Menorbelling; Shooting The Breeze

I am scheduling this post as I sit a bit adrift on Tuesday arvo. Why adrift? Well, the usual story of very peculiar sleep patterns, combined with weather determined to hold onto winter (grey and grizzly outside, me being grey and grizzly in the Hutch); then a little pinch of 'seasoning' from writing the Rekha posts and having the news of Bertie to process. Golly, I was so lucky to get to know him. I know he will not be at all bothered that I now look forward to the chance of being 'aunty' to his successor, Nobby, in due course. 

I am also pondering taking on the A-Z challenge for April again. To be honest, it is a slightly masochistic activity, but it is also a good regulator. Setting a theme and target to achieve the entire alphabet enforces discipline. I am in need of that 'whip' at the moment. Can I fund that energy within to attack this task??? We'll both know the answer to that in a couple of weeks.

"Forget Me Not," said The Germ

How about COVID? With all the madness going on in other world matters, there is almost no reporting about pan/epidemic status. I have been very wary and, it turns out, with some cause. This (Tuesday) morning, our First Minister advised that, in Scotland, compulsory wearing of masks in public spaces (shops, events places, transport etc.) will remain in place at least until the end of this month. Cases have spiked quite rapidly again in the last month and have been rising over the past four weeks. The 'hotspots' in Scotland are the places that initially were less affected. It is starting to show the same trend south of the border. The same is found in the States, OZ and - I am sure - in many countries. It is true the death rates are less daunting, but I think it would be an error to become complacent regarding taking simple precautions.**

Add in all the dreadful flooding that has taken place in various parts of the globe and that our government (and others, I suppose) are seeking 'alternative sources' for fossil fuels... grrrrrr, bite your tongue, YAM. That this is a time for speeding up and strengthening R&D in renewables appears to be getting pushed aside... 

Yeah. Not in the best of fettles, this week is the YAMster. I've even forgotten to eat on occasions. A sure sign I am out of kilter.

What have I been doing to mitigate the agitations and longings? My usual bolt holes of reading, writing, listening and watching. The reading has mostly been online, but I am nearly finished the book I mentioned previously - Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer. The other morning, too, when there was a glitch in the etherwebs, and I couldn't do anything for a couple of hours, I picked up a book on the side table, which I've had for a few years now; another of Gail's contributions to my library. I'd read it back then but am delighted to be revisiting it. Corvus tells the tale of Chicken the Rook (and other birds) who found a home with the author, Esther Woolfson. Delightful.

The writing has been limited to blogs, but at least I am getting a bit 'meatier' with them - and I am grateful that they are being read and responded to. I need to get more disciplined and back to more serious writing, which is why the alphabet challenge is being considered.

The listening has been podcasts and audiobooks. One of my fave podcasts is Off-Menu. What would you choose to eat in your dream restaurant? It is a place where you can order whatever and however much you want with no judgements passed (well, mostly!) but lots of discussion and comparison had. There are many wonderful dramas and documentaries on BBC Sounds, but I am also grateful to a penfriend, Jodi in Canada, who linked me just last week to Emergence Magazine. Their podcasts hold much value to the listener. The essays are lovely reading, too. (By circle of serendipity, the organisation that publishes EM, the Kalliopeia Foundation, support Robin Wall Kimmerer...) Then, of the audiobooks consumed, more from Alistair McCall Smith, plus a post-war murder mystery, The Murderer In Ruins by Cay Rademacher. This was intriguing, being inspired by actual events. As it was a translation from the original German, I suspect it suffered a little for that. Or it might have been that the reader wasn't the most even-paced. The phrasing was somehow not quite correct. I didn't mind the story, although there were a couple of things that stuck out as being somewhat anachronistic ("jogging pants???" were they called that in Hamburg in 1947?) and occasionally verging on chauvinistic. Would I seek other works by the author? Other stuff would come first, but I wouldn't reject it altogether.

As for viewing... well, there has been the fun and stylish television version of The Ipcress File, the return to BBC of the final season of Peaky Blinders, my weekly compendium 'fix' of Take The High Road and - thanks to Aitch - I have become hooked on Shakespeare and Hathaway. If you can source British television, do look it up. Lightweight, frothy private eye stories which are very well acted, and rather brilliantly written - because of all the actual Shakespearean references. The 'secretary' come jack of all trades character of Sebastian is my fave!

NB: Next week is FFF time again!!! Pull out your images and dress them up with some words, real or imagined.

Right, that's enough breeze between us now. I trust I haven't bored the socks off you. What have you been reading, watching, listening or even writing of late??? Let me know below! Now, off into the weekend with you...

** as noted, this was written on Tues arvo... 24 hours later, THIS ARTICLE showed up on my reader. It's not just me fretting, it's a bloke with cred (and, I am sure, several others 'in the know'...)