2012 — 5 June: Tuesday
It's odd to have consecutive Bank Holidays that aren't Xmas.1 And another cool start (though no sign of the sodden state the BBC feather warcasts warned us about). The cold has progressed to my 'usual' raw throat stage — as if I need further excuses for vast quantities of tea. And if it gets worse, I shall simply move on to stage two of my fiendish plan — the hot toddies2 that will pickle the damnable viruses until they give up.
On our last stroll I reminded Mike of a snippet from Roger Scruton. The bosses of Islam come down hard against alcohol, as does the instruction manual they choose to follow. Yet, according to this same manual, the rivers of their particular paradise flow with wine, not water. So what's that all about? Endless temptation? Even after death? Weird.
Mind you, I'd choose nepenthe over wine. Oh well, pension day tomorrow. Ever onward. Hic.
It's probably sinful...
... but it always gives me a mild jolt of pleasure to see the Pope getting his knickers in a twist...
... though, in this case, it seems to have taken six years to get the round tuit needed to rustle up the condemnation. I find myself reminded of the fuss that forced a recent American President (not one famed for his sexual continence, either) to sack his female Surgeon General for being so foolish as to make some similarly truthful remarks in public.
I sometimes worry whether Dante's lowest circle will actually be able to accommodate all the politicians, evangelists, CEOs, bankers, financial advisors, and tabloid journalists whose various hypocrisies surely ought to guarantee them speedy admittance.
It's June (flaming June, remember?) and I've just had the central heating on for a few minutes to bring the living room up to a slightly more cosy 20C. British summer... Pah!
Did I mention tea helps? It does! It's 16:28 and seems to have been raining for the past several hours.
Another four episodes of "The Mentalist" has been fleshing out some of the characters' back-stories nicely without giving me any reason to lower my current opinion of the programme. Almost ridiculously enjoyable tosh, and very well-scripted most of the time. Judging by the thousands of submissions on fanfiction.net I'm going to assume I may not be the only one with that opinion.
R.I.P. Mrs Landingham
Sadly, with actress Kathryn Joosten's death yesterday I shall no longer be addressing any further asides to that very classy lady Dolores Landingham.