Do No Harm

Stories of life death and brain surgery may not be your cup of tea but I read Henry Marsh's book, Do No Harm, for a variety of reasons. I came across neurotmesis  in the eponymous chapter 14.  Having herself returned to me after life saving surgery, but not alas the function of her lower left leg, I was interested to see it defined in another context.  Mr Wikipedia has it as a peripheral nerve injury, the most severe, which in most cases cannot be completely recovered from even with surgical repair. It led me to the thought that - Life is so precious and hangs by such a frail thread that when it is cut.

Marsh seems like an interesting cove. I listened to his Private Passions last year and I think they are still available, as a downloady mp3 thing in good old you kay at least. On p195, in chapter 18 charmingly titled Carcinoma, he relates moments in the days before  his mother dies. He is, with his sister, caring for her. She is carried to the bathroom, washed and tenderly treated in the full knowledge of the three of them that the end is near. He describes their love for her in such terms that even a brick would weep...

"It felt quite easy and natural for us both, I think, despite our intense emotions. It's not that we felt anxious - the three of us knew she was dying - I suppose what we felt was simply intense love, a love quite without ulterior motive, quite without the vanity and self-interest of which love is so often the expression."

(Are there any perks for us in promoting this Marsh fellow, private brain surgery or what...Ed?)

Herself still has a very strong right leg which she needs to exercise! 

Dimpened

Go, a game I used to play, is under attack from DeepMind's project AlphaGo. Google's official blog on this is given here and  other reports are out there. However, John Naughton has a perceptive piece in Th'Observer.  Different take on the "OMG the robots are taking over we're dooomtd I telt thee, dooomtd" that usually comes with these tales. Fits in nicely with the wrecking ball image of this piece.

(Oh I see what you did there, DeepMind - dimpened, and here I am wearing my fingers to the bone trying to find the blessed word in the collections of Mr Collins and Mr Chambers... Ed )

I had often wondered why you had fingers of remarkably similar length, still you do have the opposable digits in the right place.

Top Shelf Stuff

Seen in local supermarket, exhibit 1 a photograph ( attached).

Thank god the owners are keeping this out of the reach of the children!
I know that some of you meterosexuals think that this kind of thing is passe. It is a short step from soft core fruit muesli to CRUNCHY GRANOLA. Hard core or what?

(My Da  (god rest his immortal soul) - said that it could only lead to one thing - mastication... Ed)

Does that parenthetical interjection not constitute illegal nesting by your Da in my blog?

A Modest Republican Proposal

As you may well know I am a fan of reading and libraries. I used the LRB archive to winkle out the Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett. It was a straightforward exercise and well worth the old sub. (Are we getting paid for this ...Ed?) I then started to read. I stopped. Such explosions of laughter, merriment, paroxysms of amusement and general helplessness are injurious to one whose health is, to put it mildly, delicate. Besides I have matters pressing and cannot spare the time at the moment. (Then why in god's name am I having to edit this DRIVEL... Ed?)

However it occurred to me that we could combine national library/book/reading day, whatever you want to call it, with a call for the establishment of the Republic of Britonia. How about organising public readings of the work?

(Two for the price of one... Ed?)

Bogof!

Flights of Fancy

A bright sunny day tempted me to take my nose for a run. The local heath provided exercise and a measure of solitude for myself, various dogs and their owners and assorted family groups. The, relative,  peace was disturbed by a micro lite, or some such, imitating a Singer (sewing machine) with a bad cough going at full belt! But the day was such a delight that it was easy to let it slip by with some grace. I moved from the light into the shadow of the trees to hear the raucous call of a bird. I saw a RookCrow challenge a much bigger bird.  Beyond this a buzzard was taking advantage of rising air to circle above the fracas. Its partner left the RookCrow with a disdainful flap and joined the stately dance. Like unwhirling dervishes they slowly precessed up and away. A ghostly half-moon looked on and down.

Miss Placed in Translation

Interesting project reported in the Grauniad.

Literary travel: around the world in 10 must-read books  Ann Morgan spent a year reading a book from every country in the world – 196 in total.

In the article she picks 10 favourites.
Discussed at the dinner table one of the ten reads - The Ladies are Upstairs, a volume from Grenada.
It  prompted...

 Las mujeres estan arriba...

Until that is I corrected my pronunciation of the island nation!
The project is contained in the website Reading the World

(Conversations at the dinner table is it now...Ed?)

A Seasonal Salmagundi

To compensate in some small measure for the lack of postings.
(Phwaat in god's holy name is a salmagundi...Ed?)
Mr Collins (and others) will with their usual accuracy provide a brief description for those with energy left in their fingertips.

