What’s the Story in Dalamory

I've been helping a friend to choose a new carpet and organise decor. It is amazing how much easier it is to help spend someone else's money rather than o­ne's own. Him Behind the Wheel and myself have been facing up to the chores needed now that our break in Ireland is over. So far we have chosen a new shower, new basin taps and a replacement gas hob. Still to come are a kitchen blind and new bedlinen. It has taken me a long number of years to face the fact that things wear out. It is also salutory that we have become largely a throw-away society.

Now all we have to do is to get the plumber into the house to do the necessary. That is harder at Dalamory than it ever was elsewhere. Wish me luck!

What a relief to be reading a rubbishy novel……

Louis de Berneieres is reported as having said that he o­nly wants determined readers. He seems to be saying that the convoluted plots, subplots and history are a device to weed out the lazy. Well I wasn't lazy, I have finished Birds Without Wings. Like any good novel it leaves me with more questions than answers. But for now I am content to revel in the knowledge that I can now go o­n to read something sloppy and easy, whilst at the same time thinking about how tragedy makes people either get o­n with living, or go mad.

I have been struggling with Louis de Berniere's Birds without Wings. It is not an easy read, but there is much in it that is worthwhile. Pretty story it is not shaping up to be, but rather an epic novel of war and genocide. I came across this explanation of cause, effect and responsibility……  it is a long quote, but I think it gives much to think about at this unsettled time.

Where does it all begin? History has no beginnings, for everything that happens becomes the cause or pretext for what occurs afterwards, and this chain of cause and pretext stretches back to the palaeolithic age, when the first Cain of o­ne tribe murdered the first Abel of another. All war is fratricide, and there is therefore an infinite chain of blame that winds its circuitous route back and forth across the path and under the feet of every people and every nation, so that a people who are the victims of o­ne time become the victimisers a generation later, and newly liberated nations resort immediately to the means of their former oppressors. The triple contagions of nationalism, utopianism and religious absolutism effervesce together into an acid that corrodes the moral metal of a race, and it shamelessly and even proudly performs dees that it would deem vile if they were done by any other.

It makes me think…..when will we ever learn?

I prefer to remember an alternative picture I now have in my mind of Hiroshima. There is a monument with a dancing flame, and the vow is that it will never be put out until the world is free of all things nuclear. Peace……out of horror….. my prayer for this day.

Cricket has a language all of its own. I can't understand it but it is very good to fall asleep to.

I could say it is quintessentially English, but modern bowling, team coaching, sports science and training, physio and tactics make it anything but. o­nly the break for tea redeems it.

We had friends staying overnight last night. So what does the dog do? Gets up in the middle of the night and pushes her way into their room. That dog is anybody's. Anybody who will give her the due fuss and attention she thinks is her right!

To sum up the 25 pieces of Wisdom, I like the following….

Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they shall never cease to be amused.

Someone who thinks logically provides a nice contrast to the real world.

At least that is the case in my little world.

Apologies to anyone who logged in over the last few days and found a rude message o­n screen. The weblog was tampered with by a malicious hacker. I cannot think what pleasure it gives anyone to do such a senseless thing.

I have been away touring Ireland in the campervan so this is a period of settling in to Dalamory all over again! The dog is depressed because she is not getting so many walks. Who would have thought a dog could become addicted to the travelling life!