The notebooks of Malte Laurids Rilke - Rainer Maria Rilke

A difficult but rewarding read.  A mixture of a desolate life in Paris and his wealthy upbringing. Very meandering. Pages 133 to 160 are the best. Lots of existentialist angst.

 Claire Keegan - Small things Like These

Wow. 100 pages of beautiful story telling. A tradesman in 80's Eire, and the hint of the Catholic laundry scandal. Just tragic and beautiful. I love it.

 Fyodor Dostoevsky - The Brothers Karamazov

Finally got through this heavy tomb. Very hard work. Very rewarding. Glad to have finally read 'The Grand Inquisitor' and 'The Tail of the Onion'. 

  Règle 4 “Pas de stress. Ayez l'esprit Kaizen” - Have the spirit Kaizen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPlH89I9CHk&list=PLFjbBR3UHcAIwj6PjwnANZOtXOf5r_BBE&index=5

detendez-vous                relax

En fait j'ai vécu -             in fact I have lived (vivre)

qui est de pire en pire -    which is getting worse and worse

je me rajoutais                 I added myself (ajouter)       

se réjouir du niveau        enjoy the level

n'ayez pas peur de faire des erreurs    don't be (être passé subjonctif) afraid to make mistakes

ne soyez pas triste                                do not be (être present subjonctif) sad

soyez fier de ça         be proud of that

rappel                        reminder

 Règle 3 “Pas le temps d’apprendre?”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8S3Uh2Heo0&list=PLFjbBR3UHcAIwj6PjwnANZOtXOf5r_BBE&index=3

nos loisirs our hobbies

le gens que je rencontre meet

je unes heure de trajet pour aller travailler path/journey/drive

vous nettoyez l’appartement et vous vous lavez clean

il y a des tas de possibilitiés mass/heap/pile

ou pour votre aspect privé, peu importe no matter

détendre loosen

moitié half

donc tout ça mis bout à bout so put it all together (or end-to-end)

abonner subscribe

Règle 2 "La répétition" - Apprendre le français avec Français Authentique

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DLYerqw5jc&list=PLFjbBR3UHcAIwj6PjwnANZOtXOf5r_BBE&index=2

chaque jour il court                                 each day he’ll run

ils répètent leur gamme         their range

répéter cela veut tout simplement to repeat it simply means

un ordre de grandeur tiré des recherches drawn

il faudra du temps         it will take time

j’ai un petit cadeau pour toi         present

vous devez suivre pour survivre you must follow to survive

la réussite personnelle personal success

tiré shoot draw pull

le chiffre de 80% the figure of 80%

et ce n’est pas un hasard and it is not a hazard

j’en ai marre et je veux abandonner I’m fed up and i want to give up

j’ai moi-meme remarque lorsque j’ai appris i myself noticed when i learned

efficace efficient

egalment also

perdez votre temps lost/waste your time

personne ne parle comme je viens de le faire no one talks like I just did

pour que vous puissiez so that you can

resoudre votre problem resolve your problem

vous arriverez à atteindre l’objectif     you will achieve your objective

Règle 1 "Le secret pour améliorer votre français" - 

Apprendre le français avec Français Authentique

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnOerSCk2Qs

surprenant

apparaitre

cependant

allongéz

provenir

cours course

court short

chaque jour il court         each day he'll run

appareil device

ou au moins or at least

également un fichier also a file

conseil advice

remarquer remark, note, notice

suivez follow

échouer fail

basé based

surprenant surprising

apparaître appear

tout-à-fait absolutely

asseyant sitting

si on ne fait qu’emmagasiner if we only store

serviront serve, dish up

cependant however

si vous vous allongéz lay down

entendre hear

graver engraved

suivantes following

la honte shame

au bout de quelques temps after some time

provenir come from

lorsque when

enseigner teach

échec failure

telecharger download

exprimer express, voice

résumons summarise, resume

 French Yoga Nidra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnpsC1gv3O4

allongée lying down

assure-toi make sure

éteints extinct

dérangé disturbed

plafond ceiling

colonne column/spine

relaches relax

coussin cushion

degagé clear

sol floor

paume palm

pouce ring???

paume palm

coude elbow

selles saddles???

le poumon lung

la cuisse thigh

le mollet calf

cheville ankle

le talon heel

tu raménes bring back

la fesse the buttock

atteint              achieved

crâne skull

des soucils eyebrows

les paupières eyelids

les joues cheeks

le menton chin

décroché du palais lifted from the palate

la mâchoire desserrer loosen the jaw

racine root

gonfle swollen

ralentissant ta respiration - slow down your breathing

pièce room

bruits noises

remue shake

 Back after a long break. Much has happened over the Covid years.