- Thinking about old age & forgetfulness. We will all, no doubt find ourselves in the position of wondering what it is that we wanted to go upstairs for. It is only the realisation that  we are now living in a bungalow indicates we have a problem.

- Told by Hugh Stephenson, the Grauniad Crossword Editor against himself...
 ‘How many times have you made pathetic excuses and tried to shuffle the blame onto someone else? You, sir, are unfit to run a whelk stall. Stand down, please, and let someone with more clout, more guts, more pride and more self-respect take over.’
Now who do we know to whom that could apply, answers please on a postcard to D Cameron!

- Shooting the bries with Pete and Sophie.

- Again the phrase in a book...

"almost her entire family had ended up behind bars"

... had me thinking that the tribe were all in catering. Tell me
 "Did they all work in pubs?"

Late Post

Well a belated good new year to all our readers, yes you at the back!

What have we been up to?

There was, of course, a glut of birthdays.

I'm not sure where the cake came from but...

(Ed... tell me do they make dog biscuits as well?)

Very creepy, very creepy!

The Quality of Silence

Super-Coolio  AWESOME SAUCE

(PHWATT on earth is going on? I see neither sight nor sound of you for over a month and then there is a three word post with the photo of a book... Ed)
Have you had a good holiday yourself? I have to admit the weather has been a bit disappointing. Whenever is it not?
We were reduced, much to our embarrassment, to a sing along with the Grauniad Bank Hol.  Xword!


Aputiak - from the Quality of silence by Rosamund Lipton. An igloo, built swiftly for shelter?

Postliterature

Interesting piece from Oor Pauli on Scribid.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/250612659/Wtf-is-Eleni-Haifa

Particularly like the heading

If you give Frodo Baggins a cellphone The Lord of the Rings becomes a considerably shorter book. 

Perhaps that should be Post Literature - Animal Farm anyone?

I'll just be off to my book group then!

Post Capitalism

I was castigated recently by the acquisitions department of our Library Service. (That must have been painful...Ed)
To continue. I had suggested Post Capitalism by Paul Mason as a suitable volume for the worthy burghers, neo-marxists and no good boyos of the county. A very swift reply advised me that 

 'Our Stock Team have responded, saying that they have ordered a copy of this title for our stock. They added that it is not yet published, and also noted that the correct title has the words elided i.e. Postcapitalism'.

As frequently happens when I am wrong I play out the Philosopher's Gambit in my head as a first defence.
Oh really! I was in fact looking for that book which discusses the role of capitalism in the fencing industry and it's effect on the restraint of beasts after the enclosure of the commons. Of course, silly me, that is by the renowned economic historian Paul E. J. Mason. However, I realised that my gross moral turpitude was compounded not by a lack of elision but a failure to concatenate.

The Grauniad has a wee video of Oor Pauli here. He looks well, Postauntieism seems to suit him.

In other parts of the meja jungle I see the Pinkun has gone east. I hope they retain the Saturday Xwd, one of the few cryptics that I can still do!

We're Younger than that Now

The BFI, whom god preserve, have joined the i madness! There is now a BFiplayer...
This morning, sat with a cup of coffee, I watched an 11 min. short film about the Essex villages of Finchingfield and Great Bardfield in the 30's. Music courtesy of Benji B, the link takes you right there.


A different world, I tell you.

Honourable Friends?

Lots to think about (and do) as a result of reading Honourable Friends by Caroline Lucas.

I attended a celebration of the Life, Loves, Laughs and Liberties of Bob Hall this weekend.
Robert, though I doubt many friends called him that, died earlier this year. He  was an inspiration. He also claimed to have had many fathers and that reversion of scripture(?) was reported in a touching eulogy. Positive stories  emerged in the course of the afternoon, all gave me hope, including the claim  that Bob believed in two things, democracy and that much could be covered by a good coat of paint!

Sometimes, Bob  said, you just need to grab the back of the chair in front of you, stand up, and say what you believe in!
But of course, you also need to organise...

Bob's Organiser's Box

Bob Hall  1923 - 2015

A Spoonful of ...?

You might think the book I have my teeth into at the moment, Swallow This by Joanna Blythman, is a tale of medication in childhood, political obfuscation or unpalatable comestibles. Up to a point Chef Copper, up to a point. The further title, Serving up the Food Industry's Darkest Secrets, gives you more of a clue .
On p92 the description of in store bakeries as tanning salons for products had me choking on my deep fried Mars Bar. According to Joanna it derives from the wit and wisdom of the  Real Bread Campaign. Really our processed food is the great British Fake-Off.

