits the midlife crisis. None of this has been lost on the enlightened bachelor, who views it all with a jaundiced eye and a keen sense of the absurd.
How, I vaguely wonder, have I lived this long without visiting the campaign against political correctness website? Or even knowing it existed? What a sheltered life, heh? I must confess, though, to a deep feeling of unease about a site so strongly endorsed by Ann Widdecombe. This must be a perfect example of existential angst. Which is best dissipated by a repeat listen to Posy Simmonds (visual engineer) as the castaway on "Desert Island Discs". She is, bar none, the best chicken imitator I have heard!
And how, I equally vaguely wonder, can an evening meal of fish and chips trigger a police armed response? It's a mad world, my masters.
Marching orders
Off on a walk in the vicinity of Selborne (I believe). More later. Don't miss this spot of "alienation" from Mark Lawson. I had my tongue in my cheek yesterday when remarking it was a good job I had nothing to hide. My tall young Dutch chum points me to this essay on the topic. Thank you, Thomas.
What is this Life if, full of care...? dept.
Caught in the act of imitating Gilbert White:
What goes around...
I swear I read all the "Narnia" stories1 as a youngster while managing to remain essentially oblivious to their overt messages of Christianity. I find myself somewhat similarly bewildered by what now seems to be being unearthed in the pulp SF of Philip K Dick, 26 years after his death. Little wonder I was no fan of Eng Lit at school, I suppose. I just read the stuff for enjoyment. This was one of many areas in which Christa and I would happily agree to differ although, over the years, my more Philistine approach did seem to gain a slight ascendancy. Certainly she expressed a degree of relief over those years that she had not returned to Germany in 1974 to pursue her initial intentions of a career teaching literature. My own relief at this, of course, was almost infinitely greater!
I think I'd rather sneeze... dept.
Not since I read the story of Barry Marshall (the chap who dosed himself with a culture of Helicobacter pylori to demonstrate they caused certain types of stomach ulcer) have I felt as queasy as this story made me feel. Monitus es.
"Sitting in the jungle for long periods gives you time to think," he noted. "And this led to the idea that worm burdens of tolerable intensity could be beneficial under some circumstances."
ITube, YouTube... dept.
I think I've watched four videos on YouTube (by far the best being the story of the XBox hacking). But I very much enjoyed this comment on The Guardian's blog entry on the topic:
"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers" - William Shakespeare, Henry VI Part II, Act IV, Scene II.
Well, somebody had to say it.
(Legal Note: The above quotation is from one of the greatest playwrights in English Literature; it is not, and should not be taken as, a declaration of intent by this person who
posts this quotation, nor in any way as an instigation to others known or unknown to William Shakespeare, nor to this person or any other person who quotes his works; it is quoted
solely to illustrate the historic resentment of those many who are individually weak and vulnerable, who are, or may be, preyed upon viciously by selfish and self-serving
practitioners of law, whose only motive to action is personal enrichment through the prostitution of themselves to the purposes of the greedy rich and powerful - which in no
way should be taken as a description of any or all of those legal professionals who are, honestly and to the best of their learned ability, representing the commercial interests
of Viacom, a propriatorial company held in the highest regard by those who regard it... at all.)
I'm not certain about the spelling of that word "propriatorial" but I do applaud the sentiments.
Thorny Rose
Seems like just six weeks ago I noted the M&S profits. My, how quickly things can change!