One thing that hasn't changed is my learning.

Still studying French, and Classics, and Literature, but now added with Neuroscience!

Sliver Wedding anniversary and Berlin

Berlin.

We spent five days in the city to celebrate our Silver wedding anniversary, and we had an excellent time. Everything went brilliantly.

The weather helped. It was lovely.

I think what Berlin has, is energy, youth, vigour, and an excitement for the future. Rome, Paris, Florence, etc, all look backwards to their glorious history; their 'belle epoch' and their 'eternal city'. Berlin acknowledges its past, but looks forward as well. You could argue the same with London or New York, they both look forwards. But Berlin does it without the obscenity of wealth all put on show. Berlin isn't showy or brash, it's not all going at 100mph, it has a self assurance that it does things well, quietly, and efficiently, without the waste of its flashy counterparts.

I loved it. My new favourite city. Though time will tell if Rome takes that back...

Friday

Fly out from Norwich to Schiphol, and then on to Berlin - nice and easy

It took a while to get from the airport to the hotel. We didn't at that time understand the S-bahn, U-bahn, and buses.

We got to the hotel around five and rested really, and ate in the hotel

Saturday

Gym

We found the upmarket shops around Rosa-Luxemburg Strasse. Didn't buy anything as wanted to see what else there was.

Lunch in a small Vietnamese restruaunt

Museum Neue - to see Nefertii's head and Priam's gold (copy unfortunately as the Russians took it and won't return it)

Then a long walk to watch the light shows and Brandenburg gate

A lot of walking!

Dinner was BurgerKing near the hotel - yuk

Sunday

Gym (Noah texts and calls)
Museum of Contemporary Art - This included some unusual stuff such as sculptures made from tallow
Joanne was very tired, so we didn't do much apart from popping out to a nearby cafe for a pizza

Monday
Gym
Back to the Brandenburg gate and then the Reichstag - superb stuff. We were very early, but they let us in.
Walked to the Goethe statue in the Tiergarten, and then the Jewish memorial. Bleak and amazing
Then to the 'Mall of Berlin' - yuk, could have been anywhere.
Currywurst and then Biriani
Joanne very tired so early to the hotel

Tuesday
Gym
Shopping time back at Rosa-Luxemburg - Joanne a coat, a green top, and some new trainers. Me a couple of shirts
Back to hotel to rest
Then evening meal in the tv-tower. An excellent time for us both

Wednesday
Gym
The Wall - Too many selfies from people who don't understand. Maybe. It was a killing field
Oberbaubrucke bridge
Ramones museum?!?
Werkhaus and Aufbau haus
Oranienstrasse - cool, hip, hipster, teslar, fixie, graffiti, edgy, arty, - got the kids a t-shirt each. Sat outside a bar and watched the world go by. Cortex records
Berlin State Library - just the best. Icing on the cake. This were so kind and just let us i
Took it easy as Joanne exhausted

Thursday
Off to the airport
All nice and easy
Britain and beige. Dull dull dull. off to the parishes for parochial 2-dimensional blah

John Freely - The Flame of Miletus

Wow! It takes you on a roller-coaster ride through two thousand years of Greek philosophers and their influences on the World. So much in it and so much barely skimmed over. A fantastic reference book to trigger further reading (which is already has especially with Boethius)

Marina Keegan - The Opposite of Loneliness

The girl died in a car crash at around 22 years. These are her posthumously published short stories. They are well written and she wrote with a youthful vigour. A life lost to early.

William Shakespeare - Anthony and Cleopatra, and Julius Caesar

Not read a huge amount over the past couple of months;  part of the ennui that I'm under. But whilst I had a cold, I listened to a couple of audiobooks from a certain William Shakespeare.

William Shakespeare - Anthony and Cleopatra

Listened to this as it links in with my general studies around the Greeks and Romans. This play though was based upon the writings of Plutarch's "Life of Mark Anthony" that was translated in 1579 by Sir Thomas North. Thoroughly enjoyed listening to it.

