André Breton - Nadja

A surrealist masterpiece....

Nope, totally failed to get it. I had hoped I'd be amazed and inspired. But no, completely missed. Maybe another time.

Spring is nearly here

Another week closer to the better weather.

Slight downer with Jo's father suffering from Pneumonia, but now seems to be on the mend. So a little errand running to help out and hopefully things will continue to improve in his health.

Thursday evening we were out along riverside for a curry and a drink with Simon and Rachel.

The weekend has been nice. A trip out in the MX5 with the roof down yesterday. A little drizzle doesn't stop the roof being folded back!

Today the sun has been out, so a walk along the river bank. Watching a couple of trout swimming about, followed by a couple of pints in Brewdog.

Alain de Botton - The Consolations of Philosophy

Each chapter on love, loss, and longing using a key stoic or other historic philosopher. From Epicurus, to Seneca, and Montaigne.

Not much original from that perspective, but de Botton applies it to current issues in a very clear way. I think I'll probably look to keep this book.

Consolation for Unpopularity (Socrates)

Consolation for Not Having Enough Money (Epicurus)

Consolation for Frustration (Seneca)

Consolation for Inadequacy (Montaigne)

Consolation for a Broken Heart (Schopenhauer)

Consolation for Difficulties (Nietzsche)

another funny old week

Today is Friday 16th March and waiting on another cold spell this weekend. I suppose it is still only mid-March.

A nice week though. Only worked Monday to Wednesday, as using up the last of my annual leave. Work was good as I finished the Digital Strategy and sent it off for Board. We also got £350,000 award from Dept of Health for cyber-security, so pretty good.

Thursday I went down the gym and then into town to go to the library, then pick up a book from Waterstones (The Garden where the Brass Band Played). Then to get protein powder, and then for a swift pint. Then home and did very little.

Today was gym again, then into town to get some books from the library. Then to Brewdog to meet Joanne, Simon and Rachel. A very nice lunch. Then home for a nap and reading.

Kids seem to be in pretty good shape at the moment. Noah happy in his life and Eleanor going regular to gym and out with friends.

The minimalist life keeps on. I still haven't brought any object that I didn't need. No additional clutter and still clear odd bits out of the house. Mood is better now and feeling better in myself. The gym work has come back as good as before, so maybe just a 2 week post cold lull. Clocks go forward next weekend and the days are now as long as the nights. So warmth and daylight not far off, so held it together pretty well though a bit iffy at the end.

We have nice life.

Lucius Annaeus Seneca - On the Shortness of Life

A two thousand year of 'tour de force', still valid and relevant today as it was in Rome all those years ago. A way of living, a way of dying, a way of seeking solace and a way of finding your path. Even the current 'YOLO' stuff is a variation on Seneca!

Something to return to until it's our own time to go.

“The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow and loses today. You are arranging what lies in Fortune’s control, and abandoning what lies in yours. What are you looking at? To what goal are you straining? The whole future lies in uncertainty: live immediately.” 

“It is not that we have so little time but that we lose so much. ... The life we receive is not short but we make it so; we are not ill provided but use what we have wastefully.” 

“Life is long, if you know how to use it.” 

“Of all people only those are at leisure who make time for philosophy, only those are really alive. For they not only keep a good watch over their own lifetimes, but they annex every age to theirs.” 

Gabriel Garcia Márquez - Chronicle of a Death Foretold

A novella recalling the murder of a likely innocent man and the complacence of the town that knew it was going to happen.

A quick read whose substance didn't quite match up to expectations

“Then they both kept on knifing him against the door with alternate and easy stabs, floating in the dazzling backwater they had found on the other side of fear.” 

Back on the boat

A busy week at work getting the strategy finished off. Glad that's over, takes some of the pressure off.

Very much warmer than a week ago. Up to around 13 degrees on Saturday, so we went a boating up to Wroxham to get sausage and chips. Very nice and relaxing.

Sunday down the gym and starting to feel better, so I'm hoping my feeling run down is coming to an end. Well it is springtime on the horizon. A walk into town and without a coat on!

Up to Jo's parents this evening for a meal, plus its Mother's day.

Stieg Larsson - The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

An excellent read. Very similar to the film, but with more back-storey and conclusion of the fraud enquiry and Vanger family.

William Gibson - Neuromancer

Written in 1984 and the first mention of 'cyberspace'. Plenty of made up words in the style of Clockwork Orange. Flying a virtual ship through cyberspace fighting viruses, but still mention of acoustic hoods! One character is actually dead, but lives on in ROM, very nicely done

Smile Upon US, Lord - Barbican London

A freezing cold week!

Tuesday to work was a tough drive but left early before the snow really closed in.

Wednesday the whole County was in shut-down. Most of the Dept stayed at home. Norwich was dead to traffic.

Thursday was a day off annual leave.

Friday Joanne and I went to London to see 'Smile Upon Us, Lord' at the Barbican. We were surrounded by rich Russians, making us feel as poor as the characters in the play. Lunch before was in a game restaurant where Joanne had shank of Venison and I had Goat cutlets... yum.

Train home on the Saturday, and today back to normal. Snow thawing rapidly today as the temperature goes from -3 to +7 in hours.

Bertolt Brecht - The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui

A fascinating play parodying Hitler's rise to power, realised through a Chicago Ganster World. It has the 'Night of the Long Knives' and Austrian Anschluss. The play wasn't performed for many years until 1958, considering it was written on Brecht's journey to exile in 1941.

Lines from the play are quoted at the end of Cross of Iron, a 1977 drama war film directed by Sam Peckinpah: "Do not rejoice in his defeat, you men. For though the world has stood up and stopped the bastard, the bitch that bore him is in heat again".^[14]

Jules Verne - A Journey to the Centre of the Earth

A long and standard adventure story. Interesting from a historical adventure writing perspective. That's all