Yes indeed, Tuesday afternoon 'I'm outta here'! Needless to say, I am already packed - oh yes, I may be a mere man but I am quite capable of packing days before the off. Of course, when I say I'm packed I'm only referring to the books I shall be carrying in my hand-luggage, my suitcase remains gapingly empty, but it is important, as I keep reminding the 'Memsahib', to maintain a sense of priorities. Actually, packing clothes is a doddle compared to picking and choosing which books to take. As I have mentioned before, I am a bookaholic and in particular I am prone to picking up books whose titles intrigue me. The problem is that I don't always get around to reading them because I keep buying books that I absolutely have to read. Thus, this coming fortnight in the Med will give me a chance to 'do my homework', as it were.
So, I will be taking Anatomies: The Human Body, Its parts and the Stories They Tell by Hugh Aldersey-Williams. It's funny, isn't it, that the older you get the more interested you become in the body you have treated so carelessly in your youth! Then I have a couple of 'swot books' on science. A Little History of Science by William Bynum which, I gather from the blurbs at the back, does what it says on the cover but aims it at non-swots like me. With it, I also have In Search of Schrodinger's Cat by John Gribbon and he is a science writer I know and trust because he is the absolute master of explaining complexity to dummies! Then, at last, I might be able to keep my promise to 'SoD' and read his treasured copy of The Freedom of the Will by J. R. Lucas. I went through a phase in my 40s in which I was fascinated by philosophy. Obviously 'SoD' has done the same and he insists that Lucas is 'the main man'!
For slightly lighter reading I have a biography of Marlborough, The First Churchill by George Malcolm Thomas. I am trying to enthuse myself into designing a PowerPoint talk on the campaign that led up to the battle of Blenheim. Also, I have the latest John le Carré, A Delicate Truth, and I hope he has maintained his recent return to form. Finally, of course, I have a slim Penguin edition of King Lear, perhaps I will try and learn the role if I can keep off the retsina! Yeeeeeeeeees quite!
Books books everywhere and not a fishing rod in sight?
Posted by: Whitewall | Friday, 09 May 2014 at 15:13
I did once try river fishing with a pal who knew these things. We reached the spot on the bank at just after dawn and I remember it was simply beautiful. Naturally, the first thing I unpacked was my folding chair and my book! I threw my thingie out into the river - as you can see, I never quite mastered the lingo - and sat down to read. But, dammit, my pal hadn't told me that you have to keep on pulling your thingie in and then throwing it out again. It totally ruined my reading! I never fished again!
Posted by: David Duff | Friday, 09 May 2014 at 15:46
Well that would be a problem on both counts. I am green with envy at your ability to hurl your thingie such a distance. As active as my imagination is, I can't match that...not even by lying. Now I can cast a lure a good distance and then retrieve with the best of them. So, one out of two talents is not bad for me:)
Posted by: Whitewall | Friday, 09 May 2014 at 16:01
"A lure"! Is that what they're called? All I can remember is that it was deadly hook thingie stuck through a maggot - I couldn't get rid of it quickly enough!
'Still 'n' all', as you say 'over there', I do remember thinking that there is nowhere quite as perfect as a riverside at dawn.
Posted by: David Duff | Friday, 09 May 2014 at 16:17
Enjoy your holiday, you certainly deserve it.
Don't drink too much retsina on your birthday or you may take to dancing on the beach at sparrow-fart.
We, your loyal fans, will just have to do with Anna Raccoon and the Daily Harold.
Happy holiday.
Posted by: Andra | Friday, 09 May 2014 at 19:34
Well, if I can persuade him, SoD might take it over whilst I'm away. He's coming to lunch tomorrow so I will let you know.
Posted by: David Duff | Friday, 09 May 2014 at 19:51
We reached the spot on the bank at just after dawn and I remember it was simply beautiful. Naturally, the first thing I unpacked was my folding chair and my book!
Reck`on as hows that is one way of do'un. This neck of the woods 'noodling' be the preferred method.
Er, course back when 'Jack be nimble, Jack be quick' comes to mind..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LksuKTD8y0o
Posted by: Up2L8 | Saturday, 10 May 2014 at 01:01
Whyscome Andra, only us'ns with heritages left with proper speakin' English is ter only ones left where we do't have to "Press 3 for English" and know for damn sure a lure isn't a willy?
A'course but I needn't had to explain the "David wakin' up in the Big Unknown" as he, er, related to us all t'other day (gives me pause for SoD tho taking over the shop) why he didn't chew his arm off ...
But David did ask, more or less, hows come I knew that tweren't an Arkie "Lady" which was simple enough - her lower jaw aligned with her upper. So obviously "the Lady" had teeth exceeding what we in the South would've regularly been expecting.
An' anywise from what I got from the link wasn't anything to do with her tongue which ... necessarily spotifies the two out extraordinarily as either Mormons or former Paras.
"Paras" yes in that sense but too as in British military "Gentlemen."
In the Regulars sense of British military I mean.
DM?
Posted by: JK | Saturday, 10 May 2014 at 06:34
DM indeed...........call the United Nations...... translators required urgently.
Posted by: Andra | Saturday, 10 May 2014 at 07:27
Uppers, that wins my prize as the most extraordinary YouTube I have ever seen! Apart from anything else, I wouldn't even dare walk in a river with fish like that swimming around.
I tried Google Translate, Andra, but it damn near blew up and told me that ancient Mayan was a doddle compared to contemporary 'Arkie'!
Come on, JK, forget all that 'mil-intel' stuff and point us to a site showing some real pretty Arkie gals - and, NO, not that sort of site!
Posted by: David Duff | Saturday, 10 May 2014 at 08:27
Well, I guess I'll have to accept that you've choosen the greeks over us. Maybe next time you may decide to come somewhere near Barcelona? The paella will be on me then. Have a good time and be careful. The resinato can be quite treacherous.
Posted by: ortega | Saturday, 10 May 2014 at 11:20
Actually, Ortega, I have a fond memory of my one and only visit to Barcelona when I flew in to break my journey further south down the coast in order to see the Spanish Grand Prix - which is on tomorrow! Back in those days, as you certainly know, it was run on the Montjuïc site where the botanical gardens are situated which made it a very attractive venue, although highly dangerous. I think Jackie Stewart won that day. I think that if pressed to pick a city to holiday in, Barcelona would be at the top.
Equally, if you ever visit the rolling hills of south Somerset the bangers and mash (sausages and mashed potato) and the beer, are on me!
Posted by: David Duff | Saturday, 10 May 2014 at 13:28