1 The man who was sleeping in the cupboard is now sleeping on the sofa; a lodger has taken his place in the cupboard. The cousin, the director of the household, requires him to pay his way. He cannot. Accordingly, he is to leave the sofa and the house on Monday. On that day he will carry his belongings, including his laptop, go to Lunar House, to sign on, and then discover where he is to sleep that night. In detention, maybe; in a B-and-B, perhaps; someone else, that is, the street, a possibility. The RBL will find him a B-and-B for a week or two, a short-term measure to provide thinking-time.
2 The 45-year-old man would regard the sofa as an improvement. He suffered a gunshot wound 24 years ago; he was awarded a War Pension; 24 years on, by his account, he drinks to cope with the flashbacks, to get to sleep; he continues to smoke 40 cigarettes a day even though he has lung cancer, even though he has epilectic fits.
3 And so the conversation turns to the matters of the comfortable, the fortunate day. Swimming, amiable work on a laptop, another cup of tea. Amiable walking in the evening to the bridge club. Just as amiable walking (half-way) to home. Later, the house will be cleaned, the clothes will be ironed. How fortunate we are; how fortunate we are.
5 And I reckon I will find the missing application form. It's here somewhere. It can't have gone far. It must be here. It must
6 Time to think of your return, travelling lady. Time to return to East Grinstead, to take possession of your house, your networks. Time to chat, about the Black Hills, about the books you have read. Stayathome, the one at the bottom of the Close, awaits your return. ABCD - amiability, bodies, company, and dialectic.
7 During the day I will buy a photograph-holder for the man's Army Certificate of Education, awarded in July 1987.
8 Send One Big Idea from the book about Berlin.
Thinking of you.
Stayathome
Friday, 12 February 2010
Thursday, 11 February 2010
Jumping jellyfish and shuddering ships
1. Darkness engulfed when I was woken by a loud bang followed by a violent shaking of the bed. Three thirty in the morning, what on earth was going on. Was the boiler going to explode or was it indeed an earthquake. No more sleep came, just waiting, waiting to see what would happen next. Morning dawned and all was calm, no sign of shaking or shuddering and the bed was still in place.
2. An earthquake, goodness an earthquake 4.2 on the richter scale. The epicentre was on the Albanian border not that many miles away. I thought of Haiti and the devastation, and wondered if there was any damage here.
3. The days pass quietly now (how do I get the italics off). I train some every day whether the inclination is there or not. I have not arrived at running yet, still afraid of mutterings in the back.
4. The history lesson in the supermarket was amusing. DJ who speaks good English was introduced when I was making chicken noises in my attempts to buy some chicken breasts.(At least it gave all a good laugh). He has befriended K and K. All my enquiries were around bus stops and buses into town. He offered to take me and could not understand independence. We are all dependent on one another. The history lesson began with King Nicholas signing the treaty and betraying all the thousands of Montenegrians who were killed.The Montes are definitely a fierce lot with the mountains as their aids. They threw rocks at all invaders.
5. Alone is Berlin is proving to be a gripping read. The treatment of non party members comes out strongly, as does the spying and snooping on others. It was a welcome relief to read that there were Germans, unafraid, who stood out against the Hitler regime.
6. Kaaren works every evening, so I read, but there is only so much reading one can do in a day. Being used to activity, restlessness creeps in, so bed at 10 is the only option.
7. Warmth for the cold person. Where would you like to go? Morocco?
The shaken
2. An earthquake, goodness an earthquake 4.2 on the richter scale. The epicentre was on the Albanian border not that many miles away. I thought of Haiti and the devastation, and wondered if there was any damage here.
3. The days pass quietly now (how do I get the italics off). I train some every day whether the inclination is there or not. I have not arrived at running yet, still afraid of mutterings in the back.
4. The history lesson in the supermarket was amusing. DJ who speaks good English was introduced when I was making chicken noises in my attempts to buy some chicken breasts.(At least it gave all a good laugh). He has befriended K and K. All my enquiries were around bus stops and buses into town. He offered to take me and could not understand independence. We are all dependent on one another. The history lesson began with King Nicholas signing the treaty and betraying all the thousands of Montenegrians who were killed.The Montes are definitely a fierce lot with the mountains as their aids. They threw rocks at all invaders.
5. Alone is Berlin is proving to be a gripping read. The treatment of non party members comes out strongly, as does the spying and snooping on others. It was a welcome relief to read that there were Germans, unafraid, who stood out against the Hitler regime.
6. Kaaren works every evening, so I read, but there is only so much reading one can do in a day. Being used to activity, restlessness creeps in, so bed at 10 is the only option.
7. Warmth for the cold person. Where would you like to go? Morocco?
The shaken
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
A journey
1 By comparison, the first journey was a trivial one. I drove my Ford Fiesta for the first time. When the major features work, then the attention is on the ancilliaries. I could not - still cannot - adjust the tripmeter. I had to erase the Estate locking process and replace it with the Fiesta. So too with the raising and lowering of the windows. I was conscious of the unscratched car. And I was reluctant, in any case, to use the car as its proper place seemed to be in the garage. A car for possession not for use.
