Wednesday, April 10, 2013

A list of unconnected thoughts

Who said “Home is where you go when you’ve nowhere else to go”? And who said "Home is where you go when you have nothing else to do”?  (It wasn’t me. I think you know how I feel about home.) According to the press, it was the same person: she is widely quoted as saying both. 

What a shame it is that my favourite political blogger  (see this)  gave up blogging, just one day before Margaret Thatcher died. I could really do with reading a well-argued rant to balance out the wall to wall hagiography in the media. Even Jon Snow has been a let-down. Thank goodness for the Guardian with its unvarnished appraisal of her work and legacy. Interesting that the Sheffield Star, in the industrial heartlands she demolished, used the headline “We shall never forgive her.”

How lucky you are that I don’t blog about anything political apart from the plight of the oppressed Palestinians.

You know what? Those thoughts above are connected. The following aren’t.

It is very, very cold here.

The price of domestic heating oil is higher than it has ever been.

We have nearly run out.

Damn! Those last three thoughts are inter-connected as well. But that’s how cold gets to you.

I got my sax back at the weekend. It’s been to the shop to be serviced. Dave - who kindly took it all the way to Nottingham when I was in California, and collected it, too, (what a peach), asked if it sounded better, if it was performing better. The fact is that when I play my sax again after three weeks absence, it always sounds FABULOUS! So I have no way of telling objectively about the improvement. But is does sound FABULOUS!

Jane and I got the book to the wire (typeset, cover designed, estimate from the printer, publication date set) and have admitted to each other that it needs a little bit more work to make it perfect. She said it first, and I denied it. Then I worried about it while I was away, because I know that on editorial matters (rather than on punctuation) she is right ninety nine times out of a hundred. When I got back from SF I read the book through for one last check and saw she was right. So it’s back to the keyboard. We know what we have to do. It isn’t much, but it’s vital. When the book is out and you have read it I’ll tell you what the problem was.

The last item isn’t connected either. It’s me (suffering with my sinuses – hence the pained expression) in front of a giant sequoia in the Sierra foothills. Did you know that giant sequoias are the biggest living things on earth? I don’t care if they are or they aren’t, but I know when I see them and touch them, I am filled with awe.

sue with sequoias

p.s. I just realised that I didn’t mind using Thatcher’s name on my blog, whereas I have always refused to use the name of her creation – ex-prime minister and war criminal, TB - on my blog. Even if I loathed everything she stood for and did, MT was a sincere conviction politician. TB was not.

7 comments:

Christine said...

Robert Frost wrote: 'Home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in.' I think that's better.

Anonymous said...

Please use all your influence with your favourite blogger! Persuade him to change his mind...

I hear TB wants to return to politics! That's a chilling thought!!

Anonymous said...

Ditto. And if he's done with blogging, then maybe it's time to consider publishing? He'd find a following who want to hear more - silence will be so dull.

Sue Hepworth said...

I have tried and failed. He rarely changes his mind about things, so don't hold your breath.I am just as sorry as you are.

Anonymous said...

What made him give up blogging?

Sue Hepworth said...

You'll need to read his last post.

Anonymous said...

You look like a little plastic character, dropped out of the toy box!