There has been a sprinkling of snow on the hills to the north. Driving in to work the view was so clear and fresh I stopped at Sandside to take some pictures. Liz had a successful day when she took over the shop and sold Tibetan and African crafts for her Hope One World charity. We have kept some of the remaining stock and also got a shipment of ukeleles from Kit to sell over Christmas. I have made a Christmas ukelele tape with George Formby, Petty Booka and Ukelele Ike. I am already starting to get sick of it. After a long hiatus Lazlo Montgomery has started a history of tea on the China History Podcast and it is a fascinating a fascinating and complex blend of cultural technological political and economic factors that came together to make tea the international drink it is today.
... the chainsaw. My early Christmas present from Viv. Unfortunately it did not come with oil so I have been unable to try it out this weekend. But I don't think it would manage the tough knotted wood of the remaining tree stumps and I continue to battle these with nine pound hammer, wedges and splitting maul. Now there is only half one left for wood and the biggest of all is remaining in place and will be planted with trailing flowers next Spring.
Last night I awoke to see the flares of loutish Orion perfectly framed in the upper rectangle of the bedroom window. I remembered Orion in the Sierra Nevada when it seemed only yards above me; standing out in the brightness of countless stars when i was a child in Nigeria and low on the horizon in the Namib desert and the sea off Sulawesi. I my head away and when I looked again the window was blank, the consolation had wheeled away into the night sky. I was gripped by the terrible fear that comes at times like these; the feeling of having leant too far over the edge of the abyss. The world is a terrible and frightening place whenever you have time to pause and look around. Earlier that night I watched Tokyo! three short films by three well known directors. - At least well known on the arty film circuit! - At times it captured the atmosphere of my own imaginary Tokyo very well in places. Tokyo is a city i have long wanted to visit but now I grown too old. If went now the city of my imagination would not be there, just a disappointing reality. |
Archives
October 2021
Categories |
- Egypt
- Mexico City
- Back in the Land of Dreams
- From the Dinosaur Hotel to the Temple of Literature
- Flying West to Mimpi
- Lost in the Sea of Sand
- Sri Lanka
- Back to Beirut and the old Bay Route
- Into the Basin
- Tbilisi and Yeravan
- In the Republic of Mimpi
- Bangkok, Burma and Beyond
- Tom on Elephant Island
- Java Blog
- Cokaygne.
- In the Kingdom of Foxes
- Photos
- Contact Me
- Why Java?
- London Blog
- The Bay Route to Beirut
- Return to KK
- Hot Milk in Prague