2 During a visit to a client I broke a standing rule. The client and another visitor were talking about how better things were in their youth, how children them were disciplined, how children now lacked discipline. I listened. And I voiced my dissent. Ah, I had crossed the line, one which separates the personal from the professional (even though I had called for general amiability rather than with any particular need in mind.).
3 To Tinsley. Well greeted, well handled. Esoso, a Biafran, left Nigeria in 2004 or 2005 and reached England, by way of Libya and Italy, in 2009. Arrested by Immigration because he had tendered a forged ID document, he was convicted (of ....) and served six months of a 12-month jail sentence. He now awaits deportation. He has no family in England, no relatives or friends; he knows no-one here. He does not want to be returned to Italy, as he does not speak the language and has no connection with the country. He does not want to return to Nigeria as he faces arrest there, imprisonment, or execution. (He was arrested, together with others, in 2004 when he took part in demonstrations against Nigerian rule of his part of the country. (Akin in a general way, I thought, to Nationalist protests against the Unionist government in Northern Ireland.)
4 And so he has come to rest, in England, in prison, in detention. He is 25 years young. He has tried unsuccessfully for bail. He has no sureties. He has no money. The onetime undergraduate has obtained a job in the kitchen at £1 an hour.
Where does he go?
What does a visitor do? I promised to visit him again on Saturday.
(Meanwhile, there was fresh white stuff on the sides of the road when I returned from Liz Ashton's.)
Time for the warmth, time for a week off in the warmth.
Stayathomeinthecold
2 During a visit to a client I broke a standing rule. The client and another visitor were talking about how better things were in their youth, how children them were disciplined, how children now lacked discipline. I listened. And I voiced my dissent. Ah, I had crossed the line, one which separates the personal from the professional (even though I had called for general amiability rather than with any particular need in mind.).
3 To Tinsley. Well greeted, well handled. Esoso, a Biafran, left Nigeria in 2004 or 2005 and reached England, by way of Libya and Italy, in 2009. Arrested by Immigration because he had tendered a forged ID document, he was convicted (of ....) and served six months of a 12-month jail sentence. He now awaits deportation. He has no family in England, no relatives or friends; he knows no-one here. He does not want to be returned to Italy, as he does not speak the language and has no connection with the country. He does not want to return to Nigeria as he faces arrest there, imprisonment, or execution. (He was arrested, together with others, in 2004 when he took part in demonstrations against Nigerian rule of his part of the country. (Akin in a general way, I thought, to Nationalist protests against the Unionist government in Northern Ireland.)
4 And so he has come to rest, in England, in prison, in detention. He is 25 years young. He has tried unsuccessfully for bail. He has no sureties. He has no money. The onetime undergraduate has obtained a job in the kitchen at £1 an hour.
Where does he go?
What does a visitor do? I promised to visit him again on Saturday.
(Meanwhile, there was fresh white stuff on the sides of the road when I returned from Liz Ashton's.)
Time for the warmth, time for a week off in the warmth.
Stayathomeinthecold
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
Voluntaryism, and taking one's ease
1 The first meeting began at 1100 in the familiar (RBL) room, the upper room, remember. There were 17 people in the room, including two women. All 17 were over 60; about 14 were 70 or over. It was the AGM of the local branch of the RAFA, the best-attended AGM for some years. The business was completed according to rule. Come back to the room at 1730 for another meeting. Seven people were seated round the table; four of them had attended the earlier meeting. An agenda, notes of the previous meeting, a planning document - the impedimenta, together with the tea and biscuits, of a well-ordered meeting. All seven were over 60; one was over 80. Those seven were planning the event which will mark Armed Forces Day in the town. Volunteers all.
1.1 And all so familiar. The volunteers are elderly. They meet each other in one group or other. They concern themselves with serious matters, including the welfare of local residents. They handle their businesses according to rules which require professional behaviour. They conduct their business in unpublicised meetings. They tell each other that additional members would be welcome. Sometimes they tell each other that 'we really must recruit more members'. But the numbers remain low whilst the ages remain high. Today in East Grinstead, in the upper room, the voluntary spirit was alive and well.
2 So, like those who are paid for their labour, the volunteers think of recreation; they think of time away from their voluntary labours. One thinks about a week on the Dorset coast either in spring or in autumn. That same volunteer thinks about walking or cycling in Pembroke or walking or cycling in eastern Kent. There, the coastal cycle route remains to be completed. From Sandwich all the way round to Herne Bay. Add some transit journeys and the completion of the route will be a three-day activity. So the volunteer would be ready to take his active rest in Dorset, there to explore the Jurassic coast, in Kent, or in Pembroke.
3 Meanwhile, the volunteer in the Black Hills will be enjoying her family time. A change of location; no change in activities. (Well, some change.) The young man will have no recollection of the amiable days inland or on the coast. But the adults will. Constant bonding, constant stroking.
4 Here the volunteer is about to go to bed, there to read (for a while). The morning will bring its weather - of course - and there is a particular interest in what tomorrow morning's weather will be. Snow, the volunteer has heard, has been forecast. At lunch today, in La Farola, one of the diners reported that our weather 'was coming from America'. We could expect the snow, as it had been snowing in New York. American snow - I wonder if it can be distringuished from any other geographical kind.