I recognised long ago  that my critical abilities were at the level of being able to read, but not necessarily comment sensibly on, the backs of sauce bottles. I now read them and tremble!

(I've always had a soft spot for sweet and sour prawn balls myself...Ed.)

Pumping Ion

The past few weeks have been taken up with reading The Vital Question by Nick Lane.
The link gives you access to the Grauniad's review by Peter Forbes. I hope your whistle is truly dampened.   I can remember, many years ago reading  Richard Dawkins and thinking that DNA stuff is going to take over the world! Well in many ways this is the story, which I found compelling, of how it did that, possibly.
"It's the energy stupid" as Peter Forbes identifies, but I compress, Of course there is the usual stuff, sex and death and rock!
(Good to see you back; is there not a typo in the title to the post...Ed?)

Nick Who?

Interesting to see the bemused Nate Silver in Panorama waltzed through the seaside, bingo hell, and celtic lands beyond that make up the poor shadow of a nation... (Get on, get on for the love of... First we have a dearth of product then we have more qualifiers in a sentence than the London Marathon...Ed)
I do beg your pardon.
A more interesting analysis is presented on the website 538.
Looking at the figures here, the oft quoted 326 seats needed for a majority resolves into
650 seats less
x seats from non-combatants, Sinn Fein any more?

y from an anti-tory alliance of - Labour (are you sure about that...Ed), SNP, SDLP, Plaid, Green(s) any others out there?

do the math            (( 650-x)/2)) +1 ~ y
Close, very close!

(You could always open a window...Ed)

I would not say I was a great aficionado of defenestration but...

Nota Bene

A sign noted as we passed about the Boddhavista Social Club this Easter Holiday.
Hope you had a good one too.

Well I suspect the worthy burghers of Norwich are glad to see the return, under the Tories, to a more fundamental set of values and plumbing. Victorian Values and Plumbing!

Extra Viginity

Of course I was intrigued by the title of Tom Mueller's book Extra Virginity. (I hope we are not going to be engulfed by a tidal wave of SMUT.  I will, of course, tender my resignation forthwith or with greater emphasis forthwidth... ED!!!)
It relates to the classification of olive oil in the highest category. A qualification  more recognised in the breach than the observance. (ARGHH...ED!) The other end of the quality spectrum is lampante, or lamp oil. The distance between the two leaves much to be desired and this treasure of a book leaves  little to the imagination. Olive oil is the derivative of fruit rather than the extract of seed. It can be produced by mechanical recovery whereas most other oils are chemically extracted by solvents. this has, it is claimed, huge impact on the condition and benefits of the product.  One way of looking at the oil is that it is miracle! You can only feel huge goodwill and gratitude to those who make it, cherish it, protect it and promote it. Be aware though of the opportunities for those who seek to exploit the product, they are legion and the tricks and trucos they employ are many and possibly dangerous.

If you are interested in the book, the oil, or sufficiently curious Truth in Olive Oil is the place for you.

Where are they now:- Rummy, No 93 in a series

I have been attacked, viciously attacked...
(There,  there, sit down on this chair, have some tea, strong tea, maybe a little sugar...Ed)
in an email or two.
(those electrons can be the divi'ls own to shake off, now don't upset yourself...Ed)

I thank you deeply for your concern!
In one of the emails the word 'UNBEKNOWNST' was flung at me  like acid in my face!
I ask you what manner of man goes around using words like that and this a family blog?
I was about to take umbrage, real umbrage, stamp my foot, look fierce and shouty.
Then I remembered Rummy, good old Rummy. I can tell you the thought of that ejit lightened my mood a good deal.
In fact, I thought why not return the serve over the net with..
" would that be an unbeknown, unbeknownst or a beknown unbeknownst?)
But of course in the interest of harmony, peace love and justice I did not.
Life moves on, doesn't it always.

No Mean Affair

The Book - No Mean Affair by Robert Ronsson is not my usual read but I thoroughly enjoyed it. My mother was born in the Gorbals so I have an interest in Glasgow in the later part of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. She remembered very little from her early years. Maybe she withheld a lot but she did describe finding a dead body, presumed murdered, after her brother had fled from the clugdie (toilet) where he had found it first! Not much detail in our 'oral history'. Mum can only have been 5 or 6, her brother Charlie was a bit older though having epilepsy and the results of polio needed  looking after, usually by his little sister. Ronsson paints a tough portrait of tenement life, the environment and the society. He has a very interesting  family connection to Red Clydeside through his grandmother and the possibility that the connection goes further. The historical figures drift in and out of the story, Maxton, Maclean, Mosely Ramsay Mac., the 'real' people live their lives in appalling circumstances and with impossible choices to make.