Faulkner - Cleopatra greeting Antony

William Shakespeare - Julius Caesar

From Plutarch's 'Lives' again. Excellent stuff though really it should be called Brutus, as he has four times the lines of Caesar.

Copperplate engraving by Edward Scriven from a painting by Richard Westall: London, 1802.

Well, I'm back

It's been a while. Just got out of the habit and inclination for a while. Nothing bad at all, just didn't really have the will to write anything. It's been a good few months for the most part; our silver wedding anniversary in Berlin was very good. A family problem cropped up. No detail for this blog as it's not what it's about. Work and health are good. Just feeling a period of ennui really. Can't put my finger on it, just needing to find something to occupy my mind (or body) is needed.

I have a kind of a start of a plan. May be a false start, but good starts generally follow one or two false ones. So if it's a false start, then lets get it over with.

Body focus is a good place to begin. I've been doing a fast day (or two) over the past couple of months and that's resulted in some stomach muscle definition. That's triggered even more exercise than before. So gym is four times per week, and I'm thinking of getting up early to do exercise every morning at home. See if that gives my mind and body a boost. So that's the plan; to replace the long evening of time wasting with earlier starts of exercise and studying. I'm just not studying in the evening at the moment. Too many distractions whereas in the morning they're hopefully not about.

Let's see...

We feed the hand that bits us - Penny Rimbaud

Herscue Bergenstreiml - When Herscue Met Jomphrey and Other Tales from an Aspie Marriage

 A book about a woman's marriage to an autistic/asperger husband. I started reading it thinking I was recognising myself. But after a little while in thought I'm pretty mile compared to this chap. Then through the rest of the book, I was recognising Sue's Alan! Whoops. I didn't expect that, but he came through surprising loud and clear.

John Julius Norwich - A history of Byzantium

Wow, a long tale of death and distruction. Just an awful history for killing in the name of greed and/or religion.

Holidays - the second week now disappears...

So it's Sunday evening. The first of July and we're back to work tomorrow.

It's been hot and sticky. We're both a little burnt and peeling, and tired too!

Saturday 23rd - Just mooched really. Did some food shopping and went into Town for lunch

Sunday 24th back to London for the Cure concert. That was Sunday night and hot. The gig was excellent if a little long. It went on for 2 1/2 hours and was mostly stuff we didn't know. So mixed feelings really.

Monday 25th - To Liberty's and Selfridges. Still in this not spending phase and was really put off by the obscenity of what people are buying. Just stuff that isn't needed and won't be appreciated. I did though buy two cheap white non-work shirts: part of new image. Then train back to Norwich.

Tuesday 26th - To the boat. Hot! We went from Coltishall to St Bennet's Abbey for the overnight. Very good journey and a peaceful nights (early) sleep

Wednesday 27th - On to Potter Heigham and filled up with water. Then under the bridge for the first time. About 6ft 4, so not a problem. On to Hickling for a couple of pints at lunchtime. Then, it was still early, we came back and stayed overnight at Womack Island.

Thursday 28th - We're both fairly burnt and hot. Pootled all the way back to Wroxham for a coffee and then home. We came back a day earlier than planned simply due to the heat.

Friday - Sunday - just stayed around Norwich. Had a mooch with Rachel on the Saturday (Simon had car trouble). And now winding up for work tomorrow

Holiday! First week flies by with London and concerts

A very busy first week...

Sunday 17th June

Train down to London. First class but via Ely. Nice standard Travelodge in Southwark. The Libertines at the Southbank. A fantastic gig, possibly my favourite over the past few years.

Monday 18th

A mooch are Liberty's. Got nothing, just out of the taste for expensive clothes. Did get a couple of white shirts at 'UniGlow' or something like that. We went to the London Library; can't see much without a membership, so will have to sort that. Had dinner at some market near the hotel.

Tuesday 19th

A mooch around the British Museum. Too busy with thousands of kids and tourists. We didn't stay long. Manic Treat Preachers at the Southbank. A very good gig too, but so loud. We forgot our ear defenders!

Wednesday 20th - train home

Thursday - erm, can't remember

Friday 22nd

Just went into town for a walkabout. Eleanor came as well due to bicycle and phone problems. Then to the Norwich Arts Centre to see Starcrawler and Gladboy. A really good evening, with both E&N coming as well.