5 There is time, though, to report that a commentary from England has appeared on a websiste in deepest Canada, where, as it happens, the snow is deep and may remain so for another month.
6 And the tall man with the whiskers who has a couple of whippets will collect for SSAFA.
Continue to cherish, continue to bond.
Stayathome.
1.1 And all so familiar. The volunteers are elderly. They meet each other in one group or other. They concern themselves with serious matters, including the welfare of local residents. They handle their businesses according to rules which require professional behaviour. They conduct their business in unpublicised meetings. They tell each other that additional members would be welcome. Sometimes they tell each other that 'we really must recruit more members'. But the numbers remain low whilst the ages remain high. Today in East Grinstead, in the upper room, the voluntary spirit was alive and well.
2 So, like those who are paid for their labour, the volunteers think of recreation; they think of time away from their voluntary labours. One thinks about a week on the Dorset coast either in spring or in autumn. That same volunteer thinks about walking or cycling in Pembroke or walking or cycling in eastern Kent. There, the coastal cycle route remains to be completed. From Sandwich all the way round to Herne Bay. Add some transit journeys and the completion of the route will be a three-day activity. So the volunteer would be ready to take his active rest in Dorset, there to explore the Jurassic coast, in Kent, or in Pembroke.
3 Meanwhile, the volunteer in the Black Hills will be enjoying her family time. A change of location; no change in activities. (Well, some change.) The young man will have no recollection of the amiable days inland or on the coast. But the adults will. Constant bonding, constant stroking.
4 Here the volunteer is about to go to bed, there to read (for a while). The morning will bring its weather - of course - and there is a particular interest in what tomorrow morning's weather will be. Snow, the volunteer has heard, has been forecast. At lunch today, in La Farola, one of the diners reported that our weather 'was coming from America'. We could expect the snow, as it had been snowing in New York. American snow - I wonder if it can be distringuished from any other geographical kind.
5 There is time, though, to report that a commentary from England has appeared on a websiste in deepest Canada, where, as it happens, the snow is deep and may remain so for another month.
6 And the tall man with the whiskers who has a couple of whippets will collect for SSAFA.
Continue to cherish, continue to bond.
Stayathome.
Home alone
1. Phew, day one of respite. What bliss it is to work to one's own rhythmns. The early years were where one had to succumb to the rhythmns of others much of the time. Time for the ageing to have space to move at a more leisurely pace.
2. 20 minutes on the walking machine with some incline and 10 minutes on the crosstrainers was sufficient for the old bones. A quiet cup of coffee and some time on the internet is now the order of the day.
3. However random people keep ringing the gate bell. None, of course, speak English. Fortunately the last call was the postman with a letter too large to put in the box. I had to venture out in my socks.
4. Four viewings of Harmony. Two offers so far 375 and 380. However, it is early days yet and we want to stick out for 400. Someone else is going today.
5. Privileges were bestowed yesterday. I was allowed to go upstairs to Isaac's section and join the fray. The two young women deserve praise for their dealing with the 7 young girls and 3 young lads aged between 17 months and 3 years. Music and dancing feature most of the time.
The Montenegrian version of ring a ring a roses was discernable. Two DVDs Pi Pi and Noddy.
6. Breakfast is at nine or shortly after. They generally have a roll with something in it. At 11.15 all are changed into pyjamas and lunch is at 11.30. Cabbage soup with some bread in it. Three in highchairs to begin with, quick change and another three and two on one lap, two bowls in the leader's hand. Then time for bed. Twenty little mattresses on the floor.
7. Developmental toys eg puzzles, books do not exist. Gluing, making, etc are nowhere to be seen. This is the top kindergarten in Podgorica. The Russian is sullen and keeps to himself, scowling and utters niet every now again. Some are inanimate and one wonders whether the lights are on. Isaac charges around and is lively thank goodness.
8. I spoke to the woman who speaks good English. Iasked about her son who is studying Economics and Business Studies at a private university in Podgorica. By all accounts he is doing well and enjoys the system which is similar to the American one, where students are encouraged to think for themselves. By her account, that is.
9. Did you read the Jamie Whyte piece on why visible benefits always trump invisible costs. He believes that one should not exchange services for services, but trade with money. That was my Times on Line event yesterday.
10. I have just finished the easy read and have started on a book purchased at the Airport. 'Alone in Berlin' by Hans Fallada who was a renowned author in Germany before and during the war. The book is about an illiterate couple who wage an anti-nazi campaign by way of sending postcards. Seemingly it is based on a true story, which I believe as copies of the postcards and Gestapo reports are in the back of the book. The English translation came out last year.
11. You have made no comment on the Holiday Property Bond suggestions. Yes or a no and if yes what.
From the freedom pass
2. 20 minutes on the walking machine with some incline and 10 minutes on the crosstrainers was sufficient for the old bones. A quiet cup of coffee and some time on the internet is now the order of the day.
3. However random people keep ringing the gate bell. None, of course, speak English. Fortunately the last call was the postman with a letter too large to put in the box. I had to venture out in my socks.
