there is also the blending of two language families, Austronesian and Indo-European.
So, I'm guessing, the purer Autronesian is found on the more remote Pacific islands and would be pretty much unintelligible to ordinary Malay and Indonesian speakers. I was also surprised to find some of the Indonesian words that I thought came English are in fact Sanscrit in origin but are familiar thanks to a shared root.
Then there is the current state of my teeth.
Teeth and dentistry have an interesting history. An interest shared by the famous cello player Stephen Isserlis. Who - a rare chance to name drop - swapped me one of his CDs for my copy of The Strange Story of False Teeth.
But I don't want to think about teeth just now.
Like many people I got excited by the coverage of Mahendraparvata in the news media. Well it seems that it was mostly hype, and i feel I should point you to an archeology blog in Cambodia to give a more realistic view of the 'discovery'.
Personally though, I'm still a fool for Lost Cities!
Whilst in Cambodia, did you all here about the new species of bird discovered in Phnom Penh? Isn't that extraordinary!
I kick myself for not having discovered it myself and getting to name it flemonius magnificans. Or something along those lines.
Thoughts drift away from serious matters to life itself and the experiences everyone should have in order to live a full and satisfactory life.
Experiences within the reach of everyone, given a little effort, and excluding biological and emotional experiences. Things that should be on the National Curriculum.
Here is a short list.
1) The experience of flying. Being lifted off the ground by a wing and then stalling and dropping to earth like a seagull. (All birds do that, but seagulls do it beautifully.)
2) Riding an elephant.
3) Having whisky and black coffee for breakfast at 5am on a cold winter's morning before setting off for a long walk.
4) Eating offal. Brains on toast, deviled kidneys, pigs trotters, chicken's feet or heads. An important experience in breaking down food taboos and broadening the mind about what constitues 'food'.
5) Having a temporary yet debilitating illness. Do I need to explain this? No.
6) Standing in the rain after a long drought.
7) Waking at 4am and having a very good idea that turns out to be totaly idiotic by 9am.
8) Driving all through the night and watching the sun rise the next morning.
9) Camping high on a moutain during a thunder storm.
10) Talking to goats. This would take to long to explain, but you can substitute another animal for the goat.
Now it is almost 8am and I must get ready for work.