Yoko Tawada - The Last Children of Tokyo

Yōko Tawada (多和田葉子 Tawada Yōko, born March 23, 1960) is a Japanese writer currently living in Berlin, Germany. She writes in both Japanese and German, making her an exophonicwriter.^[1] Tawada has won numerous Japanese and German literary awards, including the Akutagawa Prize, the Tanizaki Prize, the Noma Literary Prize, the Izumi Kyōka Prize for Literature, the Gunzo Prize for New Writers, the Goethe Medal, and the Kleist Prize.

A short book describing the life of a sickly child growing up in a dystopian Tokyo. It seems that the elderly cannot die, and the children are all born sickly, barely able to walk.

A disturbing read and well worth a few hours

Zadie Smith - White Teeth

Well a rambling story of two multi-cultural families living in London, over an extended timeline.

Well it was interesting. She's a clever writer. But... hum.

Parliament and Prime MInister's Questions

A full on busy week!

Monday down to Addenbrookes to see their EPR system. A very expensive bit of kit that I doubt can be afforded by work.

Tuesday afternoon left early from work (so busy!) to get the train down to London with Tim. Had to go via Ely due to track problems. Nice hotel and nice evening in a pub.

Walk to Parliament, through security, and off on a tour of the place. Went through Commons and Lords, and the Queen's 'robing room, plus gallery and chapel etc. Then into Public gallery of the Commons. Listened to the tail end of wingey Welsh moans, and then PMQs. Jezza boring a f**k and Maybe dull too. SNP walkout was hilarious. Skinner, the Beast of Bolsover, was great fun. Then tea with Norman Lamb and a nice chat with him. Then out via a tunnel into Portcullis House and then home.

Last couple of days at work were full on. Busy trying to clear down work ready for two weeks of hols!!!

Alison Bechdel - Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic

Only my second adult comic read (after Watchmen). An interesting and thought-provoking read. Very human. Good to have a small insight into what interests Eleanor.

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic is a 2006 graphic memoir by the American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, author of the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For. It chronicles the author's childhood and youth in rural Pennsylvania, United States, focusing on her complex relationship with her father. The book addresses themes of sexual orientation, gender roles, suicide, emotional abuse, dysfunctional family life, and the role of literature in understanding oneself and one's family. Writing and illustrating Fun Home took seven years, in part because of Bechdel's laborious artistic process, which includes photographing herself in poses for each human figure.

PIL - Public Image Limited

Last night we went to see PIL again. We saw them last year as well. A very nice evening with the whole audience (and John Lydon) all getting older.

Simon & Rachel, Kate & Clive, were also there. So a nice social as well.

Visit to parents

We went down to see my parents last weekend. This to see how Dad got on at the hospital; has his cancer gone or is he still sick. Well very good news indeed. The Docs couldn't find any trace of the cancer. Not a 100% complete all clear, but very close. Just awaiting the results of the biopsy.

So all very happy.

We also took a trip down Albert Road in Portsmouth. Good fun, with antiques, records, and coffee shops. Took mum. We had a very nice day.

Daniel Keyes - Flowers for Algernon

Hmm, a modern take on Frankenstein. A retarded man is transformed into having high intelligence, the emotional struggles that ensue, and then a return to the start.

An excellent concept that starts so well, but by the end it got tedious and I skim read the final 20%. A real shame; it was originally a short story, and this is how it should have stayed.

Haruki Murakami - Kafka on the Shore

This was a wonderful fantastical surreal beautiful book. I utterly and completely loved it.

two intertwined stories that gradually come together.

Just read it

Boats, gigs, and family

Well, summer seems to have arrived and we've been having a very busy time of things.

So, what have we got lately...

Parents - Dad seems to be recovering well since his latest time in the operating theatre. A review and cystoscopy, and now waiting for the results. Maybe there'll be answers but more likely there won't be any answers yet. Time will tell all.

Kids - Eleanor is doing really well. The new job has been brilliant for her. She's out everywhere and actually having a great life. Long may it continue. Noah too is doing well. He's just back from four days in London with his friends.

Jo and me, well, loads of stuff.

Sirah and Alex getting married. Taking Jo's folks to the reception with Eleanor as well.

Taking James and Georgia on the boat for the day was excellent

Down the gym loads of times and feeling pretty good

Noah and his friend Nathan working on their van in the driveway

Gig with Simon and Rachel, watching The Ruts, Sham 69, and UK Subs. An excellent evening

Just a really good time at the moment

Long may things continue