4. Four viewings of Harmony. Two offers so far 375 and 380. However, it is early days yet and we want to stick out for 400. Someone else is going today.
5. Privileges were bestowed yesterday. I was allowed to go upstairs to Isaac's section and join the fray. The two young women deserve praise for their dealing with the 7 young girls and 3 young lads aged between 17 months and 3 years. Music and dancing feature most of the time.
The Montenegrian version of ring a ring a roses was discernable. Two DVDs Pi Pi and Noddy.
6. Breakfast is at nine or shortly after. They generally have a roll with something in it. At 11.15 all are changed into pyjamas and lunch is at 11.30. Cabbage soup with some bread in it. Three in highchairs to begin with, quick change and another three and two on one lap, two bowls in the leader's hand. Then time for bed. Twenty little mattresses on the floor.
7. Developmental toys eg puzzles, books do not exist. Gluing, making, etc are nowhere to be seen. This is the top kindergarten in Podgorica. The Russian is sullen and keeps to himself, scowling and utters niet every now again. Some are inanimate and one wonders whether the lights are on. Isaac charges around and is lively thank goodness.
8. I spoke to the woman who speaks good English. Iasked about her son who is studying Economics and Business Studies at a private university in Podgorica. By all accounts he is doing well and enjoys the system which is similar to the American one, where students are encouraged to think for themselves. By her account, that is.
9. Did you read the Jamie Whyte piece on why visible benefits always trump invisible costs. He believes that one should not exchange services for services, but trade with money. That was my Times on Line event yesterday.
10. I have just finished the easy read and have started on a book purchased at the Airport. 'Alone in Berlin' by Hans Fallada who was a renowned author in Germany before and during the war. The book is about an illiterate couple who wage an anti-nazi campaign by way of sending postcards. Seemingly it is based on a true story, which I believe as copies of the postcards and Gestapo reports are in the back of the book. The English translation came out last year.
11. You have made no comment on the Holiday Property Bond suggestions. Yes or a no and if yes what.
From the freedom pass
Monday, 8 February 2010
So much more than yellow
1 I associated him with primary colours, with yellow, with Arles, with Provence. And with mental instability. That's him, I used to think. No longer. Oh, no. Rooms 1 and 2 put paid to any such emasculated understanding of the man. Room 5 - Arles and Provence - is underpinned by the contents of those first two rooms. It was in those early rooms, it was during those early years, that the painter's development is manifested. The journey to Provence goes through Brabant. Nature, the people in Brabant, sketches in ink and in pencil - keep these phenomena in mind. And perspective.
2 The first picture on show is a colourful still life. A green tea-pot, a corn-flakes bowl with onions in it, a pipe, a tablecloth. Now form a cylinder with your hand, that is, form a monocular and look at the picture through it. Ah, the immediate three-dimensional effect. Last year the monocular-view displayed the Gaugin canvasses in the RA to remarkable effect; now it is the Van Gogh pictures which are brought to life. Those pictures though are colourless or colour-light. I took sunflowers into the room with me, but I soon set them aside as I looked at the sketch of a road in Nuenen, a district in Brabaant. The pencil sketch is of a road bounded on the left side by a wall and on the right by a line of trees. In the foreground, a man stands; a figure stands behind in the middle-ghround, whilst in the background on the road is a third figure. (Form the monocular - ignore the people around - and straightaway you are looking at the three-dimensional road. The man who is associat5ed with yellows, with sunlight, is learning the craft of perspective and is doing so in a colourless landscape.
3 There are splashes of colour, of course. Indeed there is more than a splash in A Cottage in Branant. A dilapidated cottage, a run-down barn on the left, an anonymous woman kneeling on the right. The brick frontage of the cottage, the windows in need of repair. A sparse surround. Notice the colour. Notice, when you look through your handmade monocular, the success of the perspective. Or look at the Autumn Lacndscape, the other picture which, to the peril of my soul, I covet. Ah, to place that picture on my wall. The two lines of trees which curve to the right with a green space, a forest way, between. The trees are brown, so are the leaves in the foreground. The sun is shining on them. Now achieve the three-dimensional effect and the picture has a depth which is missing when viewed with the two eyes.
4 In room 2 - yes, you have just viewed the pictures in room 1 - you will see the painter's attempts to draw the peasants in the fields. Notice the momumental, heroic effect. Look at the woman, back to you, as she digs. Turn to The Loom, a solid, monumental contrivance to which the weaver, at the b ack, partly shielded by a cross-bar, seems but an addition. Structures, spatial relationships - notice the artist's concerns.
5 On my first visit, I left the exhibition after viewing the contents of rooms 1 and 2. I did so again today. I and a companion had taken an hour to view the contents. It was time to leave, to leave the RA for a sandwich, a coffee, and an opportunity to talk about what we had seen. Of course, we had whispered to each other as we viewed; we had tugged each other's sleeves; we had pointed; we had stood in front of a sketch (A Nursery) which showed a left-hand fence running to the central point of perspective, a right-hand stream running to the same point, and a central path running straight to the point.. Meanwhile, in the foreground, a stream ran laterally. Another picture, we both whispered, for the wall.
6 The Bright Coulour Man had not always been so, we realised. We left those two rooms with a sense of the exhibition - pictures and commentaries - as a teaching device. Of course, the artist had been his own commentator. He had written frequently to his brother about his activities. And he had written engagingly, so much so that there was inclination to buy a book of his letters. When later, in a first view of the Arles room, we admired the perspective of his sketch and painting of Irises near Arles, we knew where he had developed his skills and we recognised his development.
2 The first picture on show is a colourful still life. A green tea-pot, a corn-flakes bowl with onions in it, a pipe, a tablecloth. Now form a cylinder with your hand, that is, form a monocular and look at the picture through it. Ah, the immediate three-dimensional effect. Last year the monocular-view displayed the Gaugin canvasses in the RA to remarkable effect; now it is the Van Gogh pictures which are brought to life. Those pictures though are colourless or colour-light. I took sunflowers into the room with me, but I soon set them aside as I looked at the sketch of a road in Nuenen, a district in Brabaant. The pencil sketch is of a road bounded on the left side by a wall and on the right by a line of trees. In the foreground, a man stands; a figure stands behind in the middle-ghround, whilst in the background on the road is a third figure. (Form the monocular - ignore the people around - and straightaway you are looking at the three-dimensional road. The man who is associat5ed with yellows, with sunlight, is learning the craft of perspective and is doing so in a colourless landscape.
3 There are splashes of colour, of course. Indeed there is more than a splash in A Cottage in Branant. A dilapidated cottage, a run-down barn on the left, an anonymous woman kneeling on the right. The brick frontage of the cottage, the windows in need of repair. A sparse surround. Notice the colour. Notice, when you look through your handmade monocular, the success of the perspective. Or look at the Autumn Lacndscape, the other picture which, to the peril of my soul, I covet. Ah, to place that picture on my wall. The two lines of trees which curve to the right with a green space, a forest way, between. The trees are brown, so are the leaves in the foreground. The sun is shining on them. Now achieve the three-dimensional effect and the picture has a depth which is missing when viewed with the two eyes.
4 In room 2 - yes, you have just viewed the pictures in room 1 - you will see the painter's attempts to draw the peasants in the fields. Notice the momumental, heroic effect. Look at the woman, back to you, as she digs. Turn to The Loom, a solid, monumental contrivance to which the weaver, at the b ack, partly shielded by a cross-bar, seems but an addition. Structures, spatial relationships - notice the artist's concerns.
5 On my first visit, I left the exhibition after viewing the contents of rooms 1 and 2. I did so again today. I and a companion had taken an hour to view the contents. It was time to leave, to leave the RA for a sandwich, a coffee, and an opportunity to talk about what we had seen. Of course, we had whispered to each other as we viewed; we had tugged each other's sleeves; we had pointed; we had stood in front of a sketch (A Nursery) which showed a left-hand fence running to the central point of perspective, a right-hand stream running to the same point, and a central path running straight to the point.. Meanwhile, in the foreground, a stream ran laterally. Another picture, we both whispered, for the wall.
6 The Bright Coulour Man had not always been so, we realised. We left those two rooms with a sense of the exhibition - pictures and commentaries - as a teaching device. Of course, the artist had been his own commentator. He had written frequently to his brother about his activities. And he had written engagingly, so much so that there was inclination to buy a book of his letters. When later, in a first view of the Arles room, we admired the perspective of his sketch and painting of Irises near Arles, we knew where he had developed his skills and we recognised his development.
Sunday, 7 February 2010
away, away to the coast
1. Budva is the place and Splendid is the hotel. Off we set along the windy road through the tunnel. Up and over the mountains was considered too dangerous. The snow was gleaming up there over the mountains. The road twists and turns, the verges littered with half built houses. Random sites and random shapes. The water in the lake was high, trees and grassland submerged. No wonder the hippo swam away.
2. The sea was wild when we arrived. Not the sort of weather you would take a young man out in. We found the pool for little ones at 34degrees. A sauna to be sure. Armbands are yet to be purchased. He enjoyed the jumping in and blowing bubbles. In and out, in and out. Who was going to give in first, the old or the young?
3. We alternated - a massage for Mum and then a massage for Grandma. How good it was to have the joints manipulated. Bed for the young man then room service for the adults. The table was laid out splendidly. Dinner for two with the young man sleeping close by. Bed by 10 -boy were we tired.
4. Up with the lark and a breakfast with so many choices, it took five times round to view before a boiled egg was settled on. More swimming - in and out, in and out, up and under. What a shock. Mummy was having some respite, Grandma was chasing in and out of the pool with the ball. Time to wander through the narrow streets in the old town - fortified against invaders.
People on the coast are friendly and know how to smile.
5. Life is confined to the rythmns of the young one. Many experiences of that kind in the past few years.
6. Good news - three more viewings at Evenley on Saturday. Reports to come on Monday.
What more can the lady from the black hills say except Good Night.
2. The sea was wild when we arrived. Not the sort of weather you would take a young man out in. We found the pool for little ones at 34degrees. A sauna to be sure. Armbands are yet to be purchased. He enjoyed the jumping in and blowing bubbles. In and out, in and out. Who was going to give in first, the old or the young?
3. We alternated - a massage for Mum and then a massage for Grandma. How good it was to have the joints manipulated. Bed for the young man then room service for the adults. The table was laid out splendidly. Dinner for two with the young man sleeping close by. Bed by 10 -boy were we tired.
4. Up with the lark and a breakfast with so many choices, it took five times round to view before a boiled egg was settled on. More swimming - in and out, in and out, up and under. What a shock. Mummy was having some respite, Grandma was chasing in and out of the pool with the ball. Time to wander through the narrow streets in the old town - fortified against invaders.
People on the coast are friendly and know how to smile.
5. Life is confined to the rythmns of the young one. Many experiences of that kind in the past few years.
6. Good news - three more viewings at Evenley on Saturday. Reports to come on Monday.
What more can the lady from the black hills say except Good Night.
Saturday, 6 February 2010
Cars, and planes, and boats
1 The light is returning; I know it is because I was cleaning the interior of the Escort about 0715 this morning. I was expecting a prospective buyer at 0830, and so I had to get on with the cleaning before the buyer arrived. In the event, he didn't arrive: a no-show. A telephone call later led me to expect another prospective buyer at 1030 or soon after. No show.
2 An hour or so ago I spoke to yet another prospective buyer who lives in Slough and yet a fourh who lives in Watford. I may have to forego the pleasures of cycling in order to accommodate these two people. (We'll see.) I need just one buyer. A likely buyer who travels from Slough, and who has spoken to me about the car, must be one who is inclined to buy. Maybe.
3 The star of the day however was not the shining car but the man who commands the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and who is himself a one-time Jaguar pilot and one-time member of the Red Arrows. Spitfires, Hurricanes, and the Lancaster. He knew each one as it appeared on the screen; he had something to say about each; what he said was delivered in a robust vocabulary and was complemented by appropriate hand-signals. A treat for the elderly audience, some of whom had flown Spitfires, some of whom had flown in Lancasters. He was the star of the show at Headley Court.
3.1 The route to Headley deserves a mention. From the A25, west of Reigate, the road rises and rises. At the top there a cricket field, a village, a shop, a pub. There were cyclists on the road, riding up as well as down. And I was taken with the idea of riding up to Headley, from the world of the A25 at the bottom to the world at the top. A steady climb, you understand, with a steadily lengthening line of vehicles behind.
4 And boats? Well, I collected The Times from Haulcon. Whilst there I turned on the television set to watch the rugby. From rugby to a programme - one of a series - about The Empire of the Seas. The episode was about the British Navy in the nineteenth century. A style, in my view, which is suited to those who are comfortable with undemanding narratives, a succession of 'Well, I didn't know that's, and a narrator who talks emphatically to the camera.
5 And a call from my sister.
It must be time for tea and to-bed-with-The-Times.
Stayathome.
2 An hour or so ago I spoke to yet another prospective buyer who lives in Slough and yet a fourh who lives in Watford. I may have to forego the pleasures of cycling in order to accommodate these two people. (We'll see.) I need just one buyer. A likely buyer who travels from Slough, and who has spoken to me about the car, must be one who is inclined to buy. Maybe.
3 The star of the day however was not the shining car but the man who commands the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight and who is himself a one-time Jaguar pilot and one-time member of the Red Arrows. Spitfires, Hurricanes, and the Lancaster. He knew each one as it appeared on the screen; he had something to say about each; what he said was delivered in a robust vocabulary and was complemented by appropriate hand-signals. A treat for the elderly audience, some of whom had flown Spitfires, some of whom had flown in Lancasters. He was the star of the show at Headley Court.
3.1 The route to Headley deserves a mention. From the A25, west of Reigate, the road rises and rises. At the top there a cricket field, a village, a shop, a pub. There were cyclists on the road, riding up as well as down. And I was taken with the idea of riding up to Headley, from the world of the A25 at the bottom to the world at the top. A steady climb, you understand, with a steadily lengthening line of vehicles behind.
4 And boats? Well, I collected The Times from Haulcon. Whilst there I turned on the television set to watch the rugby. From rugby to a programme - one of a series - about The Empire of the Seas. The episode was about the British Navy in the nineteenth century. A style, in my view, which is suited to those who are comfortable with undemanding narratives, a succession of 'Well, I didn't know that's, and a narrator who talks emphatically to the camera.
5 And a call from my sister.
It must be time for tea and to-bed-with-The-Times.
Stayathome.
Friday, 5 February 2010
Brightness
1. The sun is shining and it is warm. The mountains surrounding the house are clear and dominant. The young man and I have been playing Frisby in the garden. Ambling in the warmth seems an experience of long ago. Shame about the roar of the traffic in the background.
2. Five minutes peace whilst he sleeps before we begin again. The kindergarten staff were pleased to see me and urged me to come in again. I shall be there on Monday. My senses tell me that rest will not be an option over the coming few days. Karstein returns on Wednesday.
3. Kaaren is taking her team to the Hippo Lake today for some bonding and treating after the eruptions of the past few weeks.
4. We managed about, well I did, 15 minutes on the walking machine and cross trainer last night. I will start on the walking machine first next time, walking after 12 minutes on the cross trainers did not suit the back.
5. And the old and the young. The old testing the young, because the young are forever testing the old. The old proving that they know more because of their longevity and experience. The young believe the world belongs to them, but the old know that is not the case. Love hides reason. Passion takes over.
6. We are off to the coast tomorrow to Budva about an hour away. The hotel has a pool so there will be an opportunity for a swim, though we shall have to take it in turns.
7. I remarked on the general good quality of the cars, which does not give an air of poverty. Cars, however, are a status symbol and the folk rack up huge debts to have a car. Companies acting as guarantors for loans is common practice here. Kaaren's company have put a limit on 50% of the loan as some people had hardly any salary at the end of a month.
Not much else to report.
Lady of the Black Mountains
2. Five minutes peace whilst he sleeps before we begin again. The kindergarten staff were pleased to see me and urged me to come in again. I shall be there on Monday. My senses tell me that rest will not be an option over the coming few days. Karstein returns on Wednesday.
3. Kaaren is taking her team to the Hippo Lake today for some bonding and treating after the eruptions of the past few weeks.
4. We managed about, well I did, 15 minutes on the walking machine and cross trainer last night. I will start on the walking machine first next time, walking after 12 minutes on the cross trainers did not suit the back.
5. And the old and the young. The old testing the young, because the young are forever testing the old. The old proving that they know more because of their longevity and experience. The young believe the world belongs to them, but the old know that is not the case. Love hides reason. Passion takes over.
6. We are off to the coast tomorrow to Budva about an hour away. The hotel has a pool so there will be an opportunity for a swim, though we shall have to take it in turns.
7. I remarked on the general good quality of the cars, which does not give an air of poverty. Cars, however, are a status symbol and the folk rack up huge debts to have a car. Companies acting as guarantors for loans is common practice here. Kaaren's company have put a limit on 50% of the loan as some people had hardly any salary at the end of a month.
Not much else to report.
Lady of the Black Mountains
Thursday, 4 February 2010
Wander, and return
1 It's time I wrote about the young lovers, the worldly-wise mentor (perhaps), and the able servant. (Susannah, I wondered). The search was - remains - for a frame which will make sense of the single, life-changing day. A territory, wanderings, and return.
2 Beginnings and endings. The young people are paired. The young men declare that they are betrothed to virtuous young women; they are betrothed to exemplars of virtue. As we listen to young lovers, we smile. We wish them well. They have so much to learn. Still, with good fortune, they will learn together what has to be learned.
3 In the much-neglected opera the lovers are immediately put to the test. Cheerily and confidently, the young men agree to a test of their partners' love. And so each courts the other's lover. Ignorant of what is going on, the women are put to the test. And they fail. Meanwhile, the young men, so confident, put themselves to the test, all unwittingly. And they fail. The young love is not yet the hardened love which may be able to resist the charms of another.
4 All four, in their fresh pairs, have gone beyond the fence which separates the garden which is ordered, cultivated from the surrounding open land where one may walk where one will. In the open land, the rules are different. In the garden, a person will behave in a way suited to the garden, to the paths, to the crafted landscape. In the open, the same person, now unconstrained, may adopt a different guise, may appear altogether different. And the rules which govern the communion between people, being different, may lead to challenges, assaults, temptations which, in the garden, are held back.
5 And so what is to happen as young people return to the garden. Indeed, they must be brought back, if they tarry, lest promises which may have been given in the open land must be impossible to set aside in the garden. And, after all, it is in the garden where we expect to spend our time.
6 The young people resume their original pairs. They return. But they have been away, and what happened in the open country will remain in their recollections. Better, of course, not to talk about these things. Those recollections are reminders of frailty. They are also an enrichment. Each, everyone knows that the original innocence is not to be re-established. Each has learned. Each has developed. Each has a better understanding of themselves and of others. Each has seen in the long looking-glass a more profound image.
Don (Alfonso)
2 Beginnings and endings. The young people are paired. The young men declare that they are betrothed to virtuous young women; they are betrothed to exemplars of virtue. As we listen to young lovers, we smile. We wish them well. They have so much to learn. Still, with good fortune, they will learn together what has to be learned.
3 In the much-neglected opera the lovers are immediately put to the test. Cheerily and confidently, the young men agree to a test of their partners' love. And so each courts the other's lover. Ignorant of what is going on, the women are put to the test. And they fail. Meanwhile, the young men, so confident, put themselves to the test, all unwittingly. And they fail. The young love is not yet the hardened love which may be able to resist the charms of another.
4 All four, in their fresh pairs, have gone beyond the fence which separates the garden which is ordered, cultivated from the surrounding open land where one may walk where one will. In the open land, the rules are different. In the garden, a person will behave in a way suited to the garden, to the paths, to the crafted landscape. In the open, the same person, now unconstrained, may adopt a different guise, may appear altogether different. And the rules which govern the communion between people, being different, may lead to challenges, assaults, temptations which, in the garden, are held back.
5 And so what is to happen as young people return to the garden. Indeed, they must be brought back, if they tarry, lest promises which may have been given in the open land must be impossible to set aside in the garden. And, after all, it is in the garden where we expect to spend our time.
6 The young people resume their original pairs. They return. But they have been away, and what happened in the open country will remain in their recollections. Better, of course, not to talk about these things. Those recollections are reminders of frailty. They are also an enrichment. Each, everyone knows that the original innocence is not to be re-established. Each has learned. Each has developed. Each has a better understanding of themselves and of others. Each has seen in the long looking-glass a more profound image.
Don (Alfonso)
The white black hills
1. The female customs officer mistook me for a wealthy lady when she told me that should I have 2,000 euros on me, I would need to declare it. I assured her that I only had 15 pounds in my pocket. She then asked if I had anything other than my own clothes in the suitcase. I replied that half the suitcase was full of my grandson's clothes.
2. Life is tough here and they still do not smile. In one appraisal Kaaren put smiling on the list of things to be attended to. She spoke about the GDP dipping into a negative figure - 2% I believe.
The average salary net is 400 euros a month - do not know what the tax is. Senior management earn about 25,000 a year.
3. There is nothing to do here in summer and even less in winter. However, the young man was on form and we had an enjoyable time looking at books. Karstein flies off this afternoon and is back on Wednesday, so I can see that there will not be much spare time. The kindergarten ladies are looking forward to seeing me.
4. The British Embassy have given notice of a Burns Supper next Saturday, but it is in Tivat which would make it rather difficult to get back for my 10 a.m. flight.
5. I have just had an email from the Estate Agents who say that the couple who viewed on Monday are keen to buy if they sell their house.
6. Kaaren requested two copies of the Harvard Business Review - her preferred reading at the moment.
I am now going to tackle the diary before time runs away and the young man is back from Kindergarten.
Will transfer the money today.
Send a smile
No wonder the hills are black!
2. Life is tough here and they still do not smile. In one appraisal Kaaren put smiling on the list of things to be attended to. She spoke about the GDP dipping into a negative figure - 2% I believe.
The average salary net is 400 euros a month - do not know what the tax is. Senior management earn about 25,000 a year.
3. There is nothing to do here in summer and even less in winter. However, the young man was on form and we had an enjoyable time looking at books. Karstein flies off this afternoon and is back on Wednesday, so I can see that there will not be much spare time. The kindergarten ladies are looking forward to seeing me.
4. The British Embassy have given notice of a Burns Supper next Saturday, but it is in Tivat which would make it rather difficult to get back for my 10 a.m. flight.
5. I have just had an email from the Estate Agents who say that the couple who viewed on Monday are keen to buy if they sell their house.
6. Kaaren requested two copies of the Harvard Business Review - her preferred reading at the moment.
I am now going to tackle the diary before time runs away and the young man is back from Kindergarten.
Will transfer the money today.
Send a smile
No wonder the hills are black!
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
Faraway lady
1 Lives. lives. We've just completed an Oxted group meeting. Eight of us around the table. The tales were of the misfortunes which brought young men (mainly) to detention in Brook House (mainly). The misfortunes of life. One man has served a sentence of three and a half years for GBH; from prison to Brook House; there he will stay for the foreseeable future because he cannot be removed to Zimbabwe. He does not want to return because he fears for his life.
2 Other lives in the upper room (of the RBL in East Grinstead). The mounted picture of the old man when he was (40) years younger did what it was intended to do. It got them going. An agreement to speak for 20 minutes; a further agreement to talk for another ten minutes. Lots of good stuff about SSAFA. And a £25 cheque for SSAFA. A convivial atmosphere. In the upper room and in the saloon people who were at ease in each other's company talked and then left for home, having been fortified in their regard for the others.
3 A companionable telephone call to Master Brown. A good evening, it was agreed. Yet we wonder how it finished. Tomorrow, I will key something about the opera. The writing is the roadway to clarity of thought. The road, of course, may be long or it may be short.
4 And this short note has been keyed on the laptop on a tray on the gas-stove.
Settle in. Take your ease. Make the connexion. Send the news.
The man in the SSAFA tie.
1 Lives. lives. We've just completed an Oxted group meeting. Eight of us around the table. The tales were of the misfortunes which brought young men (mainly) to detention in Brook House (mainly). The misfortunes of life. One man has served a sentence of three and a half years for GBH; from prison to Brook House; there he will stay for the foreseeable future because he cannot be removed to Zimbabwe. He does not want to return because he fears for his life.
2 Other lives in the upper room (of the RBL in East Grinstead). The mounted picture of the old man when he was (40) years younger did what it was intended to do. It got them going. An agreement to speak for 20 minutes; a further agreement to talk for another ten minutes. Lots of good stuff about SSAFA. And a £25 cheque for SSAFA. A convivial atmosphere. In the upper room and in the saloon people who were at ease in each other's company talked and then left for home, having been fortified in their regard for the others.
3 A companionable telephone call to Master Brown. A good evening, it was agreed. Yet we wonder how it finished. Tomorrow, I will key something about the opera. The writing is the roadway to clarity of thought. The road, of course, may be long or it may be short.
4 And this short note has been keyed on the laptop on a tray on the gas-stove.
Settle in. Take your ease. Make the connexion. Send the news.
The man in the SSAFA tie.
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